# Hooking? Not rugs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345 "2006-09-19T23:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/1 "2006-09-19T23:57:41Z")
Ok, my grandmother in law has got my wife interested in this hobby, which is she says is called hooking but isn’t the rugs. I’ve been trying to google up info, but all I get is Hook Rugs, which is latch-hooking, which isn’t apparently what it is. Apparently you can use this method to make scarves and the like. Does anyone have any idea what it may be? Links to stuff about it? Note: this is not knitting, nor is it crochet. Apparently it’s rather old, because you can’t buy the supplies for it at Micheals or JoAnnes. So I figured I would come here, to see what the Millions which Teem may have to say on it. Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/2 "2006-09-20T00:39:25Z")
[QUOTE=Tristan] Ok, my grandmother in law has got my wife interested in this hobby, which is she says is called hooking but isn’t the rugs. [/QUOTE] It’s hooking scarves. > [@](#): > > Apparently you can use this method to make scarves and the like. Indeed you can > [@](#): > > Does anyone have any idea what it may be? It is like hooking rugs in many respects but more like knitting with an entirely different stitch. > [@](#): > > Note: this is not knitting, nor is it crochet. Apparently it’s rather old, because you can’t buy the supplies for it at Micheals or JoAnnes. Betcha can. They just don’t know what you want. The tool is like a large crochet hook with a flexible piece between the handle and the hook. The yarn is yarn of whatever size needed. [Afquan Hook](http://www.karpstyles.com/catalog.html?item=1141) Then there is this thing called tatting. NOT like in Tit for Tat. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/3 "2006-09-20T01:26:44Z")
Excellent! Well, I’m off to research. Thank you so much! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/4 "2006-09-20T02:32:39Z")
[Tunisian crochet](http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=40) ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/5 "2006-09-20T21:48:52Z")
Curses. Just when I thought I had a handle on it… I got a chance to look at the tool used in this art. It’s odd. It’s certainly nothing I’ve ever seen before. It resembles a crochet hook, in that it is a long slender tube. But rather than the hook on the end, there is a loop, a fully closed circle. Think of the eye of a needle, done larger and in plastic. There are also two small plastic bits along the shaft that hold that yarn that is being used as it runs along the length of the shaft, and into (and through) the loop. I have been googling again, to no avial. She says it’s called a “looper”. Casting my net into the teeming millions once again! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/6 "2006-09-20T22:36:05Z")
I’m completely blank. That sounds like nothing I’ve ever run across. Can you get a photo of it to link to? ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/7 "2006-09-20T22:52:10Z")
I’m just relieved to learn that Hooking isn’t a term for what Hookers do. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/8 "2006-09-20T23:33:15Z")
I’ll take one tomorrow, and throw up a link. I know, none of the other crafty folk I talk to have any idea what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/9 "2006-09-20T23:52:11Z")
Way back in the late 60s I had something similar to this [Grant’s Looper](http://cgi.ebay.com/One-Needle-Looper_W0QQitemZ104751264984QQihZ020QQcategoryZ11799QQcmdZViewItem). The output resembled simple crochet. This seems to be close to the instrument you are describing. A much older form of needle looping, [Nålbinding](http://www.dilettante.info/nalbindingmain.htm), is done with a large needle and makes for a dense fabric. A list of resources is at the bottom of the page. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/10 "2006-09-21T01:14:53Z")
How about [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hf-sewing.com/images/jpg/ha-1-88-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hf-sewing.com/english/pro\_01\_02.htm&h=272&w=530&sz=30&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=qr6Ta\_hNNBz2pM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLooper%2Bfor%2Bhooking%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hf-sewing.com/images/jpg/ha-1-88-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hf-sewing.com/english/pro_01_02.htm&h=272&w=530&sz=30&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=qr6Ta_hNNBz2pM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLooper%2Bfor%2Bhooking%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG) Scroll down to the bottom of the page. that metal thing with the loop at the top. That it? ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hooking-not-rugs/373345/11 "2006-09-21T01:18:13Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] How about > **[Redirect Notice](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:%2F%2Fwww.hf-sewing.com%2Fimages%2Fjpg%2Fha-1-88-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http:%2F%2Fwww.hf-sewing.com%2Fenglish%2Fpro_01_02.htm&h=272&w=530&sz=30&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=qr6Ta_hNNBz2pM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=129&prev=%2Fimages%3Fq%3DLooper%2Bfor%2Bhooking%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG)** Scroll down to the bottom of the page. that metal thing with the loop at the top. That it? [/QUOTE] Nope. **peri** seems to be on the right track… it looks an awful lot like that, and the output is exactly like crochet, at least to me.