Crochet Joining (From the Front)

★☆☆ - Beginner

Using crochet to join motifs together is great if you prefer not to sew as all the joining can be done with your crochet hook.  By joining from the front, as in this tutorial, you can create a feature of your joins as the crochet creates ridges that provides extra texture and depending on what colour yarn you use, it can add a whole new dimension to your project.

To join the squares together it's probably easier if you have already made all the squares you want to join.  You'll be joining whole rows of squares to each other at once with this method, so if you are making a blanket or cushion for example, you can make all your squares and spend a little time arranging them.  That way you'll be able to get the effect you want before joining them and you'll have a clear idea of which squares to join to each other as you work.

There are four main ways of using double crochet (US sc) to join squares together:

Joined from front (squares held wrong side together)
- Double crochet's (US sc's) through back loops only.
- Double crochet's (US sc's) through both loops.

Note that you can also use crochet to join the squares from the back to create a different look.  See: Crochet Joining (From the Back)

For this tutorial I'm going to show you how to join the squares together from the front, using the back loops only, but I'll show you examples of the other style of crocheted join at the end.

If you'd like more help with making the square motif, please have a look at my Solid Granny Square tutorial.

PART ONE:  JOINING THE FIRST SQUARES & ROWS

Once the blanket is laid out, begin by joining the squares together by working along the rows horizontally, from right to left.  Start by joining the first and second rows together.  Pic shows the first square of the first row and the first square of the second row and we'll going to hold them so that the wrong sides are together and the right sides are facing out.

We'll start in the corner stitch of each square and we'll just be using the back loops to join, which are the two loops which are touching on the squares.  So insert your hook under the back loop of the first square and then under the back loop on the next square. 

Pull a wrap your joining yarn over your hook and pull through both loops and then make one chain. 

Now we'll make a double (single) crochet to start the join, so insert your hook into the same two loops and make a double (single) crochet.

Then insert your hook under the two loops of the next stitches on each square and make another double (single) crochet. 

Carry on all along the edge of the two squares, making a double (single) crochet in each stitch. Remember to check that the stitches of each square are lining up each time, it can be easy to miss one, or put two in the same place and then your squares will not line up nicely. 

Once you have reached the corner stitch of the first two squares don't break the yarn as we can continue joining straight across the next set of squares. (We'll be joining the second square of the first row and the second square of the second row next.) 

 Hold the next two squares together in the same way, with the right sides facing outwards, and again, just working under the back loops of the stitches in each square, make a double (single) crochet into the corner stitch.

Then simply carry on along the sides of these next two squares until you have worked into each stitch.  Continue on in this way until you have all of the first row and second row of squares joined to each other.  Then you can break the yarn.

Once you have joined rows 1 & 2, next join rows 3 & 4 together, then 5 & 6 and so on.  Once that is done you can start joining rows 1 & 2, to rows 3 & 4 and so, until all the rows linked and all the horizontal joins have been made. 

PART TWO: VERTICAL JOINS

Now we can work on joining all the columns of squares together.   So rotate your squares so that you can work from right to left again.

Now we just repeat the process, starting with your first set of squares, pull a loop of your joining yarn through, make 1 chain and then make a double (single) crochet in the same place.  Then make a double (single) crochet into the back loops of each stitch on the two squares. 

Once you reach the corner, you'll meet your joining crochet stitches going the other way, but don't break the yarn because we can work straight over this.

After you have made the last stitch in the previous two squares, just insert your hook into the back loops of the corner stitches of the next two squares and make a double (single) crochet in the same way as normal.

Carry on working into each set of stitches for all the squares along the column to the end, working over each line of joining crochet that you meet as described above.  Then all you need to do is repeat the same process for all the remaining columns until they are all joined.

EXAMPLES OF CROCHET JOINS FROM THE FRONT:

(WRONG SIDES OF SQUARES HELD TOGETHER)

Crocheting through the back loops only - wrong sides together (as tutorial above)

Completed join seen from the front:
This is how the front will look, just as I showed above. Notice that by leaving the front loops unworked, each square has a little border around it, formed from the front loops.  The square also lies a little flatter this way.

Completed join seen from the back:
Here's the same join from the back.

Crocheting through both loops - wrong sides together

Completed join seen from the front:
This is very similar to the method above, except that your hook is inserted under both loops of the stitch on each square.  The look is very similar to the above, except that there is no little border around the squares and the joining stitches stand a little more proud of the work.  

Completed join seen from the back:
Here's the same view from the back, the effect is identical to above.

Next Steps:

✽  Find out how to make Crochet Joins (From the Back)

✽  Find out how to Join As You Go

✽  Find out how to work Mattress Stitch Joins