Exclusive Excerpt from Hooked on Words - Final Words

Many hookers can't imagine using a technique that requires hooking, unhooking, and rehooking. But it is really reasy and really worth it for some rugs. (And some hookers say it is worth it for all rugs!)

Here's how it works: Suppose you are hooking your rug in a #8 cut. First, using scrap wool (such as a really obnoxious bright color, so you cannot miss it), hook the words in a #5-cut. Then, hook your #8-cut background, in your planned color, around all the words. These #5-cut words are your placeholders.

Now it's time to unhook. Pull the words out one letter at a time. This is critical.

To rehook: Use a #8- or even a #8.5-cut (just slightly larger than your cut for the rug) and rehook the letters. You'll notice how the wool fills in the gaps of your placeholder space and lays nicely within the background. Your letters will retain the structure of the original type. I like to call the rehooked words The Final Words. That's a little rug hooker humor.

Do you have any final words that need to be hooked?

Hook in a smaller cut (a #5-cut in the example)

Hook around the word in your usual cut (a #8-cut in the example)
An added benefit of this technique is that the background begins to take shape around the words. Kind of instant gratification!

Pull out the letters, one letter at a time.

Hook each letter in a larger cut (for our example, a #8-cut) and you have your FINAL WORDS!