sister outlaws: I'm hooked

Remember those latch hooking kits you used to get as a kid? Well to tell the truth, I never had one! We were a very crafty family but never had anything as sophisticated as a boxed kit with tools. It was more, “here’s a ball of wool – see what you can do”. The simple art of picture making latch hooking passed me by.

And I’m sure any opp shoppers out there will attest that most of these latch hooking projects are never finished and end up in the miscellaneous unfinished craft bin like a pile of craft compost.

But I must admit, daggy as it is, I’m attracted to these projects. And no, surprisingly, it’s not just the cheesy images of teddy bears and sunsets and dogs. Most of all, I can’t help but be attracted to the wonderful shaggy texture, ala shag pile.

Ever since I was four years old (in the seventies), I have loved shagpile. My family lived in a country school house, me, the youngest of seven kids. We had hand me down clothes, handmade toys, homemade biscuits and hard floor boards which my mother polished with shoe polish and a covered with a few wholesome rugs. In stark contrast, my best friend down the road was the youngest of three, had new dresses, new dolls and their house was deluxe! They had cowskin rugs in the “family room” carpet in the kitchen (Can this memory be correct??!!!) a pool and best of all, a grownups lounge room. This forbidden room couldn’t help but draw me in with it’s’ mystery (hey – I was only 4 years old!), temptingly peeping through the sliding door from the dining room.

I still remember sneaking in there, creeping along the plastic sheet path way over sumptuous white shagpile carpet! Best of all was the nudey painting in her parents’ bedroom! In purple hues! Hilarious! But ever since then I’ve always wanted whatever my friend Nadine had – and on that list (pink and green floral dress, new doll, holly hobby EVERYTHING!) is shagpile carpet.

I was looking for a project to use up the woollen seams that the sister outlaws cut from our felted jumpers and a very clever crafty friend called Calamity suggested latch hooking a rug. After getting the supplies and experimenting I was away.

It’s very therapeutic and easy to do in an evening brain fried state. As it's a rug, I am still going.....

Then fellow outlaw Leanne, suggested using flat cut pieces of felt to latch hook. And it looked even better!

Not wanting to bite off more than I could chew, I decided a cushion cover was more achievable than a rug! So here is the first finished project – hand dyed recycled felt, cut up and latch hooked into a cushion cover.

Next up is a cushion cover in lime and turquoise tones. And then? Well it’s tempting to simply keep going! I'll be latch hooking teddy bears and rainbows in no time! Or just about any image you can imagine!