How do I make spiral rounds?
It’s easy to work in a spiral instead…
Spiral rounds are a slightly different way of working in the round. They eliminate the need to work a turning chain at the start of the round and a slip stitch at the end of the round. This makes the fabric slightly less than a perfect circle, but each round is slightly faster to work. They work well for 3D toy body parts where you’ll only ever see one side of the body part at a time. Plus, you’re using finer yarns and smaller stitches so any slight wonkiness is less noticeable. If you want to make toys, it’s a useful way of working, so here’s how…
Step 1 Start your first round in the same way as with circular rounds, following Step 1 on the previous page.
Step 2 If you’re working a spiral round, stop here – don’t make a slip stitch or a turning chain. Instead, just start your second round of stitches, working the first stitch straight into the first stitch of the previous round. In our example, the second round involves working 2dc into each dc. So insert the hook into the top of the first stitch of the round. Step 3 Yrh and pull the yarn back through this stitch.
Step 4 Yrh and pull through 2 loops to complete the first dc of the second round. Step 5 Mark the stitch you just made as the first of the round, in order to keep track of where you are in the round. Insert a stitch marker or spare piece of yarn into the top of the stitch, as you’d insert the hook.
Step 6 Now you can work the rest of the stitches of the second round as usual, all the way to the last stitch. Step 7 To work more spiral rounds, don’t make any slip stitches or turning chains. Instead, just work the stitches of each round into the stitches below, following your pattern. On each round, move the stitch marker up to the first stitch to keep track of the start of the round.
Step 8 There’s one final step when working in spiral rounds. When you’ve worked all the rounds, you need to work a slip stitch into the first stitch. This neatens up the edge of the fabric and avoid a step. To do this, remove the stitch marker and insert the hook into the first stitch. Yrh and pull up a loop. Step 9 Pull this loop through the existing loop to finish the slip stitch and complete your final spiral round. Can you see the spiral shape in the fabric?