Crochet is a great way to join together knitted strips or squares, as in this rainbow bedspread. It's less stretchy than knitting, which means that it will give your blanket more structure and less sag. To join knitted garter stitch squares or strips together, insert crochet hook into a stitch at edge of each strip, pass yarn over hook and draw it through the first two loops on hook, pass yarn over and draw it through the other two loops. Repeat along the edge of the strips. You'll have a created a strong crochet seam - the perfect finishing touch for your knitting.

Easy-to-follow photo and video tutorial that shows how to join knitted squares or panels using the baseball stitch.

A tutorial for how to make near-invisible seams in garter stitch knitted fabric using the mattress stitch.

There are so. many. ways. to join crochet squares and afghan blocks! And I know that lots of you have been eagerly awaiting this list - the Moogly Afghan CAL for this year is winding down, and it's time to start thinking about how we're going to attach all of these blocks together to make one big blankie. So let's get started! I've linked to photo and/or video tutorials for each of 12 14 methods for joining afghan squares (I've added new ones!)! 12 14 Ways to Join Crochet Squares Click on the names of the methods you like to go

Hello, how are you today? Welcome to our blog About Crochet. We hope you are very well and looking forward to a new Free Crochet Pattern or Tutorial.

How to seam two finished pieces of knitting with a knitted section, this technique can be particularly useful if you are making a blanket with many squares, or have made a garment that needs a little extra room. This seaming is easily removed as all you have to do is rip it out the same way you would with any knit fabric, and could be used for a design purpose such as adding a stripe of alternating color or a decorative element like a cable. To begin gather your two pieces that need joining a set of needles ( or just 2 dpns) and the yarn you want to use. For the first section of this tutorial I am working on joining up two separate samples, the green one will end up on the right hand side of the join and the white one will end up on the left hand side of the join. Cast on stitches using the backwards loop method, for these samples I cast on between 5 and 7 stitches. To work the backwards loop method hold the yarn in your left hand with the active tail coming from the back of your thumb around to the front in a counterclockwise manner. Bring the needle under the loop in front of the thumb and drop your thumb out, tension stitch and repeat. I chose this method for cast on because it does not leave a chunky edge cast on and so sits more flush with the edge of the fabric. Now turn the work and knit to the last stitch, slip this stitch knitwise changing the slant of the stitch. This will be a little fiddly since this is simply a twisted loop on the needle but it will work out I promise. Now look for your first pickup spot on the work, this first pickup will be worked on the left hand side of the piece as you are looking at it. For this join the green piece is on the right side and the white piece is on the left side so we are picking up from the white piece first. Your first pickup spot will be the 2nd row in from the edge, these swatches both have a garter stitch edge so there will be one pickup in between each garter ridge. Pickup and Knit 1 stitch into this spot, now without changing the stitch slant the left needle tip needs to be inserted into the front loops as shown. This can either be achieved by slipping both stitches back to the left tip and inserting the right tip through the back loop, or simply inserting the left tip from back to front through the front loops. Wrap yarn and pull through, this is working a k2tog through the back loops. Entire Row 1 is as follows (RS): K to last stitch, slip 1 kwise, pickup and knit 1 stitch into edge of work, insert left needle tip from back to front through front loops, K2tog tbl. Now turn the work, slip the first stitch purlwise, purl across to the last stitch, slip this stitch purlwise tip to tip which does not change the slant of the stitch. Now here is the tricky part, keeping the yarn forward and working from back to front insert the needle into the swatch. This means that the needle has to come from the rightside of the the work to the wrongside of the work, which is challenging because the wrongside is facing at the moment. First picture you can see that the yarn is in front of the work, then you bring the needle from back to front and then pull up a stitch. Now you need the left tip inserted into these stitches in the back, so either slip both stitches to the left needle tip to tip and insert the right needle to work a p2tog, or just insert the left needle tip into the back from left to right. Wrap and pull through as a p2tog, you can see that the work is now joined with 2 rows of stitches. Entire Row 2 (WS): Slip 1 pwise, p to last stitch, sl1 pwise, with yarn in front of work and wrong side of work facing pickup and purl 1 stitch from back to front, slip both stitches to left needle and p2tog. Row 3 (RS): Sl1 pwise, K to last stitch, slip 1 kwise, pickup and knit 1 stitch into edge of work, insert left needle tip from back to front through front loops, K2tog tbl. Now work Row 3 for the next right side ( it begins with a slipped stitch, that's the only difference) and repeat Rows 2-3 for the remainder of the join, make sure to pick up 1 stitch for every 2 rows, so either 1 in each garter valley or every second 'V' on your edge. This is the location of the second pickup, on the other side of the garter bump. And the location of the next wrong side row pickup, again a garter bump away from the first one. Here is the finished piece, as you can see the join is fairly invisible on the cream colored side but more obvious with the contrast color, something to keep in mind. If you want to use a contrast color and have less show at the join try using a thicker yarn with smaller needles. Just for fun I altered the join halfway through to show what it would look like if the rows were actually written as this: Row 1 (RS): K to last stitch, slip 1 kwise, pickup and knit 1 stitch into edge of work, pass slipped stitch over, turn work Row 2 (WS): P to last stitch, sl1 pwise, with yarn in front of work and wrong side of work facing pickup and purl 1 stitch from back to front, pass slipped stitch over, turn work This changes the join slightly but creates a more looped decorative edge, I bet you could pick up into those loops pretty nicely and work some lace, or another cable or, or, or... And here is the same basic technique worked on a sample sleeve, if you knit a sweater and find you need more room in circumference of the sleeves and body you could join it with an inch of work at each seam and have a better fit!

I first came across 'constructional' knitting in a magazine a couple of years ago; learning to make and join 'mitred' squares opened up a whole new world for me and I was quickly addicted! One of the chief bonuses is there are NO seams to sew up! :-) I've included some of my square blankets in previous posts ( here and there for example ) but when I was asked by some members of our embryonic church crafting group to explain the technique I decided I needed to do something easy for people to follow! One of the activities we take part in is making blankets for charities worldwide; some of our more 'senior' knitters can only manage to knit the individual squares - these are then sewn up by those of us with more nimble fingers, as we'd like EVERYONE to be able to take part even if they're not able to cope with the growing weight of a blanket. Meanwhile, to save sewing-up, the more 'adventurous' amongst us asked me how to do the construction method. So, without wishing to teach any of you experienced knitters out there how to 'suck eggs' (and I know there are other examples out there on the 'web) - here's my first attempt at a tutorial! -oOo- How to knit a mitred square Mitred squares require an odd number of stitches. For the pictures in this example I used 33 stitches. (Edited 19/11/14). I've been asked about altering the sizes - the basic rule of thumb is: always cast on an odd number of stitches and always decrease over the central 3 stitches. Using DK yarn, 4mm needles and casting on 55 stitches will yield a 6" square, approx., following the instructions below but using the stitch counts in brackets. Cast on 33 (55) stitches. 1st row. K to last st; P1 2nd row. Sl 1, K to last st; P1 3rd row. Sl 1, K to middle 3 sts; (sl 1, K2tog, PSSO); K to last st; P1 4th row. Sl 1, K to last st; P1 Repeat 3rd and 4th rows until 3 sts remain; after final 4th row K remaining 3 sts tog. Now you have completed the first square. Well done! Draw yarn through loop and cut end. To start the 2nd square, pick up and knit 17 (28) sts down one side of 1st square: Then continue and cast on 16 (27) more sts. You should now have 33 (55) sts on needle: Next row: K to last st.; P1 Now continue to rep 3rd and 4th rows as on previous square until completed: Continue to add squares until desired width is achieved. You will see that the mid-row decreases create a diagonal ‘line’. Now to create a new row of squares on top! Cast on 16 (27) sts, then pick up 17 (28) sts along edge of block, like this: Again, you’ll have 33(55) sts on needle. Next row: K to last st.; P1 Continue 3rd and 4th row repeats as before and complete the square: So, 1st square was Blue; 2nd square was Pink; 3rd square was Green. To make the 4th square, this time you’ll be picking ALL your stitches like this: From the top left hand side of the green square, pick up 16 (27) sts; pick up 1 st at the corner of the blue square: then continue to pick up a further 16 (27) sts along the adjacent side of the pink square. You should now have 33 (55) sts on needle. K to last st; P1. Continue as before, repeating the original 3rd and 4th row: If you continue in this manner, always adding squares right to left, you will see that the diagonal ‘lines’ run all in the same direction. If you want to create a diagonal zig-zag with each new row of squares you just need to alter the direction you add the squares: This time you’ll be placing your squares left to right. See pic. above. Start picking up stitches from the right hand side of the square below (purple) and pick up 17 (28) sts, then cast on a further 16 (27). Now you have your 33 (55) sts in total, carry on and complete the square. Repeat the process to add a new square: Start from the top right of the green square and pick up 17 (28) sts. Note: the 17th (28th) stitch will be picked up from the corner of the square below (purple, in this case), then continue to pick up a further 16 (27), making 33 (55) sts. in total. Can you see the change of diagonal direction? Just alternate between these two methods for each row of squares and you’ll see the zigzag appear! -oOo- There - I hope this explains the technique easily! Picking up and knitting stitches for each new square saves the laborious procedure of sewing the squares together - and if you turn your work over you'll see it also gives a nice smooth finish! The only dilemma with creating blankets in this way is - which colour shall I use next.....! ;-)

Our Join As You Knit Tutorial illuminates this no-sew technique for seamless knitting. Connect garter stitch pieces as you work!