Have you ever set out to crochet a circle starting with a magic ring, only to end up with a hexagon instead? Well let me show you how to fix it! You will have to make an easy, small modification to the pattern (I can’t believe patterns don’t incorporate this in the first place).
Why You Get a Hexagon
Standard Crochet Pattern Instructions
A traditional circle pattern will look something like this:
Start with a magic ring (MR).
Row 1: Put 6 single crochets (SC) into the MR. (6 stitches total at the end of this row)
Row 2: Put 2 SC in each of the 6 stitches from Row 1. In other words, perform an increase (INC) in each stitch. (12)
Row 3: *1 SC, 1 INC* repeat between the * until you reach the end of the row. (18)
Row 4: *2 SC, 1INC* repeat until the end. (24)
Row 5: *3 SC, 1 INC* (30)
Row 6: *4 SC, 1 INC* (36)
Row 7: *5 SC, 1 INC* (42)
Row 8: *6 SC, 1 INC* (48)What You’ll Make From Standard Crochet Pattern Instructions
I followed the above instructions using blue yarn for the single crochets and green for the increases. This shows you that the increases end up on top of each other and the single crochets line up as well. The result of this is a hexagon:
How to Fix a Crochet Circle That Looks Like a Hexagon
If you want to turn that hexagon into a circle, keep reading — the fix is actually really small and simple!
You just have to stagger your increases (meaning don’t stack them from one row to the next). But you also of course have to maintain the same number of stitches in each row that you change while spreading apart the increases at least generally evenly (like don’t put all your increases together in one place and single crochet everywhere else… that will end up looking odd).
You can do this in a number of different ways, but the way I think about this is kind of rotating every other row clockwise by a certain number of stitches and the easiest way to remember how to do this is to put half number of stitches before an increase at the end of the row. I’ll show you what I mean: here’s the same pattern as above, unedited, just with Rows 6 and 8 highlighted:
Start with a magic ring (MR).
Row 1: Put 6 single crochets (SC) into the MR. (6 stitches total at the end of this row)
Row 2: Put 2 SC in each of the 6 stitches from Row 1. In other words, perform an increase (INC) in each stitch. (12)
Row 3: *1 SC, 1 INC* repeat between the * until you reach the end of the row. (18)
Row 4: *2 SC, 1INC* repeat until the end. (24)
Row 5: *3 SC, 1 INC* (30)
Row 6: *4 SC, 1 INC* (36)
Row 7: *5 SC, 1 INC* (42)
Row 8: *6 SC, 1 INC* (48)
We choose the rows with an even number of SCs before increase stitches because it’s easy to divide that number by 2. So divide that number by 2 and do that many SCs, followed by your increase. Continue the pattern like normal until you are near the end. After your last increase, you should have the same number of stitches left as when you started the row. Single crochet into each of those stitches to complete the row and congratulations, you’ve successfully offset your increase stitches and are on your way to making an actual circle!
The next row will follow the pattern as it is written, and the row after that you’ll do the little trick again — divide the number of SCs by two, SC that many times and then do your increase, follow the normal pattern until you have the same number of stitches left as how many you started with (this should happen after an increase) and SC in each of those.
Here’s what the modified pattern looks like:
Start with a magic ring (MR).
Row 1: Put 6 single crochets (SC) into the MR. (6 stitches total at the end of this row)
Row 2: Put 2 SC in each of the 6 stitches from Row 1. In other words, perform an increase (INC) in each stitch. (12)
Row 3: *1 SC, 1 INC* repeat between the * until you reach the end of the row. (18)
Row 4: *2 SC, 1INC* repeat until the end. (24)
Row 5: *3 SC, 1 INC* (30)
Row 6: 2 SC, 1 INC; *4 SC, 1 INC* until you have 2 stitches left; 2 SC (36)
Row 7: *5 SC, 1 INC* (42)
Row 8: 3 SC, INC; *6 SC, 1 INC* until you have 3 SC left; 3 SC(48)
You’ll see above that in Row 6, the 2 SCs that you start with (followed by an INC) and the 2 SCs that you end with complete a full *4 SC, 1 INC*. Same for Row 8 where the 3 you start with + the 3 you end with still make 6 SCs in between increases.
The Final Result
And here’s what the modified pattern looks like when crocheted (in two colors 🙃). I’ve added further color coding so you can see rows 6 (purple) and 8 (yellow) more easily — you’ll see that the first set of 4 or 6 single crochets plus their increase stitch gets cut in half to start, but since you accommodate for that half you cut out at the end, you still end up with the same number of stitches in each row:
This is the before and after. Let me know how it works for you and if you were able to understand it in the way I explained!
