The magic ring is a common way to start working in the round and my personal favorite. It involves making a simple loop of yarn and then working your first round of stitches into that loop. You don’t need to make a slip knot with this method and you can work as many stitches into the ring on the first round as you need to. After working the last stitch of the first round, all you have to do is simply grab the yarn tail to close the ring. You can close it all the way or you can leave a small opening and that is actually the beauty of this technique. It lets you control the size of the center hole of your work by pulling the yarn tail.
How to make the magic ring
Make a loop by putting the yarn tail behind the yarn coming from the skein, leaving a 4-inch (10 cm) tail.
Hold the point where the loop overlaps.
Insert the hook from front to back and pull the working yarn through the loop, one loop is now on the hook.
You have just made your magic loop.
Yarn over and pull through the loop on your hook, first chain made.
Continue the first round as instructed in the pattern.
The last two illustrations show how single crochet stitches can be worked in the magic ring, but the same applies to all crochet stitches.
