Beginner's Guide: Crocheting in a Circle

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Introduction

My second blog post discussing crocheting in the round. In the last post I showed the two different ways to start crocheting in the round. We will be building on this by learning how to make a crochet circle. A great first step and introduction on how to crochet in the round. It is also a good foundation if you would want to make things like coasters, bags, and even amigurumi. 

What you will need: Crochet hook, yarn, and a stitch marker or anything to mark the beginning of your round. Such as a safety pin, paper clip, or even scrap yarn. Use what you have available to you! 

Quick Side Note

Just a quick tangent before we begin. Again like the two ways to start your round. There are two different ways you can crochet in the round when doing single crochet. You can chain the number of stitches for that particular stitch. Chain 1 for single crochet, chain 2 for half double, 3 for double etc. I typically don’t like to chain in the beginning of my round and use a stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round when doing single crochet. This does create a spiral while crocheting in the round rather than perfect rows. I like the look of the spiral and don’t see much of a downside unless I am doing stripes. Since I rarely do perfect stripes this isn’t a big deal. I do however always chain up at the beginning of the round and do a slip stitch in the top chain if I am doing a half double or higher. I would suggest as a beginner to follow your pattern if they want you to chain at the beginning of your round or not. When you feel confident I would suggest experimenting to see what you like. Now we can move on.

Foundation and First Row

Do a magic ring or the chain and slip stitch technique. For this tutorial do 6 single crochets in your beginning circle. Then you will start increasing every row. Do your first single crochet in the next stitch. Then you will place a marker in the stitch that you just created. 

Place a marker in your first crochet stitch to mark the start of your round! 

In the same stitch that you just put your first single crochet into, insert another single crochet. In the next stitch insert two single crochets.  Repeat this in every stitch of the first row. When you get to where you placed your marker you should have 12 single crochets. If you don’t look back at your work to find out if you forget to do a stitch or you inserted too many. You can also rip back and start over if that is easier for you. 

What your circle will look like after your first round of increases! 

Increasing the Circle

For your second round you will take out your marker and place one single crochet in that stitch. Re-insert your marker.

Then you will do two single crochets in the second stitch. Then in the next stitch you will do one single crochet, then in the fourth stitch you will do two single crochets in the next stitch. Keep repeating this pattern of one single crochet then two single crochets in the next stitch. Do this until you reach your marker or until you have 18 stitches total. 

Increasing Continued 

Crochet circle after your second round of increases.

For your third round you will repeat the same process, but you will want to do a single crochet in the first and second stitch then you will insert two single crochets in the third stitch. After this round you will have 24 stitches total. What you will be doing is essentially increasing by 6 stitches every round. Adding more single crochets before you increase helps to evenly distribute your increases across your round. This helps to keep the shape of your circle. 

Increasing Pattern 

Below I have written out how the increases would look like if you would read it as a pattern. 

Set Up: Do a magic ring or chain and slip stitch and insert 6 single crochets in your ring

Round 1: 2 single crochets in every stitch until end/marker (12 stitches)

Round 2: Single crochet in first stitch, then 2 single crochets in the next stitch (this is an increase), repeat until end/marker (18 stitches)

Round 3: Single crochet in next 2 stitches, then increase, repeat until end/marker  (24 stitches)

Round 4: Single crochet in next 3 stitches, then increase, repeat until end/marker (30 stitches)

Round 5: Single crochet in next 4 stitches, then increase repeat until end/marker (36 stitches)

Round 6: Single crochet in next 5 stitches, then increase repeat until end/marker (42 stitches)

Keep repeating this same sequence, always adding another single crochet before you do an increase, until your circle is as large as you would like it to be. You can stop at the end of any round if you are at the size you would like. 

Finishing and Final Thoughts 

Finished crochet circle!

When you are done, cut your yarn and pull through. Then weave in your two ends. You can look up techniques on how to better weave in your ends and create a more finished look, but for this tutorial we are keeping things simple for beginners. You can use any practice circles you make as coasters! 

Let me know what you thought of this blog post. If anything is unclear let me know and I would be happy to clear anything up. I hope that this was helpful to you and as always thank you for reading!