Latch Hook Ideas
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Overview
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The creative hobby of latch hooking, also known as rug hooking, involves using a small tool (the hook) to make knots out of cut pieces of colored wool on a canvas, creating a picture. Most latch hooks, available at craft and hobby stores, are sold in kits which contain pre-cut and colored yarn, a dyed canvas and a legend or guide, showing box by box how to complete the kit. If store-bought kits feel too generic, you can buy blank canvas from online retailers and hook up with your own designs.
Custom Kits
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When you’ve hooked enough fish, dolls and tigers to fill your home but still want more, creating a custom latch hook may be a latch match. You have three options for creating a custom kit. You can buy blank canvas and skeins of yarn, then cut the yarn pieces and start hooking or color the canvas as a guide and then begin the project. Another option is to use a photo composer tool, available for free on websites such as Left Source. This takes an actual photograph and instantly breaks it up in the familiar latch hook grid. It’ll even tell you how many colors of yarn you’ll need and size it to your preferences. If that sounds like a lot of effort, you can submit a photo to a custom latch hook creator, such as the Latch Hook Emporium, which will prepare your entire kit, from creating the detailed grid to cutting the yarn and matching it to the colors in your photo, then ship you everything so you can begin your one-of-a-kind latch hook.
Themes
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If the idea of settling in for a nice long winter of rug hooking appeals and you have a lot of blank wall space in a room, you may want to consider the idea of creating a latch hook theme. Although there are many similar kits sporting patterns of dolphins, cats and flowers, they all differ slightly and therefore contribute to the decor in your room. If you use flowered bed sheets, for example, find latch hook kits of sunflowers, roses, orchids and trailing vines. Deck out a child's room may be decked out with any of an endless array of cartoon character latch hook themes, from Mickey Mouse to the Care Bears to Winnie the Pooh. Browse craft stores such as AC Moore, Joann Fabrics and Michaels (their online shops, where applicable, sometimes carry an even bigger selection) to get an idea of the types of rug hook series you can put together.
Calendar Pillows
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You’ll find many basic rug hook kits in the standard 12-inch by 12-inch size. This is because these rug hooks are meant to create pillows; after the latching is complete, they’re slipped around a pillow form and tied off. While a small square pillow may be a quick project for a latch hooker, consider embarking on a series of calendar pillows. Rug hook kits to celebrate just about every month of the year are available, featuring shamrocks for March, pumpkins for October, hearts for February and beach balls for the summer. With just a little bit of time, you’ll be able to complete an entire series of pillows to display each month as you change the calendar pages.
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