How to avoid gaps in short rows

 If you are new to the short rows technique, you can learn the basics in the introduction to short rows here. 

In this post, I want to focus instead more about what does it mean to join short rows, and what methods we can use to make it as neat as possible. 

When we join short rows, what we want to do, is to add stitches back compared to the previous, shorter set of short rows. There are methods to do so, and different methods might work better according to the stitches and the yarn you're using. 

I'll go through different methods now:

1. Insert the hook and yarn over

With this method, we insert the hook between the short rows, we yarn over, pull up a loop, and then work the stitch as usual in the next stitch. For example, if it is a half double crochet row:

we place the final half double crochet before joining rows. insert the hook in between short rows, pull up a loop. now, for the half double crochet stitch, yarn over, insert the hook, pull up a loop. instead of pulling through 3 loops as usual, we have an extra loop given by this method to join the short rows. so we pull through 4 loops. 

This method can leave a noticeable gap, especially with short stitches (single crochet, slip stitch etc).

2. Insert the hook without yarn over

With this method, we insert the hook between the short rows, we do not yarn over and pull up a loop, but simply work the stitch as usual in the next stitch. For example, if it is a half double crochet row:

we place the final half double crochet before joining rows. insert the hook in between short rows. now, for the half double crochet stitch, yarn over, insert the hook, pull up a loop. pull through 3 loops as usual.

This method leaves a less noticeable gaps. For leaving a gap as small as possible...

3. Join with slip stitches

 With this method, we insert the hook between the short rows, we do not yarn over and pull up a loop, but simply work a slip stitch in the next stitch, whatever the stitch pattern is. 

This has become my favourite method recently. However, sometimes, it can still leave a little gap when we alternate short stitches and tall stitches every other row. 

4. Join with slip stitches and anchor the stitch

With this method, we insert the hook between the short rows, we do not yarn over and pull up a loop, but simply work a slip stitch in the next stitch, whatever the stitch pattern is. Additionally, when performing this slip stitch, we also insert the hook in the 3rd loop (the look behind the stitch of the previous row where we are crocheting the slip stitch on top). 

This provides a completely gap-free way of joining short rows. 

You can find a video tutorial covering these methods here: