What a title for a blog post!

A bit of a mouthful, but it does exactly what it says.

Continuous join as you go or CJAYG

How on earth I’ve been crocheting for 5 years, and not found out about this until the last few months I do not know!

What does this actually mean?

Well, exactly what it says.

If you’ve sat and made a lot of squares/ hexagons/ triangles, and you want to join them together with one colour, this was is a great way to do it.

If you want to save this post for later – pin it using the picture below

The plus points to this method.

Crochet not sewing!

Only 2 ends per project to sew in at the joining stage!

Quick and methodical

Can be done using “granny” technique or Solid join.

Once you get the method, you can apply this to anything!

Starburst Granny blanket – you can find out about it here

Now I’ll be honest, the Starburst Granny blanket I made above, I crocheted together, but using single crochet, and boy do I wish now I’d joined them this way!

It took ages, and although I adore the blanket I made, I could have saved myself so much time and sewing, by doing CJAYG or Continuous Join As You Go.

The negatives……

Well there aren’t actually that many.

You need to have the order of your squares/ hexagons/ triangles decided before you start (which for some of my designs I don’t know until I start!)

If you go wrong a few rows back – you will need to “frog” the lot…. back to the error and start again.

You can only join with one colour –

it wouldn’t work for my HexiLove Blanket for example

But it’s perfect for my No Brainer CAL and exactly why I’ve written this post today!

What you need to know – (the writing bit)

You start in one corner, and work all the way around in up and downs to the next corner.

The above picture describes where you are going to go.

The way to think about it is:

1. You need to complete 3 sides of square 1

2. At this point pick up square 2. This will be joined to the 3rd side you’ve just finished for square 1.

The way you join you do will depend on the stitch used for the squares. For granny squares, Slip stitch into the next square space.

3. When you reach the top corner, where 2 and 1 join, work around square 2 as normal until 3 sides are complete.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until ONLY 2 sides are joined on square 4.

4. Pick up Square 5, and join the bottom edge of all the squares in the row to the top of the squares below (So each square of this row is joined on one side and in the middle, so SS from 5 to 3 diagonally, 6 to 2 and 7 to 1).

5. Now work the next 3 edges of Square 8, anticlockwise.

6. When Square 8 is complete join from 8 to 2 diagonally, do the same process for squares 7 (joining 7 to 3), 6 (joining 6 to 4) and 5.

7. Continue working straight down the side of Square 4, turn at the bottom, and continue all along the bottom edge.

Have I completely confused you?

Luckily…… the house was quiet (a very rare occasion with home schooling currently) and I recorded a Video to show you how to do it

Please hit the subscribe button too while you are on YouTube.

Any requests for more videos, let me know too!

I can’t believe I never learnt this before. I can now say any blanket made with squares/ circles/ hexagons and triangles….. I’ll be joining this way.