Joining and seams · Easy
Flat braid join
The flat braid join links squares by their last round, with no sewing. That round is a row of chain loops, held down by single crochet (UK double crochet). On every square after the first, each loop that faces a finished square is linked through the loop opposite it: take the hook out of the working loop, put it through the other square's loop, catch the working loop again and pull it through. The linked loops lie flat between the squares like a braid.
How to work it
Link it
Take the hook out of the working loop. Put the hook through the loop opposite on the finished square, catch the working loop again and pull it through.
Go on to the corner
Link every loop along the side in the same way, each to its partner, then finish the round along the sides that are still free.
At a glance
- Used for
- joining the squares of a blanket as each one is finished; squares whose last rounds do not have the same number of stitches; an open, braided line between the squares
- What it is
- A join-as-you-go worked on the last round of each square
- The loops
- Teachers use loops of different sizes: 2 chains with a longer loop of 4 at each corner, or 3 chains all round. Use one size for the whole blanket.
- Where the link goes
- Part-way through the loop: chain, link, then chain the rest. On a side loop the link comes before the last chain.
- What a square needs
- The same number of loops along each side as its neighbors, so that every loop has a partner. The number of stitches under the loops does not have to match.
- The first square
- Has the whole round of loops and no links
- Sewing
- None
The move that makes this join is the hook coming out of the loop. The loop itself is passed through the neighbor's loop and then finished with a chain, which gives the small twist where the two loops cross.
The loops are anchored into whatever the edge of the square offers. One teacher works a single crochet into each chain space round the edge of the square. Another works a round of single crochet first, with three stitches in each corner, and anchors a loop in every second stitch of it.
Because the join counts loops and not stitches, squares with different stitch counts can be joined by it. Space the loops on each square so that every side ends up with the same number, skipping a stitch more or less where you must.
At a corner where four squares meet, teachers do not all do the same thing. One links each new corner loop to the corner of the square it is being joined to, corner to corner. Another leaves a corner loop free in the body of the blanket until the square diagonally opposite is added, and links those two, so that the two diagonal pairs cross each other at the middle. Round the outside of the blanket, corners that meet are linked at once.
When it goes wrong
- A loop has no partner at the end of a side.
- The two squares do not have the same number of loops along that side. Pull the round back and space the loops again so that the numbers match.
Questions
- What is a flat braid join?
- A way of joining squares as you go. The last round of each square is chain loops, and each loop is pulled through the loop opposite it on the square beside it. The linked loops lie flat between the squares.
- Do my squares need the same number of stitches?
- No. They need the same number of loops along each side. How many stitches lie under the loops can differ from square to square.
- How is it different from join as you go?
- It is one kind of join-as-you-go: the squares are joined while their last round is worked. Where the join of the Join as you go page is a slip stitch worked into the other square, here the hook is taken out of the loop and the loop is drawn through the other square's loop.