How to Make a Magic Ring in Crochet?

This is often what discourages many of us when starting to crochet: that famous magic ring! Even though there are already plenty of video tutorials on YouTube, I've broken down the movement into a few simple steps that I will describe in this article.

What is a magic ring?

In crochet, a magic ring allows you to start a project in the round. Unlike a chain circle, a magic ring allows you to tighten the starting round as much as you want. The tighter you pull the magic ring, the smaller the hole in the center of the starting circle will be. The magic ring technique is often used to crochet amigurumi in order to hide this small starting hole as much as possible.

Step-by-step description

There are plenty of videos on YouTube that explain the magic ring, and these videos are a great help in getting an idea of the movement. However, I find that it is sometimes difficult to follow the video and fully understand the gestures to make, and especially the path the yarn must take to make a beautiful circle.

I am right-handed, and all the following explanations apply to right-handed people. If you are left-handed, the gestures are the same but reversed since the yarn from your ball is on the right (or at least I imagine so 😉).

Step 1: Wrap the yarn around your thumb

To begin, you need to wrap the yarn around a finger, always keeping the yarn from the ball on the left. To secure the yarn, I hold the yarn from the ball between the fingers of my left hand, then I wrap the yarn around my thumb: once from back to front. I get a loop on my finger, and to secure the tension of my yarn, I hold the end of the yarn between the fingers of my left hand.

Step 2: Make the first loop with the crochet hook

Next, I insert my crochet hook under the first strand that is around my finger, and I grab the yarn closest to my palm (the yarn from the ball) with my hook to pull it under the other strand and form a loop.

Step 3: Make a chain stitch

Crochet one chain stitch.

💡 Tip 💡 The tighter the starting chain stitch, the less visible it will be when the circle is tightened. But don't worry about that until you master all the steps of the magic ring 😉

Step 4: Remove your finger from the magic ring

Gently remove your finger from the magic ring.

If everything has gone well so far, you will have a magic ring from this step, meaning that the end of the yarn can already be used to tighten the circle. I always check if everything is okay at this stage by slightly sliding the end of the yarn.

Step 5: Make the first stitch of the pattern

I now begin the instructions for round 1 of my pattern. Here, for this article, I will make a magic ring of 6 single crochet stitches, so I make my first single crochet. I insert my hook from front to back inside the ring.

Step 6: Finish the first round of the pattern

I finish crocheting the number of stitches according to the instructions for round 1 of my pattern. Since I am making a magic ring of 6 single crochet stitches, I crochet 5 more stitches to complete my round.

💡 Tip 💡I crochet two or three stitches and then check that my magic ring slides well. To check, I gently pull on the end of the yarn and see if my circle gets smaller.

Step 7: Close the magic ring

Once the round is finished, simply pull on the end of the yarn to tighten and close the magic ring. Don't hesitate to pull firmly to close it well.