I’ve been working on a big-ish project for the past week or so and there’s a part of the project that requires more than six single crochet stitches in a ring. Most (if not all) of my patterns start with a ring and the pattern instructions always give the option of either starting with a magic ring or making two chains and crocheting in the second chain from hook. But for this flat circle I’m working on I’ll need more room than a single chain stitch. Magic rings are perfect for projects that require a lot of starting stitches and I thought I would show how to make one for those of you who would like to know.

Start by making a loop with the yarn:

Next, yarn over and draw a loop as though making a chain but do not tighten:

Now, holding the ring between your fingers (of course in this pic my hand is occupied with the camera…) insert the hook in the ring, yarn over and draw a loop through…

…yarn over again and pull the yarn through the loop on your hook and you’ve got the first single crochet in the ring!

You can continue adding the number of stitches you want and then you simply pull on the tail end to tighten the ring:

For the project I’m working on, I wanted to start with double crochet stitches so in a magic ring I made two chains…

…and then added 12 double crochet stitches:

You can probably guess that it would have been a bit tricky to do this many number of double crochet stitches in a single chain stitch. At first, using a magic ring might feel a little awkward but with practice you’ll get the hang of it. Hope this tutorial helps!