Joining Squares.

Hello Everyone, hope you are well and happy on this chilly friday. This post is by special request for Rachel, who apparently has a bit of an obsession with different methods of joining at the moment! Rachel wanted to know what method I was using to join my squares so….. here you go….

I am sewing my squares together as opposed to crocheting them together. When you use the crochet method it creates a raised edge between the squares, which can look good but is not the look I want to achieve with my blanket. There is enough going on with all the colours and different sized squares – we don’t need anything else!

Apparently the stitch I am using is commonly called whip stitch and there are loads of tutorials online for it if you search. I can’t remember now which one I looked at originally. Its REALLY simple and easy to do (most of the time!!). But I have some photos for you anyway.

I hold the right sides of the squares together (some tutorials show you how to do it with the squares lying flat side by side) and match up the edges and the corners. The yarn tends to be still attached to the square from finishing off. I put my needle through the back loops only – which also tend to be the uppermost loops on each edge (other tutorials show different ways and I guess there is no right or wrong, it just makes for a slightly different end result).

I continue along the edge, putting my needle through the back loops, from front to back, until I reach the other end. Hopefully at this point the corners are still matching although occasionally they don’t quite and I have to ease them to fit a little :s

This is what the back looks like. Incidentally I haven’t done any blocking at all with my blanket (bad, bad, naughty crocheter – sorry I just couldn’t face it).

And this is what the front looks like. Wow that red is strong!

I haven’t had too many problems with this method, its fairly straight forward. Its a bit of a puzzle sometimes working out which yarn tail I am going to use to sew which square but that is more to do with the nature of the blanket. I have had the occasional problem where the tension of the odd square is different to the others so it has come out slightly larger/smaller (do other people have these problems??) and again I have to ease things a little to fit. Its only slight so hopefully won’t shown when its all finished (or am I hopelessly naive??). As I have said before, I am not aiming for perfection. I’m not an expert – I’m learning, so naivety and mistakes are allowed!!! Hey, its the first blanket I have made.

Well, there you go Rachel. Hope that helps. Don’t think I would cut it as a hand model somehow! Off to find the hand cream now! Enjoy your weekend everyone.