Who can help me—I don’t understand the abbreviation

Hi

I’m new to crocheting, but I’d really love to make this mobile for my little one:

http://de.dawanda.com/do-it-yourself/haekeln/mobile-aus-nilpferden-selber-haekeln

I’m already having trouble with the first abbreviation, and Google isn’t helping either.

What does “MR” mean? It usually appears in Step 1.
“fM” stands for single crochet—I already know how to do that. But “MR” means nothing to me.

Hope you can help me :-) Thanks :-)

Hello and welcome to the forum! :-)

MR stands for “Magic Ring” — in German, it’s also often called a “Fadenring” — and is commonly used to start projects that are crocheted in rounds... Whether it’s hats, stuffed animals,...

The easiest way is to watch a video showing how it’s done—check this one out, for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvBpojVaN-k

If you’re having trouble with the Magic Ring (this happens to a lot of people at first. But don’t worry—you’ll get the hang of it eventually :-) ), you can also just chain 2 and then work the required number of single crochets (in this case, 6) into the first chain stitch.

I hope that was reasonably understandable. Otherwise, just ask again.

Good luck with the mobile.

Hi, and thanks for the kind reply :-)

I’ve been getting along pretty well so far, but unfortunately I’m now stuck at step 20 in the body pattern.

4 ch, 3 sc in the 2nd ch from the hook. This will be the tail. Join with 1 sl st. 

So I can do 4 chain stitches, but I don’t understand which of these chain stitches I’m supposed to work the three single crochets into. Because after that, there’s only one stitch left on the hook. Or are chain stitches not the same as a foundation chain? In any case, I did that ;-)

I hope you can help me out again! Thank you

Hi Caro,
yes, without knowing the pattern in detail, I’d guess that this refers to a chain of 4 ch—and you crochet the 3 sc into the 2nd ch from the hook (so not the ch that’s currently on the hook, but the one before it—that is, the 3rd ch if you’re counting from the beginning).

I hope that was somewhat clear. — If you’re still having trouble, just let me know.

I wish you lots of success and hope you enjoy the pattern.
Best regards,
Stefanie

Hi Caro,
you have one stitch on your hook. Into this stitch, you crochet 4 chain stitches. The last chain stitch is your turning chain, so you don’t work into it. That leaves 3 chain stitches where you can work your single crochets. You finish the row with a slip stitch—that is, you pull a loop through the last stitch, so you now have 2 loops on the hook. Then you simply pull the front loop through the back loop. After that, you can cut the yarn and weave in the ends. By the way, I think the mobile is really beautiful. Good luck with it!

Wow, thank you so much—you guys are great.
Thanks to you, I’ll probably even manage a hippo, even though I’m a beginner :-)

Now, unfortunately, I’m bothering you again because I’m not making any progress.
Everything on the hippo is done except for the feet (why do they have to be extra complicated?)

Step 3: Crochet this round into loops.
I did this following the instructions in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkFZkXU-CiU

In the next round, I crocheted the stitch on the hook together with the loose stitch hanging behind it as a single crochet. Is that right?

I find this extremely complicated, and with such a small hook and thin yarn, it’s a really fiddly job.
Isn’t there an easier way to do this?!
What’s the point of these loops if they’re not even visible anyway...

Thank you so much!

Hi Caro,

I think you’re absolutely right. The loops are meant to make the hippos’ legs look a little longer. I wouldn’t do that at all. Why don’t you just leave out the loops and crochet the legs using single crochet stitches without loops? That way, you’ll end up with little balls that you can sew under the hippo’s belly. It’s much easier, and in my opinion, it makes no difference.
Good luck with the rest!

Hi Caro,

I wanted to ask if you could help me with the hippo from Dawanda since you seem to have gotten further than I have... Unfortunately, I’m already stuck on row 4 of the head. Because when I crochet 2 sc in each stitch here, I end up with more than 24 sts, so I can’t continue crocheting the remaining rows... Do you have any tips?

Hi Danibis,

here’s a quote from the pattern:
“2 sc, 2 sc in the next stitch, repeat (24 sts).”

You do NOT crochet 2 sc in every stitch; instead, you first crochet 2 sc, THEN 2 sc in the next stitch.

So in Round 4, you’re doubling every 3rd sc :-)

Best regards, Marion

Aah, thank you, Marion! That explains a lot ☺️