About half of the projects in my queue are motif-based. Motif patterns are quickly memorized and make great travel projects. Many patterns now provide instructions for joining each motif to previously worked motifs before fastening off, eliminating seaming from the list of finishing steps. 

But after the crocheting is finished and all of the lovely symmetrical motifs are laid out like tiles in a masterful design, the back of the work reveals hundreds of loose ends waiting to be woven in. My last motif project, the Motif Wings Shrug, was barely finished in time for my friend to wear at her wedding, all because I was frantically weaving in the last few ends. 

But Kristin Omdahl has created a way around the tedium of seaming and weaving in loose ends-simply eliminate them. All eighteen patterns in Kristin's newest book, Seamless Crochet, are created with motifs joined-as-you-go without ever fastening off. The only loose ends you will have to weave in are those created when you join a new ball of yarn.

Her Buttercup Blanket is at the top of my motif queue. I may not usually be drawn to three-dimensional flowers, but the whimsical ruffling of these two-tier roses won me over. And as I studied the accompanying stitch diagrams, the ingenuity of the pattern design became clear. 

If you look at stitch diagram B for the Buttercup Blanket, you can see an example of how Kristin's seamless crochet works. Diagram B illustrates only the last row worked for each motif. The center of the flower is worked first, then, beginning with the three red chains of Motif 1A, you follow the black stitches to work half of the first two motifs, then all of the third motif before following the blue stitches to finish the second motif and work partway around Motif 1A before heading to Row 2. The process continues in Rows 2 and 3, working partial motifs, following first the black and then the blue stitches, before completing the final parital motifs by following the purple stitches.  

Each pattern includes its own stitch diagrams for both the actual motif and the construction, helpfully color-coded for visual crocheters. And each motif based pattern explains how to expand the motif rows into blankets, hats, and shawls, and other projects of varying sizes. 

Pre-order Seamless Crochet: Techniques and Motifs for Join-As-You-Go Designs today and find more time for crochet by reducing time spent weaving in loose ends. 

Best wishes,