How to Make a Latch Hook Rug - Easy Shag Rug for Beginners

You need a latch hook, rug canvas and plenty of yarn. Jenn bought two mesh canvases, a set of bent latch hooks and 10 skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease. The bent hook is easier on your wrist than a straight one. Add sharp scissors, some cardboard for a cutting guide, strong thread and a needle for the edges, and a rug pad for the finished rug.

Each tuft is a piece of yarn about 2 1/2 inches long. Jenn's first method was to cut a few 20 inch lengths, fold and cut them in half to make 10 inch pieces, then halve them twice more. It works, and it needs nothing but scissors. It is slow, though, and the pieces come out a little uneven, which shows in the pile.

After her sixth skein, Jenn found a better way. She cut two cardboard strips 2 1/4 by 4 inches and glued a narrower 1 1/4 by 3 inch strip between them, leaving a channel down the middle. Wrap the yarn around the guide, hold it down, and run your scissors along the channel. Every piece comes out the same length.

Pick the sturdier rows of the canvas to work into, and leave 4 rows empty on every side for the edge. Push the hook under one bar and back up through the next square, with the latch open. Fold a yarn piece in half over the shaft below the latch and line the ends up so they match.

Pull the hook down a little so the yarn slides under the latch. Bring both ends up and into the hook. Now pull the hook back through. The latch closes, the ends travel through the loop, and you get a reverse lark's head knot. Give the ends a tug so the knot sits snug against the bar.

Keep going across the row, and make sure every knot faces the same direction. To speed up, Jenn lines the yarn ends up before the hook goes in. She points the hook away from the finished pile, turns it to catch the yarn, then turns it back as she pulls. She hooks three or four pieces, then tightens them all at once.

For a pattern, draw it on grid paper first. Each square is one knot. Jenn kept hers sparse, with double X shapes, double triangles and a pair of interlocking diamonds in black. She tried a crisscross motif too, then swapped it because it did not match the other two. Sketching on paper makes those changes easy.

Cut a small pile of the contrast colour and follow the chart square by square. Hook the motif knots exactly where the chart shows, and fill the cream around them as you reach them. Keep the chart above your work and check it often. One knot out of place is easy to spot in a simple design.

For neat edges, fold the spare canvas under by 2 rows and whip stitch the two layers together with strong thread. Knot the end firmly. At each corner, cut the canvas and overlap the sides so they lie flat. You can do this at the start if you already know the final size, which makes the edge rows easier.

Latch hook the 2 folded rows all the way round, working through both layers, so the edge is covered in pile like the rest of the rug. Trim any long tufts. Lay a rug pad underneath so it does not slide on a hard floor. Jenn's runner took about a month and 9 skeins of yarn.