Joining Squares Part One - Joining Two Same Size Squares Together

This tutorial (hopefully) should show you how to join two same size squares together as in the picture above.  This was done Join As You Go (JAYG) style whilst making the last round of the blue square.  It looks very neat and tidy, is a strong looking join, uses no extra yarn and as such has no extra ends to weave in.  Once you get the hang of this method there is little extra work involved, the only disadvantage I can see so far is that you need to plan your yarn colours ahead of time.  As a result of me wanting to make sure every detail was covered I have ended up adding a lot of text to this tutorial, so I recommend you read through all of it at least once first.

So lets begin, these squares are 2 rounds big and are a standard crochet in the round square which has 7 Double Crochet (DC - US terminology) on each side, the corners are 2 DC, chain 2, 2 DC .  I began by making the yellow square and finished it by weaving the ends in.

Before we continue I'm going to add some stitch markers to the yellow square to help guide you where we will be going.  In each corner there are two chains, when joining two squares together we will be joining one chain from each corner.  So in the picture below the green marker is in the right chain of the right hand corner and the black marker is in the left chain of the left corner.  This should leave (as the picture is trying to illustrate) 1 chain, 7 DC, 1 chain, between the two stitch markers.  When we come to join the next square we will begin by joining the chain next the the green marker, then each of the DC's in turn, working towards the black marker, ending up by joining the chain next to the black marker.  I hope that makes sense, I have taken a few pictures to try to help.  I'm going to apologise now as I bite my nails, I did try to keep them out of the pictures but I failed now and then.

 

Picture 1. Showing placement of stitch markers

Now we come to the second square, in my case its a blue/purple which I think is called bluebell (Stylecraft Special DK).  Make the second square stopping on the second round halfway through the first corner.  This means in the corner space I have made 2 DC and chained one as shown in the picture below.

Picture 2. Second Square ready to begin the join

In order to connect a stitch (or a chain) to its mirror in the yellow square you need to think ahead one step, let me try to explain.  When you begin a stitch you have one loop on your hook, this loop later becomes the top of whatever stitch (or chain) you then make.  As we want the top of the stitch (or chain) connected to its counterpart on the yellow square we need to join the one loop we start each stitch with before we make the stitch (or chain).

So, as we want the next chain, which we are about to make, joined to the chain to the left of the green stitch marker, we need to join the working loop to that chain on the yellow square.  For now that means removing your hook from the working loop, lengthen the loop first though so you don't lose it.  Then insert your hook down through the chain situated to the left of the green marker.  You are going from the right side towards the wrong side, through both top loops of the chain (this is as though you were making a stitch into it).

Picture 3. Showing hook placement in chain located next to green marker

Now that you have inserted the hook, put the working yarn back onto the hook and pull it through the chain of the yellow square.

A quick word about how I'm holding things as I work, I normally hold the two squares being used wrong sides together with the right side of the square I'm currently making towards me.  However for taking photos I found I didn't have enough arms to hold the work, the yarn, the hook and the camera.  So as a result the pictures are often laid out onto the table so I can take the picture.

This next picture shows the working loop pulled through the chain, the picture on the left is how I generally hold the work (wrong sides together) but the right picture is generally how the photos will look.  Both pictures show the same thing happening, the loop has been connected to the yellow square, just the perspective has changed.  However on the picture on the left my thumb is tucked behind the bluebell square as I bite my nails I wanted to hide it.

Picture 4. Showing the working loop connected to the yellow square

Once you have connected the loop to the chain of the yellow square you  need to reduce the size of the working loop back down to normal size.  Make sure when you do this that the two squares are snug against each other and the working loop is back to the size you normally work with (the left picture above shows this).  Now you can go ahead and chain one which should look like the picture below, remember this isn't how I hold my work ( I hold the squares wrong sides together as in picture 4 left side).

Picture 5. Showing one connected chain made

Right, the rest of the corner needs to be made, which in this case is normally 2dc into the chain 2 space.  however as discussed earlier we need to connect the loop just prior to making each DC.  So from Picture 5 lengthen the loop and remove your hook from it.  Now insert your hook down through the first DC available on the yellow square as we head towards the black marker, going from the right side to the wrong side.  Then pick the working loop back up again and pull it through the DC on the yellow square, thus connecting the loop again.  Once you have connected the loop, snug it back down to normal size then make a DC into the chain 2 space on the bluebell square.  The picture below shows on the left side the loop connected and to the right side the first DC made.

Picture 6. To the left, the loop connected.  To the right, first DC made

We now need to make the second DC into the corner space of the bluebell square the same as we just did.  So lengthen the working loop, remove the hook, and insert your hook down through the second DC on the yellow square and pick up the working loop again to pull it through.  Once you have connected the loop to the second DC on the yellow square make a DC into the corner chain 2 space of the bluebell square.  You should notice that each time you connect a loop you are connecting to the next stitch (or chain) in the row working towards the black marker.  If both squares have the same number of DC on their sides you should always find the correct number of places to join to (it should add up).  Picture 7 shows to the left the loop has been connected, to the right the second DC has been made.  I also should point out that the right side of Picture 7 is actually a step ahead of us, it shows the DC made and the next loop connected.  By the time I noticed this it was too late, however the picture still shows you a progres shot.

Picture 7. To the left, loop is connected to 2nd DC.  To the right, 2nd DC made

At this point we have completed the first corner of the bluebell square as in the right portion of picture 7.  The next 3 DC are not made into the corner space but into each of the 3 stitches below them in the previous round.  Each of these will need to have the loop connected first before making the stitch.  So as earlier connect the loop by removing your hook, insert it into the 3rd DC on the yellow square, pull the working loop through, then make a DC into the first DC on the bluebell square.  Picture 8 shows on the left, the loop connected and to the right the 3rd DC made.

Picture 8. To the left loop connected to 3rd DC, to the right the 3rd DC made

The next picture show this process repeated for the 4th DC.  Remember to follow the process as before, remove your hook from the working loop, insert hook through the 4th DC on the yellow square, pull the working loop through, make DC into the 2nd DC on the bluebell square.

Picture 9. To the left the loop is connected to 4th DC, to the right the 4th DC made.

The next picture show this process repeated for the 5th DC.  Remember to follow the process as before, remove your hook from the working loop, insert hook through the 5th DC on the yellow square, pull the working loop through, make DC into the 3rd DC on the bluebell square.

Picture 10.  To the left the loop connected to the 5th DC, to the right the 5th DC made.

The next DC on the bluebell square is made into the corner space, as before, remove your hook from the working loop, insert hook through the 6th DC on the yellow square, pull the working loop through, make DC into the corner space on the bluebell square.

Picture 11.  To the left the loop connected to the 6th DC and to the right the 6th DC made

 
The last DC on the bluebell square is made into the corner space, as before, remove your hook from the working loop, insert hook through the 7th DC on the yellow square, pull the working loop through, make DC into the corner space on the bluebell square.

Picture12.  To the left the loop connected to the 7th DC, to the right the 7th DC made.

Right that's the last of the DC's made an all we need to do now is connect one of the corner chains to complete the join.  At this point between you and the black marker should be one chain, as earlier remove your hook from the working loop, and insert it through the one chain next the the black marker.

Picture 13.  Showing hook placement for connecting the loop to the chain

Now the loop is connected as shown above you need to pull the working loop through and then chain 2, the first chain counts as the connected chain and the second chain counts as an unconnected chain as we didn't stop to connect the loop prior to making it.

Picture 14.  showing loop connected to corner chain, and to the right 2 chains made.

That's the last of the join, from here on you continue to make the bluebell square as normal, complete the corner by making 2 standard DC's into the corner space and continue around to finish the square.  The last picture below shows both the front and back of the completed join.

Picture 15.  Completed join front and back.

I like the way this looks, like a spiral almost, its neat on both sides and take little extra work once you get the hang of it.  I also find this "seam" doesn't add extra width to the finished piece as some seams do, this is important when making blankets such as the Babette.

Something else I realised, once you go away and come back to something joined this way you can't tell which square was joined first.  The way the join is made makes is very hard to tell, unlike other joins which can leave a ridge which tells you which was connected first.

The next part of this tutorial will show how to add a 3rd square below the bluebell one with a view to adding a fourth square to make a square composed of 4 smaller squares.

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