These rug hooking tips are shared by Tin Pedlar members ~

Always first and last tail/strip end on top.

Try not to twist or crossover when hooking a floor piece. The resulting hump of wool on the backside wears poorly.

To have a swirled background, hook “S” and “C” randomly throughout the background. Connect them with other swirls. Then hook beside them to fill in the background.

Think twice about personalizing a wedding rug.

When starting the background. Hook very close to the pattern outside edge. Keep loops of this first row of hooking lower that the rest of the piece.

To Clean:

Throw down hooked pieces upside down on a soft snow. Press into the snow. Sweep with a stiff broom. The dirt will come out.

In soft snow, place hooded piece upside down, pressing into the snow. Lightly throw snow on top of the piece. Let sit a short time. With broom brush of snow and turn piece over on a new batch of snow. Repeat process.

To Square your foundation piece:

Run a lead pencil in a groove of the foundation/backing. A straight line will result. Repeat for other 3 sides. Our piece is dimensionally squared off. You can check for right angle on all four corners.

When you start a new project have storage option for the project wool close at hand. ~

Simple option that can be reused is plastic bags.

Use plastic shoe boxes. Sort similar colors and cuts into a box. Use folded paper to divide further (paper is easy to label for cut info). Shoe boxes stack well and can be labeled for easy identification/access.

Use placemats. Cut the wool and lay it out on a placemat. Roll up and secure with a safety pin. Unroll to use.

Color planning ~

Hook a couple of loops using strip of wool into each area of the design to identify color.