It’s no secret, I love working in the round, and I love crocheting through the back loop. When you’re working in the round, the easiest way to make a lop-sided cylinder (where one side is taller than the other) is to do some of the sts in the round in hdc (half double crochet) and ones on the other side in sl st (slip stitch).
advantages:
- you can continue working in the round, using your same, happy stitch markers
- the stitches look (roughly) uniform over the entire piece
disadvantages:
- the angle of the slope is pretty subtle, and sometimes isn’t steep enough (even with repeated rnds)
Below, you’ll see a picture of my walrus, which was crocheted using this shaping technique.
This week, it’s been really rainy outside… and that leads to lots of experimenting and playing with yarn inside the house. So, I started experimenting with shaping my amigurumi using ‘short rows’ (or at least, things that would be called short rows in knitting). Basically, it’s crocheting in rows, using up only a small portion of the round, to create your shaping.
advantages:
- you can create 90 degree angles in your shaping
disadvantages:
- the instructions are slightly more difficult (from a pattern perspective)
- because you’re working in rows, the stitches can look different from the rest of the piece. To remedy this, I’ve crocheted my sample piece through both loops
Below, you can see the piece that I’ve been crocheting with this second technique.
I miss the look of working through the back loops, but it’s a great technique to have on hand… and who knows? You may see it used in FreshStitches patterns sometime soon!
I’ve heard of some people combating the different look when working with short rows by either switching their dominant hand (righties switch to crocheting with their left, working from left to right, and vice-versa) or turning the work and working back to front. I personally haven’t tried either yet but I plan to in the future. :)
Hmm… interesting idea!
Your post’s have been very helpful. I just started making amigurumi’s and am having a problem with completing the rounds. I seem to finish my round 2 or 3 stitches before I’m at the marker. I’m counting correctly but seem to be increasing stitches some how.
I start by making a magic ring, should I try something else? I’m getting a little frustrated everything is coming out lopsided.
Thanks,
Mary Beth
Hi Mary-
Are you increasing stitches, or does it just seem like your rounds keep finishing too early? If it’s the latter, then that’s normal! Crochet rounds ‘twist’ slightly, so the last stitch of each round is slightly to the right of the previous round… and after a couple of rounds, it can look like it’s off by a stitch or two.
You can try moving the stitch marker every round (so nothing gets too far off), and over time, you’ll learn to ‘see’ the twisting.
Good luck!
Hi, I understand your first example, using slip stitches on one side and hdc on the other. But I don’t understand what you mean in your second technique where (the one where you mention short rows).
Could you explain to me what you’re doing here, or point me to somewhere which explains it? Thank you!
Hi Jo!
Short rows mean working only part of the row before working the next row… resulting in some parts that are higher than others.
Here’s a blog post about short row shaping. Hope that helps!