Freebie Friday: Tips and Tricks Pt 2

Here's the 2nd post in our Tips and Tricks series.

This post is more for beginners, I want to share some of the things I've learned in the last couple of months since I started crocheting again. The first one I want to do is explain the "Magic Circle" or "Magic Ring".

When I first looked at crochet designs I sat and was wondering what the "magic circle" was. I had to pull out a book my sister-in-law gave me years ago. It turns out it had instructions on how to crochet in it! I had no idea because the cover has an embroidery hoop and project and so I thought it was just for embroidery stitches. I even used it for that but I had no idea about the crochet instructions. It's a great resource. It's called The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery, you can read about it at here.

Ok back to the magic circle. It's actually really simple but there are two ways that I know of to do it. I know that if you look for it you can find other versions but we'll just go with these two. So first what is the magic circle, it's how you start your crocheting project that starts making a circle like a hat, doily, etc. Anything round and I'm sure there's a million things. If anyone wants to share some project ideas that would be great!

Anyway here's the first way to do it (and how I learned first) you single crochet 4 stitches. Unless the pattern calls for something else. :) Then you do a single stitch (joining stitch) in the first single crochet to make it a complete circle. And that's it. Super easy but unless you've seen it or had someone tell you it can be a bit confusing. :)

It is better to watch how the second way to make a magic circle. I could explain it but as they say a picture is worth a 1000 words. There are many youtube videos out there and you can google it. But I like this video.

I hope that is helpful and you learned something new today. :)

Let us know of some of the projects you've made using the Magic Circle. :)