Making Perfect Amigurumi with the Adjustable Ring (Magic Loop)
If your crochet amigurumi, flowers, coasters—anything worked in the round—has a small hole at your first round, then this is the tip you’ve been waiting for. You can banish that little starting hole by beginning your work with an adjustable ring, also known as the magic loop or ring, instead of starting by crocheting into a small ring of chain stitches or into a single chain stitch.
There are three approaches to starting a crochet project that is worked in the round. Two of the more common methods are:
1. Chain 1, work all stitches of round one into the chain 1 (left).
2. Chain several stitches, join with slip stitch to form a loop, work all stitches of round one into the loop (right).
As you can see, both of these methods create a small hole at the beginning of your work, with the multiple chain method clearly creating a larger gap. Let’s see another method…
If you would like to have a tightly closed start to your project at round one, you should use an adjustable ring, or magic loop:
As you can see, there is now no hole at the beginning of the work. This means that your flowers will have proper, tight centers and your amigurumi will not have even the smallest bit of stuffing escape. Below is my most popular video tutorial to show you how to do it:
Adjustable Ring (magic loop)
How to create an adjustable ring, also known as a magic loop, a great method
for starting crochet projects that are worked in the round.
For more tips, watch my other video tutorials on crochet stitch guides.