International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day 2023

by Sara Moore - 17 March 2023

Design for International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day

It's nearly one of my favourite days of the year, International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day. This wonderful day was started back in 2010 by the Oxford Certified Punch Needle Rug Hooking Instructors. Each year punch needle enthusiasts come together to share their love for punch needle. This year the day to celebrate is Saturday 1 April 2023.

Each year one of the instructors creates a design. This year the theme is Friendship and Oxford Punch Needle Instructor Katie Stackhouse (Midnight Creative) has designed the pattern. This design combines Katie's love for Pennsylvania Dutch motifs and fresh, contemporary colour combinations. I have chosen to punch the pattern using my more muted colour palette, but this design would look gorgeous whichever colours you choose to use.

This is a lovely, classic pattern to punch. It's approximately 20 cm square in size, an easy entry level design for beginners and those new to punch needle.

Materials you need for the design

• Oxford #10 regular punch needle tool
• Monks cloth fabric
• Gripper frame or non-slip hoop
• Chunky yarn
• Scissors
• Permanent marker
• Pattern

Downloading the punch needle pattern

Katie has very kindly made the pattern available for free to download directly from her website. Just click here to get the pattern which includes yarn quantities and directions for punching the design.

Pattern for International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day 2023

Punch-a-long with me on Saturday 1 April 2023

International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day is on Saturday 1 April 2023. To celebrate the craft of punch needle, I'll be doing a punch-a-long of this years' design on Instagram.

Join me at 15:00 GMT on Saturday 1 April 2023 live on my Instagram where I will be punching the Friendship design. It would be lovely to have some company and I'll try to answer any burning punch needle questions you may have.