Learning to Locker Hook!

I worry when I learn a new craft that I will leave the old ones behind.  Do you?  I can't tell you how many things I love to create!

Being I'm a complusive/obsessive crafter, every time I learn a new craft, I become possessed with gathering all the materials to begin the new adventure and then some.  Is this a throw back to the gathering women have been responsible for through the ages???

Locker hooking has focused me more on the project because I actually have all the parts needed to start and finish!  Yea!!!  Well, to tell you the truth I didn't have the rug canvas so I bought new canvas on a road trip with my Curves/Farmgirl friends.  But then I roamed local thrift stores for more canvas...the kind that comes in the latch hooking kits that no one finishes.  I found the canvas mother lode in a huge bag along with the latch hooking yarn.  But I pulled out the printed canvas and donated the yarn immediately to another thrift store.  I have a storage problem...I have lots of room but I've filled it up.  So I shouldn't store stuff that I will never use.  At least I hope I never need latch hooking yarn!

Doreen taught us locker hooking at our Farmgirl meeting.  I was "hooked" so to speak right away.  So when I got home, I pulled out the practice piece fabric and set out to make a journal cover.  I used Batiks because they look good on both sides (the back will show as you make the loops) and have a high thread count - less raveling.  I love their vibrant colors.  Decorative yarn was used along with the fabric for texture and interest.  My first piece has a few flaws but I'm not much of a perfectionist.  After all, its just a journal cover.  It's nice and thick and feels very good in your arm when you carry it around.  Can't have flimsy journals.

The directions (sometimes I pay attention and sometimes not) suggested that you paint the canvas with a fabric paint and let it dry a day before you begin hooking.  That didn't happen - I was anxious to begin so I painted the areas that showed on the inside of the cover when I was done locker hooking.  It worked fine.  Jello will work to dye the canvas for the next project that needs colored canvas.  If you color the canvas close to the color of the fabric strips, then the canvas won't show through. The object is to cut your fabric strips to fill the holes of the canvas.  I also use a matching string/yarn to anchor the loops that are created in the process of hooking. 

My second project was a basket and it is worked in the round.  The bottom is made separate and attached when the top is complete.  It was fun and will hold more of my stuff...

If I've piqued your interest, check out the book, "Hook, loop & lock" by Theresa Pulido.  Her directions are clear and the projects are fun and easy.  There is even a rug made out of plastic bags.  I'm looking forward to trying that next...after I finish another journal cover.  I used my pinking rotary cutter to cut my fabric strips this time.  I am using muslin and red pillow ticking to make this cover. 

This next picture shows you the hook, the canvas, how the fabric strips are pulled up through the canvas from the back and anchored with the string in the end of the locker hook.  The hook looks like a large crochet hook but has a hole in the end that carries the anchoring string through the loops. 

It rained lightly today so it smells very good and it looks very green out my window.  The sun is out now, the birds are busy singing and the bees are quiet after pollinating my crab apple tree all day.  The temp has dropped to 50 degrees so it is just perfect for me.  It's good that I like it cool because in order for my Sprint card to work I have to have my window open.  We have some drawbacks Upnorth but the pluses outweigh those little (?) problems.  The leaves on the trees prevent my high buck Sprint card from receiving the signal it needs!!!  In the winter the reflection of the snow and no leaves on the trees allow me to have my window closed.  Whew!

Maybe next time I will share another new craft I've started...Mixed Media Memory Purses, etc.   I'm spending some part of every day outside - it invigorates my life - won't you join me?