How to Crochet a Magic Ring (Magic Circle)

Before you wrap anything, look at your yarn. The loose end - the one not attached to the ball - is your tail. The strand that runs back to the ball is your working yarn.

You'll be cinching the tail at the end to close the ring, so it needs to be long enough to weave in later. Six inches is plenty.

Lay the yarn across your fingers and cross it over itself the same way you would for a slipknot. Pinch that crossing point under your thumb so it can't slide.

Tuck the working end between your thumb and little finger. You should now see two parallel strands stretched across your palm with the X-shaped crossing held tight under your thumb.

Slide your hook under the front strand of yarn. Catch the back strand on the throat of the hook and pull it forward, under the front strand.

As you bring the back strand through, give the hook a quarter turn so the yarn locks onto it. It feels and looks the way the start of a slipknot does. Don't yank it tight - the loop needs to stay loose for the next step.

Grab the working yarn with your hook and pull it through the loop already sitting there. This locks the ring in place and gives you the single loop on the hook that will count as your starting chain.

The whole thing should still feel loose. If it's tight or knotted, back up a step. A tight magic ring will not slide closed when you pull the tail at the end, and the entire technique falls apart.

Carefully slip your fingers out from inside the loop. You'll be left holding a soft circle of yarn with one loop sitting on the hook and the tail hanging off to the side.

This is the magic ring. From here you start working your stitches.

Insert the hook into the center of the ring (not into a single loop) and crochet your pattern's stitches around the whole strand of yarn. Most amigurumi rounds call for six single crochets to start. A flat circle in double crochet usually wants twelve.

Keep the stitches snug against each other. They should sit shoulder-to-shoulder around the ring like beads on a bracelet.

Once your stitches are in, pick up the tail end and pull. The ring cinches shut, drawing every stitch tight into a clean closed center with no hole in the middle.

That's the whole trick. From here you join the round (or keep spiraling for amigurumi) and carry on with the pattern. When the project is finished, weave the tail in with a tapestry needle so the ring can never reopen.