For the Crocheters...the Invisible Join

Over the years, as I have learned more and more about crocheting, I have found two "secrets" that I don't know how I managed without before I learned about them. Understand that these techniques are no way, no how, original with me. If you Google them, you'll find dozens of tutorials on how to do them. I've opted to share them in our blog, not because I'm awesome with them or I'm a great hand model, but because I want to include a link in the patterns we're beginning to publish so that if people don't know how to do them, they've got an easy way to find the instructions. 

The two techniques are the magic ring (aka the magic circle, the adjustable loop or any combination of these). Those instructions will come tomorrow. :) The second technique, the one I'm going to share here, is called the invisible join. I use it to finish off nearly all of the hats I make. With this technique, you make a nice, smooth join as you finish off, so that it is nearly, well, invisible!

And without further ado...the invisible join!

For my example, I've just finished a hat and am ready to fasten it off. 

 First, remove your crochet hook and leave a bit of a loop.
Cut the yarn about 3-4" from the last stitch.

Next, pull on the loop so that the tail comes out and you don't have a loop anymore.

Now, thread a yarn needle with the tail that you have just pulled through. Insert the needle into the stitch you want to join to. (When I'm doing this on a hat, I always use the first stitch to the left of the chain that began that round. Translated: the first stitch in that last round.) Be sure to go under both loops with your needle, just as you would if you were crocheting a stitch, and pull the yarn through.

 

Now it gets a wee bit tricky...well, tricky to explain, at least, but hopefully easy to
understand and do! Put your needle down through the back loop of your last stitch
and pull the needle through, to the inside, until you have that nice little
v-shape that technically isn't a stitch, but looks very much like one!

Pull it until it is the same size as your other stitches, and voila!...you have a nice smooth join at the base of your hat! 

 
Happy joining!