There are many ways to create a circular shape in crochet and this one of the basic crocheting skills, one which is useful in many situations. Many projects are based on this technique – doilies, bags with a circular bottom, coasters or decoratively complex round carpets – there are myriad examples. Mastering several ways of making such shapes will certainly make learning more complex techniques and patterns easier.
Crocheting in the round allows one to create two and three dimensional forms – it depends on the skillful widening of the crochet piece.
Thanks to the planned addition or no addition of stitches in appropriate places, we can easily make a basket, for example. It is easiest to explain the rule of crocheting in the round by using the example of a flat circle.
We can start the piece off in two ways:
- With a magic ring
- With a chain joined into a ring with the aid of a slip stitch
We may make the piece in two ways:
- Finish each row with a slip stitch, producing concentric rows of circles
- Make spiral rows
In order that the circle remains flat, you need to apply a universal mathematical formula when widening the crochet piece in subsequent rows. If the number of added stitches is too big or too small in the next row, the piece will not remain flat but wavy.
We may begin the piece by making a magic ring or closing a chain with a slip stitch. In both of these situations we get a loop around which you need to crochet several foundation stitches which create the base of the circle closed at its center.
As an example, we will follow how to make a simple ring from single crochet stitches.
How-to:
Three or four chain stitches are enough to create a foundation loop. We close it off with a slip stitch.
- Crochet six single crochet stitches through the middle of the loop, joining it with a slip stitch.
- Make one chain stitch and then insert the crochet hook into the same place and crochet a single crochet stitch. In each stitch of the previous row, crochet two single crochet stitches. In the second row a total of 12 single crochet stitches will appear, therefore twice as many as in the first. Finish with a slip stitch.
- Make one chain stitch, two single crochet stitches in the next stitch of the previous row. Repeat the formula: one single crochet stitch in a stitch, two single crochet stitches in the next stitch. In the third row, there are a total of 18 single crochet stitches, therefore three times more than in the first row.
- Make one chain stitch, one single crochet stitch in the next stitch, two single crochet stitches in the stitch after that. Repeat the formula: one single crochet stitch in the stitch, one single crochet stitch in the next stitch, and two single crochet stitches in the stitch after that. In this way we get a total of 24 single crochet stitches in the fourth row, four times more than in the first row.
basic rule for a flat circle
If the number of stitches in the first row is x, then:
Row 1 = x; row 2 = 2x; row 3 = 3x; row 4 = 4x; and so on.
The equal addition of stitches is crucial so as to maintain the smooth surface of the circle and avoid waving. Stopping the addition of stitches results in its shape starting to grow upwards, as in a basket.
