It’s Saturday! That means it’s time for me to share what I’m crafting… and some tips!

Today I’ll tell you about locker hooking, and give you some tips for picking your materials.

Locker Hooking

Right now, I’m working on locker hooking a bathroom rug.

You might be asking… what is locker hooking?

Locker hooking uses a crochet hook (or a special ‘locker hook‘, which is a crochet hook with an eye on the end), yarn, fabric strips and rug canvas to make fabric loops that are locked onto the backing with the yarn. It looks like this:

It’s fun! And it’s easy… especially for us crocheters who have the hang of using a hook!

Some tips for selecting your materials

To locker hook, you’ll need yards of fabric, 1″ thick. Check out my post on making yarn from fabric strips for details.

Here is the fabric I gathered:

And here is my fabric ball… all those yarn strips cut and put together:

Getting your fabric ready is almost as time-consuming as doing the actual locker hooking! But if you get into the right mindset, it’s a relaxing process. And it’s a fabulous way to use up cotton fabric!

Here are some of my tips for getting the right locker hooking materials:

• Use 100% cotton. Not only does it tear into strips nicely (a big time-saver), but it also means your mat will dry quickly if it gets wet.
• Focus more on the colors of the fabric than the design. When you cut the yarn into 1″ strips, you won’t see much of the design.
• Aim for a varied palette. This way, if you run out of fabric, you can purchase more and it’ll fit right in!
• Make sure your canvas is a few inches (in each direction) larger than you want your finished piece to be, since you will use some up in the border.
• Go ahead and spring for a locker hook. They’re pretty inexpensive and will save you a lot of time!

I’ve started the actual locker hooking part… I’ll keep you posted as I go!