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Working in the round · Intermediate

Two color spiral

A two color spiral is a flat circle worked in continuous rounds by two yarns at once. Each yarn works half of every round, on top of the stitches the other yarn made, so the two colors wind outward from the center side by side. Only one yarn is on the hook at a time, and the other waits with its loop pulled up. Three or four colors work the same way, each taking a third or a quarter of the round.

How to work it

  1. Begin both colors in one ring

    A first round seen from above: six stitches about a small ring, three in the first color and then three in the second. A loose loop of the first color stands at the end of its three stitches, taken off the hook and waiting. The loop of the second color is on the hook, at the end of its three stitches.

    Make a magic ring with the first color and work half the stitches of the first round into it: 3 single crochet (UK double crochet) for a round of 6. Take the hook out of the loop. Join the second color into the same ring and work the other half of the round with it. Then pull the tail to close the ring. The rounds are not joined and the work is not turned.

  2. Park the loop that waits

    When a color has worked its share, pull its loop up large so that it cannot run back, or hang a locking stitch marker in it, and take the hook out. The loop waits there until that color's turn comes round again. The yarn is not cut.

  3. Work each color onto the other's stitches

    Three rounds seen from above, drawn as rings. In every ring one half is the first color and the other half the second, and each half stands on the other color's half of the ring inside it, so the two colors wind outward side by side. In the outer ring the first color has finished its half and its loop waits, off the hook. The second color is part of the way round its half, with its loop on the hook.

    Put the hook back into the first color's loop and work on round the circle, into the stitches the second color made, until you come up to the second color's waiting loop. Park the first color and take up the second. Work the same number of stitches with it, into the stitches the first color made the round before: that brings it up to the place where the first color's new stitches begin. Each color works half of every round, and each chases the other round the circle without ever passing it.

  4. Share the increases

    The circle stays flat by the increases of any flat circle, and each color makes its share of them. In a circle of single crochet that begins with 6 stitches, each of the two colors makes three increases a round. In the second round that is 2 stitches in each of its 3 stitches. In the third round it is 2 stitches in one stitch and 1 in the next, three times, and so on outward.

  5. End each color with a taper

    To finish, end each color with shorter and shorter stitches and a slip stitch, then fasten it off. The taper brings the end of the color down to the edge, so that the last round does not stop with a step.

At a glance

Used for
coasters; motifs and squares for blankets
Colors
Two, three or four.
Each color
Works an equal share of every round.
The waiting yarn
Its loop is off the hook, pulled up large or held by a stitch marker.
Rounds
Continuous: not joined and not turned.
Increases
Those of a flat circle, shared between the colors.

Nothing is carried along the round and nothing is cut until the end. Each yarn stays where its last stitch ended, on the edge of the circle, and is picked up there when its turn comes.

The spiral can be read as you go. The first color's turn ends when its stitches come up to the second color's waiting loop. The second color's turn ends when its stitches come up to the place where the first color's newest stitches begin.

When it goes wrong

A waiting loop came undone.
Pull the loop up larger before you take the hook out, or hang a locking stitch marker in it.
I do not know when to change color.
The first color works until it reaches the second color's waiting loop. The second color then works the same number of stitches, which brings it to the place where the first color's newest stitches begin. That is the end of the round.

Left-handed

The pictures show the hook held in the right hand. For the left hand, read each picture as its mirror image.

Variations

  • Three or four colors. The round is split into as many shares as there are colors: thirds for three, quarters for four. Every color begins in the ring and works onto the stitches of the color ahead of it.
  • A new color for every round. A plainer way works a continuous spiral in one yarn at a time and changes color at the end of each round.
  • Taller stitches. The same spiral is worked in half double crochet (UK half treble) or double crochet (UK treble).

Questions

How do you crochet a spiral with two colors?
Start both colors in the same ring, half the first round each. From then on each color works half of every round, onto the stitches of the other color, while the other color's loop waits off the hook.
Do I cut the yarn at each color change?
No. The loop is taken off the hook and left to wait, and the same yarn is picked up again on its next turn.
Can I crochet a spiral in three colors?
Yes. Split each round in three instead of two: each color works a third of the round.
How do I finish a two color spiral with an even edge?
Taper the end of each color with shorter stitches or slip stitches before you fasten it off.

Where to go next

Stitches