question on joining in a loop

[Greycon]

This question may be to vague without referencing a pattern, but it appears throughout a number of them. It seems like it is just something that you are.already supposed to know.

 

A pattern will say something like, "chain 4, counts as first dc. dc, ch1 8 times. Join on first dc with sc."

 

I put it in quotes, but this does not come from any specific pattern, just what I pulled from my head.

 

Regardless it is immaterial to the question, which is, where exactly and how am I supposed to join.

 

Am I supposed to go into a stitch of the ch 4, and if so, which one? I'm guessing the 3rd. Or am I supposed to be joining around the post of the ch 4, thereby giving the pattern the ability to pull the stitch into place where it fits? If that makes any sense to anybody.

 

Thank you,

Jason

[magiccrochetfan]

Join to the third chain, which is analagous to the top of a dc as it is the same height. If you have a pattern that wants you to work around the post, it should specifically say so.

 

Normally you join by making a slip stitch , not an sc as in your example.

[RoseRed]

I would chain into the 4th.  The very last one that you made.  Otherwise you'll end up with an extra chain.

 

If you join with a sc instead of a slst you're effectively creating a ch-1 sp and finishing with the yarn in the position to work directly into it.

[magiccrochetfan]

In that example it looks like you are setting up a pattern that is dc, ch 1, all around so the fourth chain is the chain 1 that follows the dc.

[RoseRed]

Good call - I missed that. 

 

But joining with a sc would make the last one a ch-2 space.

[magiccrochetfan]

Rose that is right, but my thinking was that since this is only a made up example and not actually from a published pattern, it probably should be joined with a sl st instead of a sc.  But as you say the join with an sc would create a different space there and is a technique used in some patterns.  So I may be looking at it wrong by "correcting" the sc to a sl st, maybe Greycon really wants a sc there.  

[Greycon]

Wow, thx for the quick replies!

 

It was a made up example, so it could be slst or sc.

 

What I was thinking in my head was a number of dc's in the same stitch seperated by a ch 1.

 

So from the sounds of it, I would want to slst into the 3rd chain being the top of the dc.

I had not thought about the sc counting as a stitch thereby making it a double if I went into the third. I can see in that instance I would then go into the fourth.

 

Thank you again!

Jason

[RoseRed]

I had not thought about the sc counting as a stitch thereby making it a double if I went into the third. I can see in that instance I would then go into the fourth.

 

That's backwards.  If you slst or chain into the 4th, you'll lose the ch1 after the 1st dc.  If you join with a sc you'll be adding a ch-1 space behind it.