I’m a bit of a craft perfectionist. Well – I’m a perfectionist in a lot of aspects of my life… but it really comes out in crafting! I want everything to be even and straight and measured!

When I started crocheting in the round, I noticed something that bugged that perfectionist inside me. The shape of items that I wanted to be a circle came out more hexagonal or octagonal – depending on the number of increases per round.

I knew there had to be a way to fix this. As I looked at the shapes and the lines that were made I noticed it was happening because all of increases (and decreases) happen at the same point in every round.

Traditionally a pattern will read something like this:

Round 1: magic circle with 8 sc
Round 2: inc around (16)
Round 3: inc, sc around (24)
Round 4: inc, 2 sc around (32)
Round 5: inc, 3 sc around (40)
Round 6: inc, 4 sc around (48)
Round 7: inc, 5 sc around (56)
Round 8: inc, 6sc around (64)… etc…

When doing it this way, the increase is always in the same spot in the circle and it can come out looking hexagonal or octagonal. If you look closely, you can also see the lines of increases running through the project. 

My solution: Whenever I work in the round, I stagger the place in the round that I do my increases (and decreases.) On even rows, I do half of the single crochets, then increase, then continue as normal. It is written like this:

Round 1: magic circle with 8 sc
Round 2: inc around (16)
Round 3: inc, sc around (24)
Round 4: *sc, inc, sc* repeat around (32)
Round 5: inc, 3 sc around (40)
Round 6: *2sc, inc, 2sc* repeat around (48)
Round 7: inc, 5 sc around (56)
Round 8: *3sc, inc, 3sc* repeat around (64)… etc..

You will still come out with the same amount of stitches and have the same number of stitches between increases. It just moves the increase to avoid a line and makes the overall shape much more circular! 

I write up all of my patterns this way – but I also make my own adjustment to other patterns when I make them. I do the rounds that have an odd amount of single crochets between increases as written. Whenever the increase row has an even number of single crochets between increases, I do half of the single crochets before doing the increase, increase, do the written number of single crochets between each increase and end with half of the single crochets.

This applies the same way to decreases in amigurumi. I find it helps keep the holes between stitches smaller since the decreases aren’t stacked!

I hope this helps the little perfectionist inside you get perfect circles and rounder amigurumi! Let me know if you have used this tip in the comments.