Whether you're just starting out in crochet, or have been around for a while, I'm sure you've noticed that this craft has what can seem like its own foreign language. It might look like ancient Greek, but never fear, it IS easier to learn! Interpreting this jargon will an upcoming post, so be sure to come back as we launch our boat on that sea.
Before we jump into the deep end of this Olympic pool, I'd like to share one basic technique that I've run across in almost every amigurumi pattern I've tried, making a "Magic Circle".
Lest you lose heart that you never received an acceptance letter to Hogwarts and have no background in the "dark arts", let me reassure you that neither of those things is necessary to master this skill!
What you WILL need are the three P's of Crochet: Patience, Persistence, and Practice. Mastering this step ( among so many others in this life) really only requires those three things. So remember to be gracious with yourself as you set out to learn new things- no matter what direction that takes you!
Because a magic circle (abbreviated as MC for magic circle or MR for magic ring) is often used to start spherical shapes, I thought we'd use our practice in learning this to make a small cat nip ball. If you don't have any felines in your life, you can still use the practice of making this sphere to help you later on as you make doll and animal heads as well as any other items with similar shaping.
I want to include pictures for each step of the process so you can see what everything should look like as you go, so the post will be a little lengthy. I will also post a link to a video at the end that may be helpful for visual learners that benefit from that format.
If you'd like a pattern paper to refer to, here is the one I jotted down for this ball:
Let's jump in:
First, gather all of your materials so that they are close at hand. You will need your yarn, desired hook, a stitch marker (or piece of contrasting yarn), a darning needle, and a pair of scissors.
Taking your yarn, wrap it around the index finger of your non-dominant hand, making an 'x' shape:
Then, insert the hook UNDER the bottom strand of yarn:
Pull the top strand of yarn all the way under the bottom strand:
Then, twist your hook to yarn over with the strand of yarn running along the back of your hand, pulling it through the loop you created on the hook:
Pull the whole loop off of your index finger and prepare for working some single crochet (sc) stitches into the center of the magic circle:
To make the number of sc stitches inside the ring to start your first "round" of stitches, insert your hook into the middle of the magic circle, yarn over and pull the yarn back through the loop:
Yarn over and pull through the loops on the hook to complete the sc stitch like you would in any other instance, and repeat for as many sc stitches as the pattern calls for. For the sake of this post, we'll do six sc stitches in the magic circle.
When you have completed the number of stitches needed, pinch the last stitch on the circle with your dominant hand and pull the short tail of yarn coming off the ring with your other hand.
You have now completed a magic circle! If that's all you want to work on with this post, congratulations on completing your objective! Take a deep breath and eat a snack for being patient and persevering! ( I'm a firm believer in snacks as a personal reward when working on learning something new)
If you'd like to continue on and learn how to make a simple cat nip ball toy, keep on scrolling and reading!
To start the next round of stitches, you will need to insert your hook underneath the top loops of the first st in round one, yarn over and pull through to start the first sc.
Yarn over and pull through like any other sc st. Repeat and place another sc stitch in the same hole to form your first increase (inc) of the round.
Repeat and form an inc in each stitch of the first round for a total count of 12 stitches for Rnd 2
Before proceeding to Round 3, place a stitch marker or contrasting piece of yarn under the first stitch of Round 2. This will be tremendously helpful with counting stitches at the end of each round.
Rnd 3 will be a series of repeating 1 sc in a stitch with an inc in next stitch, which in a pattern may be marked this way with the ending number of stitches you should have in parenthesis at the end:
Rnd 3: *1 sc, inc; repeat from * to end of round. (18)
For Rnd 4, sc in the first two stitches of the round before placing an increase in stitch #3:
Repeat this to the end of the round, just as you did with Rnd 3's repeats, ending with 24 stitches.
For Rounds 5-8, you will place one sc in each stitch all of the way around.
In Round 9, we begin the decrease rounds. We do this by reversing the process of the increase rounds.
Round 9:* sc 2, inv dec (invisible decrease), repeat from * to end of round (18)
For the invisible increase, insert your hook under the front loop of the next st, yarn over and pull through. Before yarning over again to finish the sc st, insert the hook under the front loop of the next hook, yarn over and pull through ( there will be 3 loops on the hook):
Yarn over and pull through all three loops:
Once you have a decrease round that will help hold in some stuffing while you finish the last few rounds, feel free to add some in- it always takes more than you think it will to stuff it firmly:
After packing some in, add a teaspoon, or so, of cat nip and top off with a bit more stuff to hold the tiny bits of nip in:
For Round 10, *Sc, inv dec, repeat from * to end of round (12)
If you want more stuffing to firm up the ball, add it now as the hole is quite small and finicky after the next round of decreases.
For Round 11, inv dec around to the end of the round (6).
Fasten Off, leaving a tail for weaving the ends in.
Grab your darning needle and thread it with the tail from the last round. Moving in a clockwise direction, weave your needle up under the front loop of the stiches from the last round:
When you have woven the tail through the front loop of all 6 stitches, gently pull the tail to close up the hole:
Loop the needle up through the center of the magic circle and back through loop created to make a small knot. Then insert the needle through the center of the magic circle, angling out the side of the ball and pull the yarn through. Pull the yarn tight to pull in the end of the ball and cut the yarn so that the tail is pulled back into the ball. The stuffing will anchor the tail and keep it from coming out.
To tie off the magic circle itself, find what direction the yarn is coming from and weave the needle into the magic circle in a counterclockwise direction, being careful not to split strands of yarn:
Insert the needle into the ball at an angle, as before, pull through and cut. No knot needed:
Well done! You now have a toy for your feline friends to add some spice to their domestic existence!
For those who would like a YouTube video to show each part of the process in real time:
Please let me know if you gave this a shot, as well as any other projects or ideas you'd like to see as you move forward in learning this new skill.
Until next time, keep crocheting and spreading shenanigans!
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