Well hello my lovely ones. Hope you are all having a wonderful Mother’s Day. I thought I’d bring you the second lesson in my Beginner Crochet Course. In the first tutorial, we looked at Slip Knots, Foundation Chains and Double Crochet Stitches. So for this lesson, we will be looking at Magic Rings, Slip Stiches, Crocheting in the Round, Stitch Markers, increasing and decreasing stitches.
So I have made a video tutorial as well as a photo tutorial for you. Hope you find them both useful and an easy guide into how to crochet in the round. Follow the link below for the video tutorial.
So let’s get started…
Crocheting Rounds – Amigurumi
Most of my patterns, will use the traditional increase method seen in many Amigurumi crochet projects. This is usually where your stitch count increases in 6’s. So 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 …
Amigurumi is a method of crocheting in spiral rounds. It was first found as an art form in Japan to create small stuffed yarn creatures, but became popular, further a field from 2003 onwards. It’s definitely a great technique to learn. And can produce some fantastic projects.
I always think of Amigurumi a bit like a Victoria Sponge Cake method, in the sense that it’s the same method that will create the same kind of an end product. But obviously, like a Victoria Sponge, you can vary it and change it to suit what you’d like to create. It’s such a lovely way to crochet and great fun to create new little creatures.
Conky the Conker is created using the Amigurumi method.
Here’s a few of my other little creations that have used the Amigurumi Method. All their free patterns can be found in the Pattern Section.
Magic Ring
In many patterns today, you will see the term magic ring. I remember thinking at the beginning what on earth is that. But actually it’s a really cool little method. Some crocheters don’t use it, but I seem to have adopted it for my projects & you will see it in most of my patterns where you are crocheting in the round/amigurumi method.
A magic ring (mr) is simply a slip knot, but instead of pulling the working yarn like normal, just leave it as a loop. You will then need to follow the pattern with how many stitches are required.
So create a magic ring. Make a loop by placing the tail over the top of the working yarn.
Now you are going to grab the middle of the tail with your fingers or hook and pull it partly through.
Then pull tight to make the magic ring. Remember you are only pulling through the middle of the tail. Pull the end of the tail and the working yarn together to tighten the knot and create the loop.
And there you have your magic ring.
Then you need to chain 1 into your magic ring. This will give you the height for double crocheting (dc.) If you were doing half trebles (htr) then you would chain 2 and trebles (tr), you would chain 3. It all depends on what stitch you are working into the ring, as to how many chains you work.
So insert your hook through the magic ring.
Yarn over hook and pull it through.
Then yarn over hook again and pull it through the loop on the hook to make the chain stitch. This is your first chain 1.
Now you are ready to do the amount of double crochet stitches required. So again in most normal crocheting in the round patterns, this will be 6dc.
Ok so *hook through the magic ring, yarn over hook.
Then pull back through.
Yarn over your hook again and then pull through the 2 loops on the hook.* This will create your first dc stitch in the magic ring.
See where the v is, that is your first dc stitch.
Now repeat ** this until you have 6dc into your magic ring.
(You may have a pattern that requires more into the magic ring or different stitches, but this is how many of the amigurumi patterns work.) Now pull the tail tight (the short piece of yarn) to create a ring of stitches.
And here is round 1.
Slip Stitch
Now slip stitch into the first stitch you made to close up the ring. To do this insert your hook into the first stitch.
Then yarn over your hook and pull through.
Then pull your hook through the loop on the hook. This creates a slip stitch. The way to remember what a slip stitch is, is that it doesn’t have any height. So here is your magic ring with 6 double crochets inside to make your first round.
Stitch Marker
The blue yarn you can see in the picture below is being used as a stitch marker. You can use any piece of yarn, as long as it’s a different colour to your project. A stitch marker tells you where one round finishes and the next round begins! It is extremely important to use one, as it allows you to keep your work accurate and give you a chance to check that each round is correct!!! If you are anything like me, you can easily have distractions from family members, where you will have to throw down your work to sort or do something.
So with a stitch marker you can check where you were and off you go again!! So all you do is lay the thread over the first stitch of your round and then continue crocheting into that first stitch and the rest of your round. When you have finished that round, just gently lay it back over again, thus giving you a consatena effect, and off you go again. See the pink yarn stitch marker in the picture below.
If you were crocheting in rows, for example a blanket or a piece of clothing. You can always use a little stitch marker clip. You can get these from most wool shops or online. This was on a tea cosy that I made for my sister in law. The stitch marker meant that I knew exactly where the centre of the row was. So when you’ve finished the project you can just remove the marker.
Crocheting in the Round Continued…
Ok, so now we can carry on crocheting in the round. So we are now starting round 2. So in round 2 you are going to increase from 6 to 12 dc stitches. To increase in crocheting, you work 2dc stitches in one stitch and you would do this a number of times to create an even increase. As I have said before the Amigurumi method goes up in 6’s. So 6, 12, 18, 24… But it depends on the pattern you are following as to how you work your rounds. Sometimes there might just be a round of 1dc stitches. If you are only working 1dc stitches, your work will start to bend up and give you an edge. You will see this in toy animals or crocheted pots.
So for round 2 you are going to work 2dc stitches in each stitch. This will give you an increase from 6 to 12dc stitches. So start by placing your stitch marker over the top of your first stitch and then working 1dc in the first stitch. Can you see how I am inserting the hook into the first stitch (through the V, which is both loops.)
Now yarn over your hook and pull back through.
Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops on your hook. That is your first dc stitch.
Now work 1 more dc stitch in the same stitch. You can see how there are 2 stitches there now by the 2 V’s.
Now work 2dc in the next 5 stitches. This will give you an increase from 6dc to 12dc stitches. And that completes round 2.
So here in your third round of increasing, you are going to increase from 12 to 18 dc stitches. To do this *1dc in the first stitch and then 2dc into the next stitch.*
Work this ** 6 times. You now have 18 stitches instead of 12.
So here in your fourth round of increasing, you are going to increase from 18 to 24 dc stitches. Now this is the one that sometimes confuses people. But it basically means you will work 1dc in one stitch, 1dc in the next stitch and then 2dc in the next stitch along.
So to do this work *2dc stitches and then 2dc into the next stitch.*
Work this ** 6 times. You now have 24 stitches instead of 18.
And that is how you increase in the round. With the Amigurumi method it will keep increasing to a certain point. So the next would be *3dc, then 2dc in the next stitch.* This gives you 30dc stitches and then then next would be *4dc, then 2dc in the next stitch.* This would give you 36dx stitches. And so on. Hope that all makes sense.
Once you have increased for so many rounds, your pattern may ask you to work 1dc Stitch in each stitch. This is what it would look like. See how it’s working up in a bowl shaped giving you an edge.
If you carried on increasing, it would stay flat.
Decreasing
So decreasing is also a really important technique to know. And with the Amigurumi method, just like increasing, you need to work it evenly. So it basically follows the same methodology, but in reverse. So we decrease in 6’s, so 36, 30, 24, 18, 12, 6. Obviously, a pattern may call for you to do it in a different way, but this is the most basic way.
So I have 24 stitches in my round, so I know I have worked 2dc then 2dc in the next stitch, to get 24dc. Ok so to decrease, we do the opposite. So work 2dc stitches and then with the next 2 stitches, work a 2dctog stitch. This is where we work 2dc stitches together to create one.
Start by working 2dc stitches. This is because the round before was 2dc then 2dc in the next stitch.
So insert your hook only into the front loop of the stitch.
Then again into the next front loop of the next stitch.
Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.
Then yarn over your hook again and pull through the 2 loops on your hook. And that completes your 2dctog stitch.
Now you are ready to repeat the process. Now sometimes it is a little tricky to figure out where the next stitch goes. But can you see from the picture below where the arrow is pointing. It’s basically the next full stitch, so where no yarn is being pulled from the 2dctog stitch.
So *work 2dc stitches, then 2dctog* and work 6 times in total in the round. This will give you a stitch count from 24 to 18. You would then use the same methodology for the next round from 18 to 12 and so on…
And there we have it, crocheting in the round/Amigurumi method.
I really hope these tutorials have helped you. Any problems or queries please do not hesitate to ask. And don’t forget you can find all this information again on my video. Just follow the link below.
Happy hooking.
🌈Xx