Monday 9 December 2013

How to be a hooker

Last year for my birthday I got a latch hook kit.  I think this is called Looker Hooking in the US?  It's of a Union Flag and it's been sitting waiting for me for ages.  I kept putting it off as I knew I'd have to read the instructions.  Well that took all of 2 minutes!  Sometimes I just don't understand how my brain works.


I found it a little tricky at first, but soon got in to a rhythm.  There's about an hour and a half's work in there, so this is going to be a long job!



It's comes with a pre-printed canvas and lots of pre-cut strands of yarn.  You also get the tool.  It took me a while to fathom out how the hook worked as I wasn't following the instructions correctly, it's actually really easy so I thought I'd show you too.


Here's the yarn you get with the kit.  You could of course buy a latch hook, some yarn and a piece of canvas and make up your own design.  There may be freebies on line too.


You hook onto the horizontal bars, not vertical which I'm cunningly showing you in this sideways picture above that makes it seem like I'm lying!


The hook goes all the way under a double "thread" and the hook is open.  The movable part of the hook needs to be on top of the "threads".


Wrap your yarn around the hook...


Then put the two ends of the yarn under the hook.


Then simply pull through.  It will form a little knot like this.  There's a name for this knot but it escapes me.  Pull the yarn ends to tighten and move on.  It gets a bit painful on the hands, not from the action of hooking, but where my hands are rubbing on the canvas.  It's a lot easier when I've got some done and can rest a hand on it.




12 comments:

Maria said...

This post brought back memories of when I was little. My mum made a huge rug using this method. It was beautiful. Can't remember how long it took her. It will be well worth the wait though.

moira said...

I can barely master my one hobby. You are a crafting machine!

Sandra :) said...

Awww nice project from my cunning hooker friend :D

pennydog said...

I love latching! I ran out of wool when I was making one though and gave up so a kit is a better idea, they're not cheap though!

JoJo said...

Even with your pictures I still cannot figure it out. This is one of the crafts that eludes me due to a weird dyslexia I have with knotting/knitting/macrame stuff. My grandmother and mom did this in the late 60s/early 70s but I could never figure it out.

Jane said...

oh, I haven't done one of these for years.. did dolphin one for the boys room when they were little

margaret said...

reminds me of the 60`s when we used to make readicut rugs. Mine have long gone but I do have one Mum made, looking a bit sorry for itself now but love it just the same

Anonymous said...

I remember my sister making a rug from a kit must be over 30 years ago now - and she still has it and it still looks great.

Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD said...

Great to see the Union flag rug that you mentioned in your message to me. You've brought back memories of my Mum and Dad hooking rugs when I was small which I then did too through into my twenties. I have no idea where all those rugs have gone!

cauchy09 said...

oh fun! i used to hook rugs all the time when i was little. keep going!!

Carrie P. said...

I did those rugs as a kid. I always had fun making them. Wish I knew what happened to the ones I made.

Maya Kuzman said...

This was quite popular in the '70s and early '80s. I have an old craft book explaining the work and a couple of schematics for this. However I am dead sure I would never find the precut yarn here.