DIY latch hook wall hanging

You will need:

• A piece of rug canvas approx 30cm (12') square
• Scissors
• 3 balls of yarn in your favourite colours (around 8 ply or thicker)
• Thin cardboard
• A latch hook (rug hook)

TIP: Visit your local charity and op shops for your supplies as 

you can often get rug hooks and yarn as great prices.

HOW TO LATCH HOOK

Latch hooking is really easy once you can the hang of it. 

There are a couple of methods but the one outlined above is my favourite.

1. Insert your hook as shown making sure the little metal lever bit is pointing down
2. Place your cut piece of yarn behind the hook.
3. Wrap the yarn around the hook and hold both ends between your fingers.
4. Still holding both ends of the yarn bring it up over the metal lever bit and under the curved hook end. As you do this the metal lever bit will close and hold the yarn in place.
5. Then gently pull your rug hook down and let go of the yarn and pull the yarn all the way through.
6. Ta da!

 I have whipped up a simple geometric pattern to follow for this project.

You can download it for free HERE

RUG YARN

You can easily buy pre-cut rug yarn but it is quite expensive
and not long enough so I like to cut my own.

1. Take a piece of thin card approx 15cm (6") x 10cm (4").
2. Fold in half as shown.
3. Cut a smaller piece of card 10cm (4") x 7.5cm (3").
4. Place the second piece of card inside the folded card as shown (this is to help hold the outer card out a little to make room for the scissors when cutting).
5. Simply wrap your yarn around and around....
6. ...until you have about this much.
7. Then carefully cut.
8. And hey presto you have lots of strands the same length.
9. If you are using 8 ply yarn you will need to use 2 strands at a time instead of 1.

LETS GET STARTED

 Each square of colour equals one latch hook 'stitch'. I like to start from the middle and work outwards, others like to start from the bottom and work upwards. It is up to you just make sure you count your squares so you don't run out of canvas!

Here I have found the very centre of the pattern and marked it with a cross and
then I found the middle of the canvas where I am going to place my first stitch

As I mentioned above if you using 8 ply yarn use 2 strands at a time or even 3 strands might be necessary if your yarn is a finer ply. A good gauge is it should be easy to pull through the hole. If you are struggling to pull it through remove one strand and try again.

Fisrt one!

Now it is a case of counting the coloured squares and placing corresponding
stitches on your canvas. If you have ever done counted cross stitch it is the same idea.
So this is what your middle square of colour will look like.

Now you can cut the strands for your next colour and complete the next coloured square.

And it will look like this

 A handy tip is to flip it over to make sure your stitches are in the right place.

Here I have completed the 3rd square.

Flip it over and it will look like this.

Cut your last colour and started working on the final square.
By now your latch hooking skills will be well honed!

And you are done and it will look like this.
You could totally leave it like this if you like the shaggy look.
Or read on if you want to trim it a little.

Flip to see the back of the finished piece.

Now trim off a trim couple of rows of rug canvas leaving at least 2 rows all around the design. NOTE: If you particular rug canvas is a soft one that has a tendency to fray then it might pay to fold the edge over and tack it to the back rather than cutting it off.

Then it will look like this.

TIME FOR A HAIRCUT!

Start by untangling the strands of the middle square from the next square around it.

Give it a wee trim a little, just taking off tiny bits at a time...

...this small pile of cuttings is what I removed.

 Now separate the strands of the next square in the same way.

And trim as before.

 I find it handy (pun intended!) to create barrier with my hand while trimming.

Then continue in the same way trimming the next layer, which I have left a little longer.

This angle shows how the 2 middle squares are cut to the same level 

and the the outer mustard layer is slightly taller.

This is what it looks like after trimming the 3 middle squares.

Carefully trim the outer edge. 

Don't remove too much otherwise your rug canvas will be visible underneath. 

And here is your latch hook wall hanging all finished. 

You can see the total pile of yarn I removed which isn't a lot. 

It always pays to take little bits off at a time in case you get too carried away with the scissors!

Turn your hanging upside down and give it a good shake to get any loose cuttings out.

To hang it up simply place 2 small nails in the wall spaced to go near 

the top two corners and the holes of the canvas will sit easily on them.

Once you start latch hooking it's hard to stop at just one project.
My daughter likes to call these round ones furry eyeballs!

If you give my tutorial a go I would love to see finished photos of your latch hook wall hangings. Please feel free to tag me (@cupcakecutiecraft) on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter or just email your project photos to cupcakecutieone@gmail.com.


Happy hooking!
Kim
xxx