If you’ve been following me for awhile you’ll know that I have a LOT of designs that are small and require you to join them to another square.
You can use them as wall hangings, pillows, bags, or blankets! There are lots of options out there for how to join them, but I have created a little video with some of my suggestions. Scroll down to watch it!
I specifically show how to join my interlocking squares and my overlay mosaic squares but you can definitely apply these joining methods to other things. And I didn’t invent any of these joins – so it’s possible that you have already heard of these methods! Check out the time stamps in the video description to jump to what interests you.
My main motivation in creating this video was to help those who have been crocheting each of my monthly squares. Last year it was gnomes, this year it’s cats.
My Patterns
All of my patterns come with charts and the written line-by-line pattern for two techniques: interlocking crochet and overlay mosaic crochet. The mosaic charts have X’s marking the dropped double crochets.
The interlocking crochet squares end with a suggestion to add an optional single crochet border. I did not add this border when I crocheted my cat squares (and I show how I join those squares in the video).
It gets a bit more complicated when you use the overlay mosaic crochet technique because when you cut your yarn each row you are left with fringe on both sides. I prefer to hide this fringe in an envelope border. Once the fringe is hidden you can join your squares without worry.
Squares
Take a look at more of my squares and other patterns:
Small squares (10″ using worsted weight yarn), chart size 41 x 41, 20-windows in the foundation row when using interlocking crochet: https://www.ravelry.com/bundles/20-window-squares
Large Squares (20″ using worsted weight yarn), chart size 81 x 81, 40-windows in the foundation row when using interlocking crochet:
https://www.ravelry.com/bundles/40-window-squares
Transcript
I’ve copied the automated subtitles here as a transcript of sorts, maybe it’s helpful, maybe not. There’s no punctuation but YouTube is very good at coming up with the words. I did have to edit my name because they spelled it wrong.
hi Ashlee Brotzell here let’s talk about joining squares a lot of my patterns are squares of various sizes I have tutorial squares that are teeny tiny I have small squares which are not really that small to be honest and I have large squares which do get quite large well let’s back up a bit there he is large squares are quite large anyway I also have blankets but right now we’re going to talk about squares mostly because of these cats I just finished we’re just finishing the year of cats and it’s 12 months one square a month all of my patterns are designed for interlocking crochet and overlay Mosaic crochet you get to choose which technique you prefer the interlocking crochet version is two layers of mesh so two layers of mesh and it makes these little dots that’s the interlocking crochet version and there’s also a mosaic crochet version some of my older Mosaic crochet patterns have the dots on the chart so when you’re doing it you just double crocheting and single crocheting and you can still see the dots and now I’ve been updating patterns to have them solid so that you can’t see all these dots in a solid area it doesn’t need to be there for this technique the cats because it’s a newer one there is only the two options there’s interlocking crochet like this or there’s the solid overlay Mosaic crochet it’s just the only option there is the real issue what we’re talking about today is once you’ve make all these squares what do you do with them how do you make them into a blanket interlocking crochet slightly more straightforward you simply join the squares Mosaic crochet I know this is a gnome I know I know this is a gnome Square from last year but it’s the same size as these ones and I don’t have the other cats here so Mosaic crochet you get all these little Fringe things on the edges makes it difficult if you’re going to join them you do have the option of weaving all these in that’s one option you could join your squares and hide it you could just hide these at the back so that the front would still look nice it’s not my favorite option either although I have seen some people do it and they talk about like red quilts how you get those have you ever done a rag quilt like it’s part of the process it’s part of the thing so that’s an option my preferred method is an envelope order now this one has the envelope border on all four sides that just makes the whole Square bigger you don’t actually need the envelope border on the top and the bottom though because there’s no fringe right so you could just put a border on the sides the part that has Fringe which will then make all of your squares rectangles not the end of the world they’re still going to be joinable so preference always crochet there are no rules you get to do what you want it’s your project what do you want it to look like how do you want it to feel that sort of thing I’m just going to give you options you get to decide when you finish your interlocking Square you have the option of putting a border around the edges and my adjusted border or whatever I’m calling it it’s in the pattern it locks the two layers together so I’m taking one string from this contrasting color as well as this and it’s locking it all together if you don’t lock it together you do get a little bit of a flap not a big deal in my opinion but some people don’t like it so that’s why options are available whether you have done a border like this one has the Border but it hasn’t picked up the flaps so you can see these are all single crochets or you can have the locked in borders so it’s still all single crochets but now there’s no flap the other option is that you don’t have any border at all you haven’t done single crochet border at all but you can still join these squares the black is my main color so I would still join the black to the black so if you keep watching I’ll go over that a little bit more so interlocking crochet is straightforward Mosaic crochet I suggest doing the envelope border first when you’re making the squares you can do the envelope border and close it up or if you know you have lots of squares to join and they’re all going in the same project you can leave the flaps open and then when you join them you can join the back flaps and the front flaps it gives it a slightly different texture that’s all so this one when you join it it will have a little it’ll be like a fluffy envelope border that’s joined as opposed to joining the two ends now depending on how fluffy your yarn is the differences are not going to be that extreme but those are the things that you’re going to want to think about when you’re deciding how to deal with these squares I always suggest these little Tails to weave those in first before you try to join things first thing to know is that it is easiest to join squares that are the same size because then you know that the edges are going to have the same number of stitches that’s the easiest method it is possible to join squares that have different sizes
first thing I would do is prepare all of my squares I would put if I knew that I was going to be doing these together I would put one envelope border along these edges so you could join these squares first at the part that doesn’t have Fringe and then when you’re doing your envelope border you just keep going all the way across you don’t have to cut the yarn which means there’s one seam here that you won’t have to worry about right so first join your squares together where they can be then do the envelope border that would be how I would do it for the cat squares for example when you join squares do you prefer to use a needle or a crochet hook there are pros and cons both techniques of course regardless of which technique you’re using you’re going to want to put your squares either both wrong sides together or both right sides together depending on what you’re doing make sure that the top is the top on both squares when you’re using a needle you need to pre-measure your yarn you don’t want it to be too long so you have to pull it through for every Stitch but you don’t want to run out either and I don’t like having to guess at how much yarn I’m going to need and the yarn gets Tangled when you’re pulling it through every Stitch so I’m not even really going to show this option I don’t think that using a needle and thread is great for joining squares first make sure you got some yarn make sure things are lined up corner to corner top corner to top corner of course I like to start with a slip knot but that is optional some people really don’t like the knots make sure that you go into the corner Stitch either your outer layer which for me is black here you can go into the outer layer only or you can pick up a loop of the purple which is like my accent color that inner layer because I have not added the border that single crochet border I haven’t added a basic border I haven’t added the adjusted border I like to lock in just the corners when I’m joining the squares it’s my preferred way once the corners are locked I don’t go into the accent color anymore just through the main color window which for me is black this is a single crochet join so I’m inserting my hook around both black on both squares then bringing up the loop around them both and then yarn over and pulling it through both loops on my hook creating the single crochet so go under both pull it up single crochet put two stitches in each window make sure going through the window on both squares the same Windows lining them up two stitches in each window which is basically what the Border you was supposed to be and if you don’t do the Border you just do it now when you’re joining the squares if you did do the Border then you’ll put your joining stitches just into those border stitches one stitch per one stitch you’d have already done two stitches in the windows I hope that makes sense for you so here I’m just putting two stitches into the window gaps all the way down
this is what it looks like when it’s done it is slightly raised you can feel the bump it’s a bit texturized and if you haven’t done the border that locks both layers in you could pull it apart and see through there not really a big deal for me another option is our slip stitch join sometimes called a flat braid join it will lie smoother than the single crochet join and it uses a little bit less yarn but it can feel awkward to pick up your yarn you want to make sure your yarn stays in the middle and you create a slip stitch on one square then the other Square back and forth back and forth but don’t forget that you need to make sure there are two stitches in each window still and it looks really nice when it’s done but the hurdle is just this awkwardness of getting your yarn that’s probably the hardest part about it and keeping track of your count because if you don’t have stitches if you haven’t done the Border like me you have to make sure that it’s two and two otherwise it won’t keep things lined up and your squares will start to get crooked so awkward to do harder to count for Me Maybe not so much for you but looks nice and uses less yarn so definitely a great option
just wanted to point out if you have two pieces that already have the border on them the single crochet border where you’ve put two stitches in every window then when you’re joining it you don’t need to worry about counting Windows you just do one stitch to one stitch and if you’re doing it this way I I still think that the slip stitch the flat braid is the best one and this is how you would do it if you don’t want to put the slip knot you’re gonna have to weave the tail in afterwards make sure it’s secure pick the back Loop and do your slip stitch and then if it’s laying down on the table it’s easiest for me the loop that’s on the table the back Loop if this is the front pick the back Loop that’s how you know which Loop to use and then you pull it through a slip stitch and you just do one stitch over here
one stitch over here you can use the full Stitch if you prefer if you don’t want to use just the back Loop but when you’re doing back Loops sometimes people get confused if you’re holding it like this and you’re like well which one’s back because I mean it’s the back Loop over here but technically over here it’s the one closest to you right it’s the loops that are touching and that is how I do it back and forth slip stitch over here going into the middle of it slip stitch over here if you want to join two Mosaic pieces that already have the envelope borders on them it’s similar to what we just did with the interlocking crochet squares where you’re just picking up one stitch over here and one stitch over here join them together it’s very thick Stitch
and I think that the slip stitch join the flat braid join is the nicest it’s my preferred so if you can find a back Loop or if if you’re not sure what to stitch to pick as long as it’s consistent so as long as you can find something that is consistent all the way across you’re like oh that bumped up then you can join them you can also pick two Loops if you’re having a hard time deciding which one is the right one now you can see I put it in up that is also not what I would do I would go down
sometimes when I’m looking at the piece I forget what I’m doing you know what I mean slip stitch this way down into the piece and pull up your slip stitch down into the piece and if your colors were better you wouldn’t see the join but mine is just hodgepodge squares so definitely the joint is going to be visible
and it feels awkward it’s one of those things that takes practice if you’ve been crocheting for a long time you might say oh this is awkward I don’t like it I won’t do it and you forget how awkward it used to be when you started crocheting it’s okay to do things that are new and uncomfortable give it a try it is also okay to Simply say no I don’t like that I won’t do it it’s your project it’s not going to hurt my feelings if you say I don’t like that join I just wanted to show off some options so if you have two pieces that you need to join this is an option if you use a different color you might not even see it the other option we got more you have squares that don’t have envelope borders that are sealed like we just did you can do open envelope borders where you’re joining the top layers and the bottom layers that are open it allows you to still hide everything in between and I would still use the same flat braid join where you’re going from the top down into your project picking up one slip stitch then you go into the back Loop over here pick up one slip stitch it still creates a nice join and your colors will either make it pop or hide it if it’s the same color as everything you won’t even really see it so those are good options if you’ve done an envelope border like this that goes around only two sides you don’t even have to cut your yarn you can just keep going around if you’ve done an envelope border that goes around four sides I would suggest making strips so you’d have two squares here and two squares here and you could just keep going and then afterwards you’d want to go across the top and of course you want to join the front and the back that’s how I do it that’s an extra step but worth it
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