Traditional rug hooking patterns, kits and supplies.
There are many excellent sites that offer instructions on how to hook. In addition, there are sites that provide how to dye instructions. Instead of re-iterating all of these instructions here, we have decided to provide other information.
One lesson we have learned from teaching classes is that calculating areas do not come easily to everyone. So our first tip will be on area calculations.
Calculating Areas: For ease of calculating, view every element of your rug hooking pattern as either a square (rectangle), circle or triangle. For instance, we usually view a star shape as a circle. In this way, we are calculating the area "up" - it is always better to calculate on the high side since you don't want to run out of wool in the middle of the project. Feel free to print the following instructions for future reference.
Example: Assume you have a star like this one:
Measure its width as shown by the red arrow. Let's assume that it is 5 inches across and the closest base shape is a circle. That would mean its diameter equals 5 inches.
Now take the diameter and divide by 2 ----> 5 ÷ 2 = 2.5 (by the way, that would be the circle's radius) Square the radius ----> 2.5 x 2.5 = 6.25 Finally multiply by π (use 3.14 for π) ----> 6.25 x 3.14 = 19.625 --> rounded to 20 square inches.
This would mean that you would need about 100 square inches (20 x 5) of wool to hook the star. Remember, depending on how you hook, that quantity may need to be increased or decreased.
Now we will do the background. Assume that the background forms a rectangle and the dimensions are 17" by 22" (regardless of the design or elements within that area).
Then the area will equal 17 x 22 = 374 square inches The amount of wool needed would be about 1870 (374 x 5) square inches.
To convert to square feet ----> 1870 ÷ 144 = 13 square feet
To convert to square yards ----> 13 ÷ 9 = 1.4 --> rounded to 1.5 square yards (note that square yards are not the same as yards off the bolt. That will be another topic!)
Remember it is better to err with too much wool than not enough!
We realize that this may be confusing. With practice, it will become easier. If you have any questions about calculating areas, please feel free to email them to us. We will be happy to help!
To go to Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) page, click here.
Traditional Hooking
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