Joining Yarn: The Russian Join

“Yari, how do you join your yarn?” I’ve been asked this question time after time! Honestly, it’s one of my favorite questions because joining yarn can not only be difficult but weaving in those ends from the joins can also be tedious and can easily be the difference between work that looks sloppy and works that looks clean and well done.

My favorite method of joining yarn is the Russian Knot or the Russian Join. I’ve seen both terms used. For the purpose of this post we’re going with Russian Join (RJ). Though it can look a little confusing at first, this method is easy to do! It also means that you don’t have that ugly bulge from joining your yarn with an actual knot. This also means that your yarn won’t slip and come loose. Bonus!? NO WEAVING IN ENDS, YAY!

To do this, you need a large, blunt needle for yarn (whatever you use for weaving in those pesky ends), yarn, and a pair of scissors.

How to do a Russian Join:

1. Thread your  yarn needle with your current color.
2. Weave your needle through the yarn. Pull the needle and tail through the yarn and remove the needle. Make sure that there is a loop at the top.
3. Thread the needle with your new yarn. Pass the needle and yarn through the loop in your old yarn.
4. Weave the needle through the new yarn just as you did with the old yarn. Pull the needle and tail through the yarn and remove the needle.
5. Pull both yarn tails taut, closing the loops where the ends of the yarn meet.
6. Cut the tails of the yarn, then continue working!

 

Spruce Up Those Fleece Blankets!

Don’t have time to make an afghan, but really, really want to use your crochet skills? 

 

A great alternative is to purchase either fleece fabric or a fleece blanket and add a crochet trim. It’s surprisingly easy to do and you need very, very few supplies. In fact you can usually do this with less than a skein of yarn (if you’re only using one color). Before I realized that folks really did this, I knew that my Mama Abuela used to make these really pretty crochet trim borders around burp cloths or bibs. I believe she used lace crochet thread.She gifted them for new babies and I have to say they were absolutely stunning! I had the pleasure of watching her make these when I was a little girl. Years, later this still fascinates me! Unfortunately, I don’t have the patience to deal with thread. But, I do love yarn very much.

These are really simple to make! Just click below to see how:

Decoding Crochet Patterns: US/UK Conversions

Hello again everyone! I realized that on my Reading Crochet Patterns post, I touched on US patterns vs UK patterns. Every country has its own dialect, and patterns are no different! The terms the US uses are certainly a bit different than the UK. But! I don’t think that should stop anyone from creating a fantastic pattern if it’s written using another country’s terms.

In the spirit of “sharing,” below is my conversion chart on simple terms between the US and UK. Hopefully this helps you hook your way through a pattern you just HAVE to create, even if its written in different terms than you are accustomed to!

US → UK

Chain (ch)→Chain (ch)

Single crochet (sc) → double crochet (dc)

double crochet (dc) → treble crochet (tr)

half-double crochet (hdc) → half treble crochet (htr)

Treble crochet (tr) → double treble crochet (dtr)

Slip stitch (sl st) → slip stich (sl st)

As you can see, the terms and abbreviations are quite different, so it is important to understand what kind of pattern you are reading! Very few are similar, and this can avoid quite a lot of frustration if you know what exactly you are reading! Luckily, most patterns will state if they are written in US or UK terms!

Graphghans?!

While there are a lot of resources online and “How-To” sites dedicated to crochet, I find that finding information on graphing is relatively light. If it is, available, I feel like there is always a huge chunk missing to really explain how to do it… Especially for newbies like me. I feel like I can crochet just about anything, but have never tried a graphghan as it’s always seemed beyond me.

So… I bucked up… Took a deep breath… And got to researching and figuring it out!

Sites I found most helpful with information on this technique were [I will be linking you directly to the page with their info on graphing for convenience]:

• The Crochet Crowd – They have an excellent post on how to create graphs for crocheting.
• Yarn Hookers – This site has an entire series on creating graphghans, color transitions, and reading graphs. I highly recommend reviewing their website if you want to learn this technique.
• My Photo Stitch – Free website to create graphs out of photos.

Overall, I absolutely loved all the information provided by The Crochet Crowd and Yarn Hookers. I also got on youtube and just did a search for how to create graphghans, and spent several hours watching.

Of course, I decided to go with something a little more difficult, instead of a simple shape. Go big or go home, right?! My boyfriend is a HUGE gamer and thus spent hours fussing over logos and images from various games and he finally settled on Final Fantasy VII — making a special request for something made with that on it.

Original Image:

 

FVII Logo

Image Rendered by My Photo Stitches

FVII Pixelated Image

When I get a little further, I will update on my progress with the afghan!

I hope this information is a little more helpful and can provide a little more direction on how to tackle a project like this.