Yesterday I was very excited to have finished crocheting all of the cookies I would need for the cookieghan — 169 crochet cookies, also known as a baker’s dozen of a baker’s dozen:

Today, I faced the reality of the fact that now that the cookies are made, they need to be joined, and while I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do, today was the day that the rubber met the road, and I would find out just how well (or not) my chosen joining would work.
Armed with Red Heart Super Saver warm brown worsted weight yarn, a 4.5mm hook, 169 cookies, I got to work.
I had decided to trim/join each cookie by working a single crochet followed by a chain-1 into every other stitch around the edge of the cookies.
While the idea had worked perfectly in theory, and reasonably well in the test I did some time in April of last year, today I found that I had no where near enough stitch markers to keep track of all of the stitches that needed tracking, so I bought two more packages of the Clover jumbo stitch markers:

These two dozen new jumbo stitch makers, coupled with the two dozen I already had, made it much easier to track not only where I needed to make the single crochet stitches on any given cookie, but which chain-1 spaces I would need to use to make the joinings.
By dinner, I had joined 12 of the 169 crochet cookies:

This part of a project is, in ways, the most difficult; it is where any doubts I have will surface, and I will have to ignore them and press forward because the point of no-return is a distant memory, and the only thing at hand is the 157 cookies still to be joined.
This is what my questions were about the other night. Being an engineer and therefore OCD, I would be fighting to keep all the cookies following a straight line. But since I’ve never actually crocheted, it may be impossible.
This cookieghan has intrigued me from the start but now it really looks like it’s coming together! Can’t wait to see it finished! lol x
How are you deciding what order to place them in,or is that a Bakers secret??
it appears you are have added the trim row in all the same color regardless of cookie…. is that correct? if so I wonder why I’ve been struggle with my Japanese flower joins…… and torturing myself!!!!
I love this idea! Can’t wait to see it finished.
your comment…I am loving the way you are assembling the cookieghan.
The cookies were cute as individuals, but as you join them, they are becoming super cute. It’s going to be adorable!
WOW, just WOW..I’ve been lurking, watching your progress..I am amazed and congrats on finishing all the cookies!
Looking good so far. Can’t wait to see you continue. Is this pattern only for your use, or will you be making it available to others as well?