How to Latch Hook a Rug With Yarn

Cut a long strip of cardboard 1 1/4 inches wide. Wrap the yarn around the cardboard evenly. Keep the wraps perpendicular to the long sides of the strip and do not overlap the yarn.

Grasp the edge of the strip with one hand, to keep the yarn in place, and cut along the other edge of the strip. Keep moving your hand along the strip as you cut.

Add 2 inches to the desired width and length of your rug. Cut your rug canvas to these dimensions and wrap the edges with a strip of masking tape. This makes the canvas more comfortable to hold as you work.

Start to work your rug in the bottom left corner if you are right-handed, or the bottom right corner if you are left-handed. Wrap the yarn around the hook below the latch. Use one piece of bulky-weight yarn per hole. Use two pieces of sport-weight yarn or three pieces of baby-weight, yarn. Bulky-weight yarn may be marked "5" weight, sport-weight with a "3," and baby-weight, "1."

Insert the hook into the first hole and out through the hole above it. The hook will go through the canvas, but the yarn won't.

Grasp both ends of the yarn and pull them up over the latch and into the hook. Pull the latch hook back through the holes. The latch will raise and hold the yarn in place as you pull back. The ends of the yarn will pull through the loop, knotting the yarn around the bar of the canvas. The "bar" is the canvas strip between the holes.

Repeat these steps on the next bar in the row. Continue until you reach the end of the row, then work the next row up until the canvas is full. Cut more yarn as needed.

Trim 3/4 inch off the canvas on all sides and your rug is ready to display.