Working in the round

How to work it

1. Start with a ring

   Make a slip knot and chain 4, or the number the pattern gives. Join the chains into a ring with a slip stitch: push the hook into the first chain you made, the one next to the slip knot, from the side that faces you through to the back; take the yarn that leads to the ball over the hook from back to front (up behind the hook and over its top toward you); and draw it through that chain and through the loop on the hook in one pull. The four chains now form a ring, and one loop is on the hook.

2. Chain up

   Chain to the height of the stitch of the round, as you would to start a row. This page works in single crochet (UK double crochet), which takes 1 chain: take the yarn over the hook, the same way, and draw it through the loop on the hook. That chain does not count as a stitch. One loop is on the hook.

3. Round 1

   Work the stitches of round 1 into the ring: for each one, push the hook through the hole in the middle of the ring, from the side that faces you through to the back. Work as many stitches as the pattern gives for round 1; six single crochet is a common start. One loop is on the hook.

4. Join

   

   For joined rounds, find the first stitch of the round, the first one you made after the chain. Push the hook under both strands of its top, from the side that faces you through to the back, take the yarn over the hook, the same way as before, and draw it through the stitch and through the loop on the hook in one pull: a slip stitch. The round is closed. One loop is on the hook.

5. Next round

   

   Chain up again, and work the next round into the tops of the stitches of the round before, under both strands of each. The pattern says how many stitches go into each one. One loop is on the hook.

6. Or carry on in a spiral

   For a spiral, leave out the slip stitch and the chain. Put a stitch marker in the first stitch of the round, work the first stitch of the next round straight into that stitch, and move the marker up to the stitch you have just made. One loop is on the hook.

At a glance

Used for

granny squares and other flat pieces that grow from the center; hats and other tubes with no seam; stuffed toys, most often in a spiral

Joined rounds

Each round ends with a slip stitch and the next begins with a chain. A faint line shows where the rounds are joined.

Spiral rounds

No slip stitch and no chain. The first stitch of a new round goes straight into the first stitch of the round before.

Where a round begins

In joined rounds, at the chain that starts it. In a spiral, at the stitch that holds the marker.

Stitch marker

In a spiral, mark the first stitch of each round and move the marker up every round.

Turning

The work is not turned between rounds unless the pattern says so.

Abbreviation

rnd for round

Tips

• When a spiral is finished, a slip stitch into the next stitch smooths the step before fastening off.

When it goes wrong

I cannot find where the round ends.

Put a stitch marker in the first stitch of the round and move it up each round. A safety pin or a scrap of yarn will do.

There is a line running up my piece.

That is the join of joined rounds. It is part of the method. A spiral has none.

My circle will not lie flat.

A flat piece needs increases in every round. With too many stitches the edge ruffles, and with too few the piece curls up like a bowl. Count the round against the pattern.

Left-handed

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