Continuous Join as You Go

Hello again.

Those of you who are familiar with my crochet patterns, will know that I love Granny Squares. They feature in almost all of my designs in some form or another, and more often than not are joined with some form of Join as You Go method.

In the Beach Walk Blanket above, I used Continuous Join as You Go (or CJAYG) for the centre squares. Likewise for the Winter Season Blanket below.

And the centre squares of my new Moody Blues Blanket had a CJAYG join done in the beautiful variegated James C Brett Stonewash, below.

Now, I hear lots of people groan when it comes to CJAYG, and I have to admit that was me as well, until fairly recently.

The written instructions always seemed so complicated, and it wasn’t until I came across a video tutorial by Hooked by Robin, that it all became clear. I realised just how straightforward it actually is, once it clicked in my brain.

So, when I was writing up my patterns, I would point people in the direction of that video as an extra guide. But there is a slight difference in our way of working the CJAYG. The stitch size is different, and she uses more chains in her pattern than I do, so although helpful for some people, it was confusing for others.

Yup, it was long overdue for me to make my own video tutorial, and as I’m currently writing up the pattern for the Moody Blues Blanket, now seemed a good time.

And yes, I’ve done just that! I roped in my obliging husband to draw up a grid to show the layout and direction of working, and I’ve just filmed the video tutorial.

It’s now available to all on my You Tube channel

http://www.youtube.com/c/WoolThreadPaint

and I hope it helps to explain this really great joining method in as simple a way as possible.

By the way, I’m not a professional video maker you understand – I’m just an old woman with an iPhone, so I hope you cut me some slack!!

The other thing is that I’ve saved the grid my husband drew up, as a pdf file for you to download and print, if you like. I think it will be useful to have at your side when doing the CJAYG, as it’s easy to lose your direction of travel when joining the squares.

There is a right handed and and left handed version to choose from below

Right Handed Version

Left Handed Version

I hope you find this useful when working on one of my patterns. Rest assured, granny squares and their joining methods will always be a part of my designs!

And there are more video tutorials in the pipeline…..

Bye for now,

Marion x