Since crochet has always been a point of relaxation for me, I never have fully appreciated joining work together. Actually I have avoided it like the plague, granny squares looked lovely, but then I’d have to put them all together! That afghan made in strips is attractive, but then I have to find a tapestry needle and sew it together. Well that takes the relaxation out of my work with hooks. So I left them alone for a long time, then the world of join as you go opened up to me. This is the process of working a motif and on the last row you work through to edge of the ones already created and thus work them together, joining with my hook as I create the final row. Genius!! This has brought a new world of crochet to my hook.  Without this technique I would have never used some scraps to make the pillow see in the photo.

To get this to work for you here are the things to keep in mind. Where do the stitches come in contact with each other? Do you want an open join (kind of like lace) or a solid join? Are your motifs the same size? What shape are you joining together? The simplest to work out is putting together a square motif, or at least one with straight sides. If you are already using a motif based pattern then the attachment of the motifs has already been thought out, so you just have to modify it to allow you to work the last row with the ones already created. If there are spaces in that last row, it much easier to connecting point, but you can work around regular stitches or in between them.

You never know what interesting designs you find in bring two pieces together, and that applies to much more then crochet, and joining as you go is a good metaphor for the path of my life. I use to treat my life as chapters of a book, which I have closed one chapter to move on to another, but really I find myself reflecting on past “chapters”.  So using the metaphor of a “join as you go afghan” might be more appropriate, since they build on one another and are forever connected.

This has opened my thoughts and given a new direction with my hook to enjoy the classic crochet works of motifs, without the hassle. I hope you will investigate this option for yourself as well.