Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join
I have started to work on my Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join. I have figured out how I will join but in order to share how I’m working it up, I have to film as I go and make up the instructions as I go so please bear with me as I work this up.
I looked online for ways to join Octagon and Squares afghans and I only came across one method posted by The Crochet Crowd. In the tutorial they show how to join by sewing and if you know me, I can sew but really don’t like to! I had to find another way! With no idea I set my work aside until one day, one of my Instagram followers shared an image of her work with me. She was hooking up my flower bud granny square and I loved the look of the join she was using, check it out..
She was using the join method from this video tutorial on YouTube.. https://youtu.be/U-zqfgtQmTE. I immediately knew this was the join method I wanted to use for my Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan.
I have started to put together a video tutorial which I think will be enough to help people use the same join technique as I am but as I continue to work on this project I may run into some extra info, or you may have some questions. Please feel free to leave me a comment with any questions you might have and I will do my best to help.
The original pattern and pattern notes for the butterfly octagon garden can be found HERE. To join I will be using Caron Simply Soft in the colour Blue Mint.
If you checked out the video above on joining you will notice that the join technique is for squares with an even number of stitches along each side. My Butterfly Garden Octagon and squares have an uneven number of stitches around each side. There’s 15 stitches so I had to make a little adjustment to the join method.
I started trying out the join method working from my ball of yarn. I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to work from the ball, I would need to have more than one strand being worked at a time so I pulled out my work and worked up the edging around a square and around an octagon. Once I was done I added an extra yard to account for the fact that the join was not worked. You may want to work up around your own octagon and square first to find out how much yarn you will need around each piece since you may crochet tighter or looser than myself, make sure to add an extra yard to your total so you don’t come up short!
It was about 15 yards around an octagon so I will be using 16 yard bobbins and my Square was around 6.5 yards so I will be using 7 yard bobbins.
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join Pattern notes..
Get the Butterfly Garden Octagon and Squares pattern HERE.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
- Octagon bobbins – 16 yards
- Square bobbins – 7 yards
Special Supplies:
- Yarn Bobbins (if you do not have any, some cut up cardboard would work)
- Stitch Markers (use them to keep your place since you will have multiple strands being worked at once)
**Before getting started, make sure to lay out all your pieces exactly how you want them, it’ll help you to figure out how to join. More info on this coming soon!**
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join Starting the 1st square..
To get started you will need to work an edging around a square. Find your corner stitch, you’ll see 3 dc worked in each corner (as shown below), insert your hook into the center dc (this is your square corner stitch).
Draw up your yarn you will use for joining, ch 1, sc in same dc, (*ch 3, sk 1 dc, sc in next dc, rep from * 6 more times, ch 3, sc in next st) 3 times, **ch 3, sk 1 dc, sc in next dc, rep from ** 6 more times, ch 3, join with sl st to beg sc, fasten off, weave in ends.
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join Starting the 1st Octagon..
Insert hook into a ch1 space on your Octagon, draw up your yarn, ch 1, sc in same ch1 sp, ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into ch3 sp on your square to the left (to the right for lefties) of the corner ch3 sp, ch 1, sk next 2 tr, sc in next tr, ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into next ch3 sp on your square, ch 1, sk next dc, sc in next dc, (ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into next ch3 sp on your square, ch 1, sk next hdc, sc in next hdc) 2 times, ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into next ch3 sp on your square, ch 1, sk next dc, sc in next dc, ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into next ch3 sp on your square, ch 1, sk next tr, sc in next tr, ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into next ch3 sp on your square, ch 1, sk next tr, sc in ch1 sp, ch 2, draw up loop, remove hook, insert hook into next ch3 sp on your square, ch 1, sc in same ch1 sp, place a stitch marker in your work to keep place.
Now you have your first side joined, you will need to start an edge on a new Octagon to start joining 2 octagons together.
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join Starting 2nd Octagon..
Insert hook into a ch1 space on your Octagon, draw up your yarn, ch 1, sc in same ch1 sp, ch 3, sk next 2 tr, sc in next tr, sk next dc, sc in next dc, (ch 3, sk next hdc, sc in next hdc) 2 times, ch 3, sk next dc, sc in next dc, ch 3, sk next tr, sc in next tr, ch 3, sk next tr, sc in ch1 sp, ch 3, sc in same ch1 sp.
Now you have one side of your octagon to join to your 1st octagon the same way as the 1st octagon was joined to the 1st square. If you need some help, check out the video tutorial I put together on YouTube or check out the stitch placement on the chart pattern below.
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join Video Help..
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Join Chart..
Butterfly Garden Octagon Afghan Edging..
I still am not 100% sure how I will finish the edges of my afghan though I’m considering using the same type of stitching as my join. I will update this area once I finally get to that part. Until then, please feel free to share your work with me, I’d love to see!
Have you made your own Crochet Butterfly Octagon Afghan Join? Please share your pictures on my Facebook WALL or ‘hook up‘ your project on Ravelry.
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