Kaleidoscope Part 05 © Catherine Bligh

Kaleidoscope

Joining 01

This fortnight, you’ll be working on joining triangles 2 and 3 together. You will be creating four larger
sections, and eight smaller sections. Refer to diagram 01 for the layout of these; the larger sections are
marked in red, and the smaller sections are marked in green.

Pay very close attention to the diagrams of the layout, to make sure you’re joining the correct triangles
together. And do use the diagrams for the direction of joining (diagrams 02 and 03). You can join these
sections using just one seam if you do! You can, of course, choose to join with smaller seams, it will just
mean more ends to sew in.

I strongly advise using safety pins (either straight or curved) to hold your triangles together and keep
things straight. It will save you time and frustration!

The pieces are joined from the back, with the front sides facing each other, using double crochet, through
both loops of each stitch (when joining the top of triangles together) or through loops of the edge of the
stitch (when joining the sides of triangles together). Be careful not to work around the whole post of the
stitch! You want to work through the post.

Work all joins in colour A.

Colour Code Jewellery Box Old Rose Tequila Sunrise Your choices
Colour A White Cream Grey

Page 1 of 6
Kaleidoscope Part 05 © Catherine Bligh

Stitches for part 05 (UK terms)

sl st = slip stitch
ch = chain
dc = double crochet

Standing stitches: standing dc. These are a great way to begin a round without joining new yarn with a slip
stitch and chains. It makes the first stitch look like all the others, and you can easily make an ‘invisible’
join at the end, and so avoid having to slip stitch to join the last stitch to the first stitch in a round. There
are a number of excellent tutorials online on how to do these stitches. If you’re not happy using standing
stitches, just join new yarn in the normal way with a slip stitch and then ch1 for dc, ch2 for htc, etc, and
then at the end of the round join with a sl st to the ‘top’ ch of the beginning chain.

Invisible join: There are a number of good tutorials online, and this can be done with either a chained
beginning stitch or a standing stitch. This is optional. If you prefer to join the last stitch to the first stitch
with a slip stitch, feel free to do that. I will generally say ‘do an invisible join’, but if I specifically say to
join with a sl st, then please do that.

Pattern instruction notes

Individual round notes will be marked in bold.

Example: Note: you don’t have to carry the emperor all the way around this round. Leave it
loose at the back of your work, and pick it up at the beginning of the next round

Helpful hints (eg, about stitch placements) will be bracketed, italicised, and coloured red.
Example: Ch4 (counts as one tc plus ch1, here and throughout), then tc in same space.

A ch3 (or ch2) at the beginning of a round always counts as a beginning tc (or beginning htc), unless
otherwise stated.

Where you are not working directly into the round below, the relevant round will be bolded.

The numbers in brackets at the end of each round’s instructions are the numbers of stitches that should be
in that round.

A ‘hard’ repeat (eg, one side of a square or octagon) is started with * and ends with **.
A ‘soft’ repeat (eg, a repeated pattern within each side of a square) is started with << and ends with >>.

Note: when breaking off yarn, remember to leave a nice long tail to make it easier to sew it in securely at
the end.

Page 2 of 6
Kaleidoscope Part 05 © Catherine Bligh
Joining – Part 01
Beginning with a standing dc, work one double crochet into each dc stitch, and two double crochets into
each tc stitch. Where a ch3 counts as a tc stitch, work into the two unused chain stitches that make up the
post of the tc stitch.

The dc stitches will create a ridge on the back And from the front, it will look almost
of your work. like a stitched join.
There should be 24 stitches along the edge of each triangle. This includes a dc in the first chain of the
beginning ch4 of each triangle. It may help to remember that the stitches on rows for all the triangles,
from point to top, are as follows:

1 – tc 6 – tc 11 – dc 16 – dc
2 – tc 7 – dc 12 – dc 17 – dc
3 – tc 8 – dc 13 – dc
4 – dc 9 – dc 14 – tc
5 – dc 10 – tc 15 – dc

For the larger sections, when you reach the point of the first pair of triangles (which will become the
‘centre’ of this joined section), go immediately on to the point of the next pair of triangles. However when
you reach the centre again, work a slip stitch over the join before continuing to the next pair of triangles.

The first time you reach the centre, work But afterwards, work a slip stitch
straight across into the next pair of triangles. across the join.

Page 3 of 6
Kaleidoscope Part 05 © Catherine Bligh

When you reach the top of a pair of triangles, ch1, then turn to
join the next triangle along the top. Ch1 at the other end of the
top edge, before turning to join the next pair of triangles along
the edge. This ensures that the corners sit nicely, without
puckering.
Ch1 before turning to join the
triangle tops together. Ch1 again
when you turn back to work down
the sides of the triangles.

For the smaller sections, do not work a chain stitch between the point of the three triangles. Just work the
last dc on the first pair, and then go straight on to the first dc on the second pair.

At the end of each join, when you reach the beginning: ch1, then sl st into beginning dc. This ensures that
there is a ch1 space at all top corners of the triangles.

Break off yarn. Sew in ends.

Page 4 of 6
Kaleidoscope Part 05 © Catherine Bligh

Page 5 of 6
Kaleidoscope Part 05 © Catherine Bligh

Page 6 of 6