Working in the round · Beginner
Continuous rounds
To crochet in the round without joining, leave out the slip stitch and the chain. When you reach the end of a round, work the next stitch straight into the first stitch of that round. The rounds wind on as a spiral, with no seam.
How to work it
Work the first round and do not join it
Work the first round into a magic ring or a ring of chains, as the pattern says. At its end, make no slip stitch and no chain.
Mark the first stitch
Put a stitch marker in the first stitch of the new round. Work round until you reach the marker: the round is finished. Take the marker out, work the next stitch into that place, and put the marker into the stitch you have just made, the first of the next round.
Smooth the step at the end
When the last round is done, its last stitch stands a step above the stitch beside it. Work a slip stitch into the next stitch to slope the edge down, then cut the yarn and fasten off.
At a glance
- Also called
- spiral rounds, working in a spiral
- Used for
- stuffed toys (amigurumi); hats, bags and baskets with no seam; flat circles in single crochet (UK double crochet)
- Seam
- None. There is no join to show.
- Usual stitch
- Single crochet. It is short, so the step where a round begins and ends is small.
- Stitch marker
- Needed in practice. With no join, nothing shows where one round ends and the next begins.
- What can serve as a marker
- A bought stitch marker, a safety pin, or a short length of yarn in another color
- Turning
- The work is never turned. The same side faces you all the way.
Count the stitches of each round as you finish it. A pattern gives the number each round should have, and in a spiral the count and the marker are how you keep your place.
Some makers put the marker in the last stitch of the round and not the first. Either works, as long as you keep to one.
A spiral has one drawback beside the missing landmarks. A change of color shows as a small jog where the new color starts. Joined rounds do not have the jog, and have a seam instead.
With taller stitches the step at the end is bigger. Makers then work a few stitches of falling height, and the slip stitch after them, to taper the end.
Tips
- Move the marker up at the same moment in every round, as soon as the first stitch is made.
When it goes wrong
- I have lost the start of the round.
- Count back from the stitch you have just made, by the number of stitches you have worked in this round. The stitch you reach is the first of the round: put the marker back in it. Counting each round as you finish it keeps the start from getting lost.
- My last stitch sticks up at the end.
- That is the step of the spiral. Work a slip stitch into the next stitch before you fasten off.
- My stripes jump where the color changes.
- That is the jog of a spiral. It can be made smaller but not removed. Joined rounds meet level, at the cost of a seam.
Left-handed
The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.
Questions
- Do I chain 1 at the start of each round?
- No. In continuous rounds there is no slip stitch at the end of a round and no chain at the start of the next.
- Is working in a spiral the same as continuous rounds?
- Yes. Spiral rounds, continuous rounds and working in a spiral are names for the same thing.
- How do I know where a round ends?
- By the stitch marker in the first stitch of the round, and by counting.