 The pattern may be stencilled onto the canvas or worked from a chart similar to a needlepoint pattern.Latch hook yarns may be bought pre-cut (usually 2.5 inch lengths) or in skeins and cut to the desired length.In his book "The Hooked Rug," published in 1930, American writer William Winthrop Kent describes a form of rugmaking "A canvas is used like cross-stitch canvas only coarser, which has every third mesh a large one.