Australian Locker Hooking: A Down Home Craft From Down Under

By Marilyn Livingston
Published on November 1, 1984
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(Fig. 3) For rugs or wall hangings that require finished borders, fold back two or three rows on the edge to make a selvage. You can clip out the corners with scissors rather than try to hook through four thicknesses of canvas. 

(Fig. 4) It's easiest to begin hooking in the third row from the edge.
(Fig. 3) For rugs or wall hangings that require finished borders, fold back two or three rows on the edge to make a selvage. You can clip out the corners with scissors rather than try to hook through four thicknesses of canvas. (Fig. 4) It's easiest to begin hooking in the third row from the edge.
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Hold the canvas in front of you, with the hem on the underside, and draw your hook from the bottom to the top through the second hole, leaving several inches of locker yarn hanging loose on top.
Hold the canvas in front of you, with the hem on the underside, and draw your hook from the bottom to the top through the second hole, leaving several inches of locker yarn hanging loose on top.
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(Fig. 1) The locker hook resembles a rug hook or heavy crochet hook with a large eye opposite the hook end. 

(Fig. 2) Hand cards are useful to straighten wool fibers, but they can be quite difficult for a novice to use.
(Fig. 1) The locker hook resembles a rug hook or heavy crochet hook with a large eye opposite the hook end. (Fig. 2) Hand cards are useful to straighten wool fibers, but they can be quite difficult for a novice to use.
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Now, holding the lock of wool in your left hand underneath the canvas, run your hook down through the next hole. Lay the strand of wool over the hook, at a point about one inch from the tapered end. Fold that short end under the hook and back into the main strand of wool, making a loop on the hook.
Now, holding the lock of wool in your left hand underneath the canvas, run your hook down through the next hole. Lay the strand of wool over the hook, at a point about one inch from the tapered end. Fold that short end under the hook and back into the main strand of wool, making a loop on the hook.
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Continue until you have three or four loops — or however many you feel comfortable with — on the hook. Then draw the hook and the locker yarn through all the loops, locking them in place on top of the canvas.

When you run out of wool, simply elongate another piece, tapering the ends as before, and overlap the ends of the old and new pieces so that the overlap is no thicker than the rest of the strand.
Continue until you have three or four loops — or however many you feel comfortable with — on the hook. Then draw the hook and the locker yarn through all the loops, locking them in place on top of the canvas. When you run out of wool, simply elongate another piece, tapering the ends as before, and overlap the ends of the old and new pieces so that the overlap is no thicker than the rest of the strand.
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Draw this loop up through the hole and leave it in place on the hook shaft while you pass the hook down through the next hole, catch another loop of wool, and draw it up through the hole.
Draw this loop up through the hole and leave it in place on the hook shaft while you pass the hook down through the next hole, catch another loop of wool, and draw it up through the hole.
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Wall hanging with flowers design.
Wall hanging with flowers design.
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Australian locker hooking lends itself to some handsome designs. Here's a pillow.
Australian locker hooking lends itself to some handsome designs. Here's a pillow.
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A simple teapot design and border.
A simple teapot design and border.
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Rethread the hook and begin hooking in the next hole as if you'd never run out of yarn; but when you pull the new locker yarn through the hoops, leave a six-inch tail hanging on top of the canvas. This end, like the end of the old yarn, will be woven in later with the yarn needle.
Rethread the hook and begin hooking in the next hole as if you'd never run out of yarn; but when you pull the new locker yarn through the hoops, leave a six-inch tail hanging on top of the canvas. This end, like the end of the old yarn, will be woven in later with the yarn needle.
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A rug with an hourglass design.
A rug with an hourglass design.
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If you want to go at a right angle to your first row, move back one hole — to the one in which you last hooked — and bring the hook all the way up through that hole right next to the loop it already contains. Then begin hooking to the left.
If you want to go at a right angle to your first row, move back one hole — to the one in which you last hooked — and bring the hook all the way up through that hole right next to the loop it already contains. Then begin hooking to the left.
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When finishing an edge, an attractive alternative is to hook a fringe using a lark's head knot.
When finishing an edge, an attractive alternative is to hook a fringe using a lark's head knot.

Australia, home of so many curious and unusual creatures, is also the home of an interesting variation on the craft of locker hooking. Similar in some respects to rug hooking, locker hooking involves pulling yarn through a rug canvas in loops that are then “locked” into place with a hidden strand of wool. Although it’s hardly a byword in most craft circles, locker hooking has been with us for quite some time. In the 1920’s, British craftswomen commonly employed the art to make rugs, using heavy, six-ply wool yarn. Americans followed suit in the 1940’s, but perhaps because of the high cost of such yarn, the craft never achieved great popularity here. Now, however, thanks to the artistic sensibility and ingenuity of a craftswoman Down Under, we may see a renewal of interest.

A Bit of History

The Aussie variation consists of a small, but very significant, change in the type of wool used, rather than any alteration of the basic procedure. This change came about when Australian Brian Benson, on tour in Ireland in 1972, saw demonstrations of locker hooking, became fascinated by the craft, and took several hooks home to his mother. A well-known fiber artist, Patricia Benson quickly mastered the craft and completed a handsome rug of heavy, handspun yarn. The piece commanded a great deal of attention when displayed, but Patricia quickly realized that if locker hooking was to become popular, something would have to be found that could be substituted for the heavy yarn required. Commercially prepared six-ply wool twist was expensive, and few people had the time or inclination to spin their own. So Pat began using unspun, freshly sheared wool, and Australian locker hooking was born.

Patricia Benson discovered that lengths of combed wool, forger-thick but unspun, could be hooked through the holes of canvas and held in place with a strand of spun yarn. The resulting rugs were beautifully soft and springy underfoot, and they wore well, too. The craft was enthusiastically received in Australia, where sheep breeding and the production of wool are major industries.

In 1980, Marj Boyes—teacher of, and crusader for, locker hooking—came to the United States and introduced Benson’s technique. Here was a chance for American crafts people to work with unprocessed wool without having to invest in the lengthy training and expensive equipment required to master spinning and weaving. In fact, wool in any of a number of stages of finishing can be used, starting with the freshly sheared material right on through spun yarn twist … for while Australian locker hooking introduced the idea of using unspun wool, the original European craft employed finished fibers.

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