How to crochet a magic loop to start crocheting in the round

in this video i’ll show you how to make a magic loop and before i show you that i want to show you what makes it magical so a magic loop is a common way to start any crochet piece that’s in the round like amigurumi stuffed toys because it is a technique where there’s no hole in the middle when you’re done and you may be looking at this and one wondering why this doesn’t look like a circle and two why there is a gaping hole in the middle of the half circle and that is what makes this magical so when you’re done crocheting the number of stitches that’s supposed to go on your magic loop if you hold on to your piece and then pull on the yarn tail that hole disappears that is the magic so now i’m going to show you how to do that yourselves and i also want to preface this by letting you know that the magic loop is one of the hardest techniques in crochet so if you don’t get it the first few times don’t worry about it just pause take a breath recenter yourself and then come back to it you will get it eventually so to make a magic loop what you’re going to first do is create an x on your non-dominant hand so face your palm towards you take your yarn with the yarn tail in front of your palm drape it diagonally and you’re going to hold on to the yarn tail with your thumb and ring finger and then you’re going to create an x around your pointer and middle finger so notice how the tail side of the yarn is on the bottom part of the x the working yarn is the one that’s on top and going this way and the working yarn remember is the yarn that is attached to the yarn ball so next we are going to insert our hook under the top right side of the x and over the top left side of the x and notice how the point of my hook is facing away from me now it is facing the palm of my hand and now i’m gonna pull and twist that side of the x so that i now have a loop on the right side of all my yarn now i’m going to hold on to where all that yarn intersects with my right hand temporarily so that i can get my my left hand out or if you’re lefty the opposite way and the end goal is to get your hands into regular crocheting position so hold on tight to the intersection of all that yarn because you don’t want to lose the work you’ve done and now you’re going to position your working yarn by looping it around your pinky once so that the working yarn is and piece is now behind your palm then draping all of that over your index finger and now holding on to all that intersection point with your left hand using your thumb and middle finger or thumb and pointer finger whichever is more comfortable for you the important thing is if you are a righty you want to orient this magic loop so that the tail of the yarn tail is on the left side of the loop so there should be two strands of yarn on the left side of the hook and only one on the right sorry to the left side of the loop and only one strand of yarn on the right side of this loop all right so now let us do a chain stitch so we no longer have to hold on so tight to this inner section to do that simply yarn over by pushing the working yarn away from you with your hook and then pulling that yarn through the loop that is on your hook so now if you were to let go with your left hand everything would stay put and all is good but that chain stitch did not count towards one of the stitches in your magic loop so say that your pattern says that you need to do six single crochet stitches in the magic loop you are going to do a single crochet stitch as you normally would and the only difference is where do you put your hook to begin with and when you’re normally crocheting uh you put your hook under the top loops of a stitch and that’s how you begin the single crochet stitch in this world the top of the loops in this case is sort of where these two strands of yarn are so hold on to your magic loop and i highly recommend holding on to literally all of it you wanna you wanna hold on to both the yarn tail and the left side of the loop and the right side of the loop to minimize the amount that your loop twists and therefore maximize the chances that your loop is successful so hold on tight make sure that you still leave a gap that represents where this big hole is and also make sure that the yarn tail is on the left side of the loop now you’re gonna stick your hook into the middle of the loop and make sure your hook is under both the yarn tail and the left side of the loop you’re going to yarn over remember that means that you’re putting the wording yarn over the top of the hook from the top to the bottom and then rotate the point of your hook down a little bit as you pull that working yarn only through the left side of the loop and the yarn tail so you’re gonna bring it all up through the middle of the loop and that’s why you have two loops on your hook now and then you’re going to yarn over again by pushing the working yarn away from you and then pulling that yarn through both loops on the hook that is one single crochet stitch in the magic loop i’ll do it again remember to hold on to both sides of the loop but in case it’s easier for you to see i will demonstrate where i’m only holding on to the left side of the loop and the yarn tail remember you need to crochet over both the left side of the loop and the yarn tail so we’re going to insert the hook into the middle of the loop that big hole grab the working yarn pull that working yarn back through the big loop so that now you have two loops on your hook then push the working yarn away so that you’re yarning over again and then pulling that yarn through both loops on the hook so i’m going to do it a third time now a little faster and doing it where again i highly recommend always trying to hold your yarn as close to the hook as possible so you maintain the maximum amount of control so put your hook through the middle of the loop yarn over pull it through back through that middle part of the big loop so now you have two loops on your hook yarn over and pull it through both loops on the hook that is now your third single crochet stitch i’m gonna fast over through the next three okay so now we have six single crochet stitches in the magic loop and by the way we can count this by seeing that here is one v two three four five and six and now the magical part is when you hold the stitches you made with one hand and then you pull on the yarn tail with the other you now have a completed magic loop