Simple Joining Square Technique – {tutorial}

Tutorial Simple Joining Square Technique – it’s very easy and fun.

I love to make blankets, especially those with motifs and shapes. The only thing that I hate is to join them. I know…it won’t be a blanket if I don’t join all the squares or other shapes.

I checked so many times, and I found lots of beautiful joining techniques, and I tried all of them already, but none is materialized lol! It means, I tried them, and I frogged them, because simply it’s taking too much time or the final looks giving me a raise eyebrow; it’s just simply too much for the whole design, meaning, a big distraction from the actual squares motif/design.

I decided to find a shortcut, to join the squares with a simplest joining method, single crochet (sc), chain (ch) and slip stitch (ss). This technique might look like a flat braid technique, but much more simple than flat braid technique.

I’ll show you now.

For the squares, I’m using Destany’s Victorian Lattice Square, a rich and elegant square in solid color for each square and lot of colors.

This square is very elegant by itself, and when I was making these beauties, I was asking myself, what kind of joining method that I should use. My first thought was Flat Braid joining, simple and beautiful, but I have no patience on hook off/on. I wanted something simple and continuous without hook off and go to another loop.

So, this is what I’m doing with my blanket – I know there must be others who thinks the same or using the same techniques. It’s basic technique with basic stitches and I’m doing this documentation for the purpose of spreading the Love (and to remind myself – short term memory, like cats :D)

Please bear in mind, I’m using Victorian Lattice square and if you’re trying to use this method on other squares, you need to adjust the counting.

In the every corner, hook sc, ch4, sc

then, ch2, skip 1 stitch, sc in the next

continue it around, until you reach the beginning, ch2, slip stitch (ss) in the first sc, fasten off – this will be the base square joining.

Take the second square, in the corner, sc, ch2, slip stitch on the first square’s corner, ch2, sc in the second corner

then, let’s the zig zag begins. After the last sc in the second square’s corner, ch1, ss in the first square ch-2 space (the one beside the corner), ch1, then, skip 1 stitch of the second square, sc in the next stitch of the second square.

Sounds very complicated, but actually no. All position of sc along the sides of both squares are identical or at the same positions – as it’s facing each other.

The third square, is a bit tricky. Start it with the third square’s corner, sc, ch2, ss under the 2 strands that the second square’s ss did. Here is the illustration:

When connecting second square to the first square with slip stitch, you will have 2 strands (the yellow yarn). The position of the hook with 2 strands above is where you need to attach the third square.

This will create a nice round shape in the middle, when the fourth square is attached (in the same 2 strands)

This is how it looks with 4 squares assembled

It took me 2 days to join 48 Victorian squares. I didn’t take any measurement yet, as I still need to convince myself to start whipping the tails.

I love how it turned out, the joining lines are visible, zig zag, neat, and simple enough not to distract the attention to the squares, in fact, this joining method enhancing the beauty of the squares. I haven’t manage to take proper picture, but hey…here it is!