Using a join-as-you-go method to join crochet motifs is a great way to save time and effort.
With join-as-you-go, you don’t have any seaming to do at the end of the project, because you have joined all your individual pieces as your work. The flat join method of join-as-you-go gives a particularly beautiful and smooth connection.
Flat joins can be worked into chain spaces or into the top of stitches. With granny squares, the joins are usually worked into the chain-spaces.
Follow these step-by-step instructions, or scroll down to the bottom of the post for a video explanation.
This post contains affiliate links which don’t cost you anything but may provide a small income to me. The yarn pictured is Red Heart Chic Sheep by Marly Bird.
Join-As-You-Go Granny Square
We’ll be joining a classic granny square that has chain-2 corners and chain-1 side spaces. My sample square has three rounds.
Begin by working the entire first square. Weave in the ends.
Crochet the second square, stopping before you work the last round.
Begin working the last round of the second square, stopping when you get to the half-way point of a corner. In other words, stop after “3 dc in corner space, ch 1”.
Flat Join Join-As-You-Go
To work a flat join, draw up the loop on the hook until it is a bit longer than usual, then take the hook out of the loop. This is known as “dropping the loop”.
Pick up the first square with the right side facing. Insert the hook from right side to wrong side (from front to back) through a corner chain-2 space.
Pick up the dropped loop with your hook and draw it through to the right side of the first square.
Continue working on current square: ch 1, 3 dc in same space.
Continue working flat joins in the chain-1 spaces along this side, while working (3 dc, ch 1) in each ch-1 space of the current square. The last flat join will be in the chain-2 corner space.
Completing the Square
Once the squares are joined all along their sides, keep working along the remaining sides of the current square to complete the round.
Learn More About Join-As-You-Go
Join-as-you-go is such a time- and effort-saving technique! There’s a lot more to learn about this topic. If you want to make your crocheting life happier, check out my books and pattern page, as well as these resources:
Get ready for the cooler days of fall with my newest design for Universal Yarn: the Crimson Cowl. The cowl is shaped to drape gently around the neck and to sit lovingly over the shoulders.
The Yarn
Fibra Natura’s Cashmere Lusso from Universal Yarn is a luxurious blend of virgin cashmere and recycled cashmere. You can feel good about using yarn with recycled fiber, and the yarn feels great against the skin.
Cashmere yarn is lightweight but warm, and is lovely to crochet with.
You’ll need just a single skein in either this beautiful Anthurium color or one of the other on-trend colors available.
The Pattern
There are no tricky stitches here. Just chains, single and double crochets worked in the round and fanning out to create a lovely drape from the neck down. Use a size H-8 (5 mm) hook or whatever size you need to get gauge.
The pattern for the Crimson Cowl is free at Universal Yarn’s website. The pattern is both written and charted.
Other Projects
For other small crochet projects to keep your neck and shoulders warm, check out these patterns. Hint: They all have text AND charted instructions.
Brighten up your summer with these quick and easy summer placemats. They are a perfect first project for beginning knitters, and they make a great house-warming gift for new neighbors.
This post may contain affiliate links, which help support me but don’t cost you anything extra.
The Yarn
Bulky-weight yarn makes the knitting go fast! Lion Brand Rewind Tape Yarn is fun to work with. Because of its construction, it’s less bulky than you would think, and it imparts a great texture to the fabric.
I love the exuberant colors that I used, but you can also choose from more muted shades to suit your taste. The instructions below are for two placemats in different main colors. If you want to make four placemats, two of each color shown, with a yellow stripe on each, you’ll need two balls each of the blue and pink, and one ball of the yellow.
The Pattern
Garter stitch is about as basic as a knitting stitch can be, and that’s all you need to know to knit these placemats! Minimal pattern-reading is required, and gauge doesn’t even matter all that much.
Quick & Easy Summer Placemats
One size: 16″ x 13″/40.6 x 33 cm
Materials Lion Brand Rewind Tape Yarn (70% polyester/30% viscose, 3.5 oz / 100 g, 242 yd / 221 m), 1 ball each color 148 Fish Bowl (A), color 195 Think Pink (B), and color 157 Make Lemonade (C) [See note above about yarn amounts for multiple placemats.]
Pattern Notes Leave a 6″ / 15 cm tail for weaving in each time you begin and end a yarn.
Beginning knitters will want to knit the pattern exactly as written. More experienced knitters may create a slip-stitch selvedge by slipping the last stitch of each row knitwise with yarn in front.
Abbreviations k: knit RS: right side st(s): stitch(es) WS: wrong side
Instructions With A, long-tail cast-on 42 sts. Knit 1 WS row. Turn work, and place a marker or piece of waste yarn on this side to indicate that the side is the right side.
Knit every row until piece measures 13″ / 33 cm from cast-on edge, ending with a WS row. Cut A, leaving a 6″ / 15 cm tail for weaving in.
With C, knit 10 rows (5 garter stitch ridges). Cut C.
With B, knit 2 rows (1 garter stitch ridge). Cut B.
With A, knit 6 rows (3 garter stitch ridges). Bind off.
Weave in ends.
Make a second placemat, substituting B for A and A for B in the instructions above.
Crocheters, expand your stitch pattern knowledge with linked treble crochet! While regular treble crochet stitches are quite tall, with space between the posts, linked treble stitches are connected post-to-post, creating a solid fabric.
Linked stitches are sort of a cross between regular treble crochet and Tunisian crochet, worked with a regular crochet hook. Note that I’m using American crochet terminology here. UK crocheters will know this as linked double treble crochet.
This post contains affiliate links which may provide a small income to me but don’t cost you anything extra.
Grab some yarn and an appropriately-sized hook, and practice along with me. I’m using Marly Bird’s Chic Sheep yarn from Red Heart, with a Clover Amour crochet hook, size 5.5 mm.
Be sure to watch the video, where I demonstrate two different ways to work into the chain on the first stitch of the row. Choose your favorite.
Linked Treble Crochet
Beginning Linked Treble
Special Stitches Beginning Linked Treble (Beg Ltr): Ch 4 (does not count as a st), insert hook into 2nd ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook into next ch, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook into st at base of ch-4, yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops are on hook) [(yarn over, pull through 2 loops] 3 times.
Arrows show the three places to put your hook in linked treble crochet
Linked Treble: Insert hook into upper horizontal bar of previous st, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook into lower horizontal bar of previous st, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook into next st, yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops are on hook) [(yarn over, pull through 2 loops] 3 times.
Instructions
Chain any multiple.
Set-Up Row: Ch 1, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across, turn.
Row 1: Beginning Ltr, Ltr in each st across, turn.
Rep Row 1 for pattern.
Abbreviations Beg Ltr: beginning linked treble crochet (see Special Stitches) ch: chain Ltr: linked treble crochet (see Special Stitches) sc: single crochet
While I’m more of a generalist in that I love to do a bit of this and bit of that technique in my all fiber arts, I’m in awe of crafters who delve very deeply into one aspect of a craft. Last month I had a chance to see the recent work that double-knitting guru Alasdair Post-Quinn has been doing and to talk with him about his work.
This post contains affiliate links, which may provide a small income to me but do not cost you anything extra.
Alasdair’s designs are both beautiful and mind-boggling. When I heard about a new learning opportunity that Alasdair is offering, I decided you needed to hear from him directly. Here’s an interview:
For those unfamiliar with double knitting, give us a quick explanation of what it is.
Hesperos from Double or Nothing
Alasdair: Double-knitting is a method of knitting a fabric with no “wrong side”. The way I use it involves colorwork motifs that reverse in color on the other layer. There are two separate layers of fabric, worked simultaneously, which are linked together at the color changes (unlike brioche, for example, which is a fully integrated fabric).
This looks difficult. Do I need to be an expert knitter to start double knitting?
Kontinuum from Double or Nothing
Alasdair: Not at all! As with anything, you can start with the basics and build on them as you get more proficient. Basic double-knitting, as I teach it in my intro classes, requires only that you know how to knit and purl. If you’ve done other colorwork before, it may help you follow the chart – but it’s not necessary.
Who does double knitting appeal to?
Sierpinski L5 from Extreme Double-Knitting
Alasdair: I think it appeals to anyone who’s ever looked at the wrong side of a knitted item and wished it was more presentable. It is a double-thick fabric, so it may appeal more to those who live in colder climates (or who have loved ones who do) – but depending on the weight of yarn and how you use it, you can make three-season garments as well.
You have taken double knitting to the “extreme”. Explain what makes your designs unique.
Adenydd from Extreme Double-knitting
Alasdair: Since I started double-knitting in the early 2000s, rather than simply playing with motifs and patterns, I have been striving to find the “limits” to the technique. I have adapted many single-layer techniques to double-knitting (including cables, lace, intarsia, and entrelac, among others). I’ve also developed techniques that are specific to double-knitting. I’ve documented these in my books Extreme Double-knitting and Double or Nothing, and I am continuing to expand on my existing techniques and develop new ones.
What are the benefits of learning this technique in person?
Parallax Scarf Version 3
Alasdair: In my books, I have done my best to anticipate all kinds of questions (gleaned from thousands of students over more than a decade of teaching the technique) about double-knitting. I try to show the step-by-step instructions as clearly as possible. However, there’s often no substitute for hands-on learning, and being able to get real-time answers to your questions and feedback on your work will help you reach that “A-Ha!” moment even sooner.
Tell us about your special series of workshops coming up soon.
Alasdair: I’m trying something new this year that I’ve never done before. When I go to Stitches or one of the other shows, not to mention smaller workshop weekends at a local yarn shop or retreat, I’m most often running four to six workshops; sometimes one may even be offered twice. To be able to teach all nine of my double-knitting workshops in a single event is an unprecedented opportunity for me as a teacher – and to be able to take any workshop I offer is a huge opportunity for you as a student. That’s what the BuildingBlox Workshop Week, running from April 27 to May 5 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is about.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn to double-knit, I’ve got an intro workshop on April 27 and another on May 5 – but between those two dates, I’m available to take you as far into the technique as you’re interested in going. If you already know how to double-knit, I can teach you how to create letters that read correctly on both layers; how to add a third color to the mix; how to use increases, decreases, textures, cables, lace, and more.
The BuildingBlox Workshop Week isn’t a retreat (nothing outside the workshops is planned, and you can take as many or as few as you like), and all the classes run on evenings or weekends to accommodate those with 9-5 jobs, so for those who may be coming in from afar, you’ll have your weekdays free too. You can get more info and sign up at the BuildingBlox page on my website. Thanks!
A Note from Edie
I’ve done double knitting – and even teach an online class about it– but I’d take Alasdair’s workshops in a heartbeat. If I didn’t live so far away and didn’t already have commitments for the last week of April, I’d vacation in Boston during the day and learn from Alasdair in the evening workshops. If you can’t make it to the workshops but want to learn more about double-knitting, start here:
Crossover Slip Stitch allows you to cross your crochet hook over a chain. It keeps the chain looking smooth and right-facing, while allowing you to do some fancy stitch patterning.
The exact location of the slip stitch—that is, what the slip stitch is crossing—will depend on your pattern and the purpose of the crossover slip stitch.
Crochet a Decorative Chain
Let’s look at a little decorative chain as an example. The “pattern” for this chain is:
*Chain 8, crossover slip stitch in 4th chain from hook; repeat from * for desired length.
Scroll on down to see a video of this in action.
How to Crochet Crossover Slip Stitch
Step 1. Insert hook into designated stitch.
Step 2. Cross chain over working yarn. Alternately, you can cross the yarn ball under the work in progress.
Step 3. Yarn over, pull through everything on your hook to complete the slip stitch.
When to Use Crossover Slip Stitch
Crossover slip stitch bit of a hidden technique, in that I don’t know that it has a widely accepted name. It’s long been my argument that crochet suffers from a lack of nomenclature that would help us share knowledge easily. When I coined the term standing stitches, somehow people started “discovering” the technique. I hope that by naming this technique crossover slip stitch and using the technique in my patterns, more crocheters will learn about it and spread the word!
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