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Hey, I'm Andrea Lemire, the education coordinator here at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio. I'm going
to show you some really cool techniques for beginning crochet, and hopefully, you'll have
as much fun as I have with it. Okay, lets get started.
So now, let's crochet in the round. This is different from what we were doing before,
when we were learning the stitches, which is called crocheting in rows. There are a
couple different ways to begin, so I want to show you both ways. They both start with
a slip knot, and that goes on your hook. And the first way I'm going to show you is used
mostly for crochet motifs. It makes a more open circle in the center, so it's a little
lacier looking. And you're going to start with a chain of, as many chains as you want.
Or the pattern will tell you how many to chain. Usually, it's about 4 to 6. And then I'm going
to join the chains into the ring with a slip knot. So, I'm going to go back to my first
chain that I made, closest to that slip knot. Insert in, and make a slip stitch. So now
I have a little ring that my chain is making. And so, at this point, usually, the pattern
would have you make a chain for the next round. And then work stiches into what's called the
middle of the ring. And so, what that's talking about is going right in that big hole that's
right in the center of that chain ring. And you would follow the pattern, do what they
want you to do in that ring. The other way to begin also starts with a slip knot. The
difference between this and the first way I showed you is how tight that middle circle
is. So this method, which begins with a chain too, just makes a tighter opening. So you'll
see it's much much tighter. It's perfect for things like Amigurumi or hats. Anything you
want a nice closed opening for. So, I'm going to be working in that first chain I made,
or the second chain from the hook. And I'm gonna go right into my very first row. So,
commonly, they'll have you work about 6 single crochets for your first row. , for something
like a hat, as an example. And you'll notice I'm going right back into the same space every
time. So it's kind of like a giant increase. It's 4, 5, 6. So you may notice, it may look
slightly open like this. But to tighten that up, you can just grip underneath that slipknot,
and give your tail a tug, and it will tighten right up. So now, what I want to do is begin
my next round. So I'm just going to keep going around in the same direction. You don't wanna
churn. That's the main difference between working flat and working in the round. When
you're working in the round, you keep going around and around in a spiral, essentially.
, but when you're working flat, you're turning at the end of every row to go back and forth.
And in the second round, if you want a flat circle, it's very very common that the second
round, after you work that first tiny circle, increases in every single stitch. In other
words, you're working 2 stitches in every stitch all the way around. So what I wanna
do first is mark that stitch, just to show me where I need to end the next round. So
I'm gonna use my stitch market, and I'm going to put it under that stich top or V, just
to the right of my hook here. And so I'm gonna keep going around this circle for my rounds.
So now that I've hit that marker again, I'm going to do what's called moving up the marker.
So I'm gonna take the marker out. And don't forget, this is the last stitch you need to
work in the round. So this still counts as the same round that you were working in. And
now, I'm going to place my marker in that stitch I just worked. So that'd be just to
the right of that hook, to show where the next round is going to end. And you do that
every time you come back to that marker. So every round after this, if you want your circle
to remain flat, we'll add 1 additional stitch between those increases. So my following round
would be, 2 stitches in the first stitch, and then 1 stitch, 1 stitch. 2, 1, 1....2,
1, 1, all the way around. Followed by 2, 1, 1, 1...2, 1, 1, 1, and so on. And you can
continue that until your circle is as wide as you need it to be. And here, the pattern
would, of course, tell you how many rounds they want you to increase for. If you want
to, then, form a tube, and stop the circle from remaining flat, and bring it down. A
common example of that would be, increasing for a hat. And then, when you wanna start
bringing the brim of the hat down. Then I'm going to just work, what's called working
even. And that's just putting 1 stitch in every stitch, all the way around until that
tube is as long as you need it to be. This is a very common way to work in the round,
and it's a great way to improvise with your crochet as well.