With a friendly new approach to an age-old craft, this book offers over a dozen colourful, contemporary designs inspired by traditional rug hooking techniques for purses, pillows, pictures and gifts, as well as a traditional rug. Inspired by folk art and primitive art, Carole Rennison shows how easy yarn hooking is, providing hooking tips and advice on how to choose the right fabric, wool yarn and equipment. She also demonstrates how to plan and develop ideas, how to choose the right colours and how to complete the designs with a professional finish.
The book includes a thorough techniques section that shows how to prepare for hooking, the basic hooking technique and how to finish off your work. The projects range from simple to more complex, appealing to beginners and to more experienced crafters. Each project comes with diagrams, a full-colour chart for simple yarn colour reference and beautiful photographs of the finished design that will be sure to inspire. In addition, a to-scale template sheet with all the essential motifs for the designs is included at the back of the book, so you can trace and start your creations right away.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION 6
TOOLS & MATERIALS 8
COLOUR 12
DESIGN 14
PREPARING TO HOOK 16
- Taping and preparing the hessian 16
- Transferring the design 17
- Securing the hessian to the frame 19
THE HOOKING TECHNIQUE 20
- Beginning your design 20
- Hooking in the details 23
- Adding in your background 25
FINISHING OFF 23
- Whipstitched border 26
- Backing with card 28
THE PROJECTS 30
- Badges 32
- Hens in an Orchard Picture 42
- Button-Up Purse 46
- Ewe in a Meadow Picture 50
- Swan in an Embroidery Hoop 54
- Book Cover 58
- Roses-in-a-Basket Cushion Cover 62
- Zip-Up Purse 66
- Small Robin Stocking 70
- Scandi-Style Heart Pictures 74
- Carpet Bag 78
- Pheasant Pillow 82
- Large Reindeer Stocking 86
- Sampler Rug 90
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 96
About the Author :
Carole Rennison is a yarnaholic. She got completely hooked on the rug hooking technique after seeing a demonstration at a local craft show. Family and friends soon started asking her for kits, and in 1993 she started her successful company Hooked by Design. She also loves knitting and crochet, and is part of a Knit and Natter group in her hometown of Skipton, UK. It was here that the idea was born to launch Yarndale, an annual show and festival that now attracts an international audience, with over 160 stands dedicated to all things woolly. Carole is one of the five founders and organizers of this successful show. Carole lives in Skipton, Yorkshire Dales. Visit Carole's website for more information www.hookedbydesign.co.uk.
Review :
Perfect for beginners, this book has all the information and instructions needed to learn this craft, and is packed with full-colour pictures to help the explanations. A great selection of projects, from smaller badges that would make a brilliant starter project, moving onto larger pictures and other items for those with more confidence. Traceable full-sized template sheets are a great addition, and it’s amazing the results you can get with some relatively simple shapes. I’m definitely going to be making a few of these projects at least.
I think it's a given that if you want a book to teach you anything crafty the first place to look is in Search Press' catalogue. This book gives inspiration both to beginners and improvers in the art of Yarn Hooking. The author was hooked after seeing a demo at a craft fair and I can understand why. This is not a technique I was familiar with before picking up this book but it seems relatively simple to do and doesn't require much in the way of fancy equipment. Even better, it's something you can pick up and put down quite easily so you can devote 10 minutes or 10 hours depending on how much time you have! There is a template included which gives you the outlines for all 14 projects in the book but what strikes me about this craft is that you can get really impressive results using quite basic shapes - making it perfect for designing your own projects once you've got the hang of the technique. As always, the photography is beautiful and the range of projects offers something for everyone - from brooches to rugs (I was particularly taken by the carpet bag!) I truly think this would be quite a calming and therapeutic thing to do and look forward to giving it a go! (It also seems quite easy to correct your mistakes - which is always a bonus!)
Easy-to-follow instructions for a novice with an excellent range of varying size projects to undertake with clear instructions. A diagram of how to do whip stitch which is used for edging would be useful (there is a photo). In summary: a very good book for those wanting to try a new craft.
A great selection for all skills, beginner to novice. Colourful step by step instructions with great photos. Can’t wait to get hooking!!
I love learning new crafts and find books with good visual guides the easiest way to pick up new skills. This book does not disappoint. It has wonderful coloured step-by-step photos alongside written instructions. I loved the handy tips. The hooking does take some getting used to and the projects range from small buttons to larger projects so they were well-measured to support my skill level and will give me plenty to work towards as I become more competent with the hooking technique. The templates are loose in the back which I found very helpful as it means I will not need to bend the book to use them and makes it easier to copy to use multiple times. This book is a brilliant starter to the world of Yarn Hooking and I am hooked already!!!
I loved the idea of this craft as soon as I saw it as it brought back so many memories but I soon found it to be a different type of rug hooking. At first I wasn't sure about it but the more I read the more I enjoyed it. The instructions are clear and precise, each step explained in detail and are easy to understand. Good Tips along the way for each project. Photographs are a good size and well-detailed. The templates are excellent and with good explanations on transferring the designs. The quality of the paper used in the book is very good. I love the designs and the layout. Once I started reading I had a job to put it down and I can honestly say that I have never read a craft book from cover to cover and with such interest before. Although I have not been able to try the craft yet I fully intend to do so as soon as I can. I love the way the Method for each project is explained in full detail. Some may think it repetitive but as each step is explained for a particular project you do not have to keep referring back to previous pages or to the beginning of the book therefore you can keep the book open to one page at a time. This is a wonderful book for anyone trying the craft for the first time as it has been designed to be easily understood. I have no problem in recommending this book to anyone.
Having read this book I loved all of the patterns, the colours and the 14 projects it describes. The projects include brooches, pictures, stockings and pencil cases. The book provides all the information you need to get started in yarn hooking. Techniques explained include that wool needs a finer hook or it won’t get trapped if your hessian holes are too big. The full-size templates are modern and up to date, easy to swap around and can be used right away. I enjoyed reading the article in the book on how to finish your product which I found very useful.
Get hooked on yarn hooking with this book that showcases an innovative method. Using just hessian and cones of carpet yarn you can make all kinds of fun and useful items from badges to rugs. Here’s how…
First you need to obtain a special hooking frame, and if carpentry is not your metier I suggest a visit to the author’s website. You can buy everything else here too, but most of the items are easily obtainable elsewhere. The process is not hard to learn, and the first part of the book takes you through it all in staged photographs from transferring a design to the hooking and finishing off. There are useful tips on design and color use too. The rest of the book contains the fourteen projects, which range from the small, simple badges through bags, pictures, cushions, a book cover, two Christmas stockings and a rug. Each project contains a large photograph of the item, list of what you need including a swatch of yarn colors, layout diagram and written instructions. These do not have any photographs but they came earlier in the book with the hooking instructions. Basic sewing skills are required to make up the items; none are complex but you need to be able to do things like put in a zipper, work with linings and backings etc. All the projects are inspired by the author’s love of the countryside and feature flora and fauna in rustic, natural tones, although there are some brighter items too. This is a lovely book that shows how you can do a lot with just a few simple materials.
