Amigurumi Friday!- working in rounds.

It's that time of the week again! Time to talk about our favorite stuffed, crocheted toys!

For this week we'll be discussing some tips on working in the round, since this is how one works an amigurumi.

In general, you begin with a magic circle (see this post for details on how!) and however many stitches the pattern asks you to make on round 1. This might look something like this:

Ch. 2 
Rnd. 1: sc 6 in 2nd loop from hook. (6 sc)

When you see the chain 2 instructions, ignore them. This is where you make the magic circle. You work all 6 single crochets into the magic circle, and pull tight.

STOP! Mark the end of the last round here by getting a spare piece of yarn that is a different color than the one you are working with (so it's easy to see) and pull it through your last stitch. I recommend to have the piece be at least 6 inches long so it won't fall out so easily. 

You can see here that I've marked my round with white yarn. No need to fuss with buying those fancy plastic markers at the craft store!

(Round marked with black yarn)

On the next round, they generally ask you to increase by one, and same for the following rounds. This will look something like:

Rnd. 2: 2 sc in ea sc around. (12 sc) 


Do NOT turn, do NOT ch.1, simply continue to work in your circle around, putting 2 single crochets in each of the previous rounds single crochets until you reach a total of 12 single crochets, and have made it back to your marker. This is working in the round. Move your marker up to the end of the round you just finished, and move onto round 3.

Round 3 will be just as Round 2, without turning, simply work the stitches as the pattern calls for, and so forth.

I hope this is clear, and if it isn't, please feel free to ask questions! I will try and get more pictures for our next weeks addition which will be discussing the ever so illusive increases and decreases!  :)
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