Hooking!

8/25/2020

The title of this post, "hooking", probably grabbed your attention. And, when I write this, I am fully aware of the word "hooking", and what mental picture(s) that goes into your brain. 

To be sure, I'm not talking about hooking on the street, or dark alley, and scary things like that. Nope, I'm referring to "latch hooking". I believe this is somewhat of a lost art. In the past, I have been able to hook large rugs, etc. 

Once you get the hang of it, it's smooth sailing ahead. However, there are two kinds of kits. There is one kit, where you actually have to follow a color chart. This means, that you are supposed to, follow the grid pattern. The actual canvas is blank, so it's up to you, the "hooker" to keep track of where you are working. And, to pick the right yarn, using a color chart. Working on kits, such as these, takes a lot of time,I  will also tell you that there have been times, where I have simply gone "rogue" about my work. So if a row is patterned in a particular grid, you use 3 gray, and 4 black, etc., you are supposed to follow along, and use the appropriate colored yarn. And, this is where you, meaning myself, are supposed to follow along. But, I have been known to look at the colors printed on the guide paper", and take colors into my own hands! Scary I know.

This morning, I woke up to what I would call "hooking elbow". This is very much like tennis elbow, and other things you do repeatedly. 

I now have 6 (I think) kits to get done by Christmas. Several of these kits have colored patterns, on the canvas. Little or no counting required! 

And, now for some research, and you know how much I love the search:

"The latch hook began life in 1847 as the "latch needle" used in knitting machines. According to one school of study, it was invented in Ireland by Robert Flower (1836-1919) This process was patented by him in 1904; Flower's patented design had a hinged ratchet that kept the yarn hooked so that it could be drawn through the canvas and knotted. This simplified the process of hand-tufting rugs and carpets. According to another school of thought, in the 1920s, the hand hook and latch needle were combined into the modern latch hook. Either way, latch hooks could be used with both yarn with strips of fabric.

Most rug-making histories on the web are Americentric (sp) and will tell you about rug-hooking being popular in North America for more than 200 years.This was done out of necessity. Early colonists from Europe recycled yarn and fabric into hooked rugs to furnish their homes. This craft remains popular on the eastern side of North America eastern side of North America where it has become an art form. Latch-hooking came along in the early twentieth century.

Early hooked rugs in Britain were made by 19th century mill-workers in Yorkshire using "thrums". These were the waste pieces of yarn, about 9 inches (23 cm long) that attached weaving to a loom. The thrums were trimmed away and the workers allowed to keep the waste. These were pulled through a backing material such as hessian."

The top picture below is an example of a blank canvas, with a "pattern" to follow, using the color guide. I am currently working on this kind of hooking, and while it's not complicated, it does "require" you to count a square and put the appropriate colored yarn through the canvas. This kind of latching does require a certain amount of concentration! Basically, it's up to you, to do the counting of each line, and put the appropriate yarn colors, into said line.  This is not always easy. For example, when the pattern calls for gray colored yarn, is that dark or light gray? And, the below picture shows, but not so well

An example of having an actual colored pattern on the canvas, makes your project go much faster. The actual pattern, show you what colors to use and where that colored yarn goes. Easy, easy. Between now and Christmas, either this year, or next, I will need to make multiple hooked pillows, or small rugs. Wish me luck! 

P