CJAYG Granny Squares
In the spring of last year, my sister told me she was having another baby. Therefore, I immediately started making granny squares for a cute little baby blanket. It was the ideal opportunity to work on a tutorial for the Continuous Join As You Go technique. Is it weird to use real-life stuff for crochet blog content?! No, of course not!
The granny squares waited a long time for me to put together with a very simple CJAYG method. For ten months, the squares sat waiting for their Continuous JAYG treatment. I was very late. I gifted the baby blanket last week, when we went to Scotland for a few days. Its recipient is now three and a half months old! Whoops. Do you think I’ll be forgiven?
What Is CJAYG?
The Continuous Join As You Go (or CJAYG) is a really quick and seamless way to join granny squares with the same yarn. No cutting! No rejoining! No ends to sew in! Rejoice!
This crochet joining method looks complicated, but once you make the first couple of steps, I find it clicks into place super fast. However, sometimes I need a reminder of the order in which to join the granny squares, so I draw myself a little map!
Video Tutorial for Continuous Join As You Go
The CJAYG road map is very, very handy. But what’s really handy is a video tutorial to demonstrate each step of how to continuously work around the outside of granny squares to bring them together in one beautiful crochet blanket.
I have put together a video tutorial for you so that you can see how I use a Continuous Join As You Go to make a blanket in one cohesive way.
The Difference Between JAYG and CJAYG
The Continuous Join As You Go (CJAYG), as established, uses the same yarn all in one, with no cutting. However, JAYG, or Join As You Go, does require the yarn to be cut.
I use JAYG if my granny squares are going to have different colours on the last round of each motif. There are still ends to weave in, but at least you don’t have to sew anything together. It’s also nice and quick to crochet, as well.
JAYG is perfect for colourful granny squares, but you can also use it for other stitches too. There’s a different JAYG technique for Corner 2 Corner crochet, for example. I use that in my Mixed Tape Melody blanket and my Milis sweater.
What To Watch Out for When Using Continuous Join As You Go
My most common mistake when using Continuous Join As You Go is that I accidentally miss a space between granny clusters. Instead, I’ll slip stitch into the following space and get all confused when the squares don’t match. It’s a simple fix. If something feels wonky, check, spot the error and undo. The chances are, you won’t have gone too far before you spot this mistake.
In the photo below, I have done exactly this. If you look closely, you’ll see that I didn’t slip stitch between the first and second granny clusters on the right-hand square. I noticed when I got to the next corner, the clusters were out of sync. It took no time to redo, and the crisis was averted!
I quite often accidentally join the wrong sides together, too, and start creating weird 3D shapes. It’s not anything to panic about. Again, check often and just redo.
Top Tips to Organise Your CJAYG Squares
There are a couple of other useful things that I think are helpful for this Continuous Join As You Go method:
- Pop a stitch marker into the very first stitch you made. This is your first corner, and it helps you keep track of the direction you’re working in.
- Arrange each row of granny squares in organised piles so that you can reach for them when it’s time to do the next row. If it’s a big blanket, tie them in separate numbered bundles so you maintain the order in which you want them to be.
- Check often, lay your blanket out now and then to ensure there are no mistakes.
- If it’s a new technique for you, it’s a good one to work on at a table or on the floor at first. It’s not essential, obviously, but I think it stops rogue squares pushing in where they are not supposed to be. It maintains the square order more easily and helps you join squares in the right place.
Colours To Choose For a CJAYG Granny Square Blanket
So, you’ll need one colour for your CJAYG round. Ensure you have a couple of hundred grams for a baby-sized blanket, more if it’s bigger. This should be enough for the joining of squares, plus a cute crochet border. I like to choose a neutral colour to do this when there are lots of colourful granny squares.
Crocheting a granny square baby blanket is a great opportunity to play with colourful yarn. If you’re not that confident in knowing how to arrange the colours for each round of granny squares, let me show you one way I approach it; guess who has a video tutorial!?
It’s from when I made the squares for this baby blanket back in June last year. I go through how to balance and distribute the colours among the squares in a super easy way.
A Finished Granny Square Blanket Using CJAYG
Wow! I had almost forgotten how long ago it was since I started this granny square blanket. It’s a relief and a pleasure to have it done and gifted. Let’s hope it gets lots of use. I know that my niece has been eyeballing it already, but she already has plenty of blankets – this one is for her little brother. What can I say, we’re a blanketty family!
The last rounds were worked in the car on the way to visit my new nephew in Scotland. It’s always last-minute with me! It was a very simple border consisting of as many granny rounds as I could get with the yarn I had (approx 200 grams).
The last round was 7dc (UK tr) scallops. Would you be interested in a pattern?!
