How to Crochet the Perfect Peppermint Spiral

Tis the season for all things holiday right? One classic holiday treat that I absolutely love is peppermints. Not only is mint one of my favorite flavors, but who doesn’t love that iconic spiral of colors! In this article I’ll show you how to crochet the perfect peppermint spiral so you can create all sorts of minty-themed projects!

How to Crochet the Perfect Peppermint Spiral

Supplies for Practice

The materials, abbreviations and notes below are to help you follow along with the tutorial and practice. However, this article doesn’t contain a full pattern. If you would like to try out a project that uses this kind of spiral, try my free Piper the Peppermint Snake pattern!

Materials

• Yarn: Animation from WeCrochet (DK weight, 2 skeins)
  • Color A: Fiesta Red
  • Color B: White
• 2.5mm hook

If you’re making a full amigurumi, you’ll also need other materials including stuffing, a tapestry needle, scissors, etc…

Abbreviations

(**) – See Project Notes section

• MR – magic ring (**)
• Sc – single crochet (**)
• Inc – increase (**)
• Dec – decrease (**)
• St(s) – stitch(es)
• Rnd – round
• (#) – the number inside is the stitch count for the Rnd
• [ ] – repeat the stitches inside the brackets the given number of times

Project Notes

• This project is written in US terminology.
• Unless otherwise specified, work in continuous rounds without using a slip stitch to join rows.
• Move stitch markers up each row as you go.
• Magic Ring: Create a magic ring and work the specified number of single crochet into it (ex. MR6 = 6sc into the ring).
• Single Crochet: Unless otherwise specified, this project uses the yarn under technique. Insert your hook into the stitch, yarn under, pull up a loop (2 loops on your hook), yarn under, and pull through both loops.
  • NOTE: I use yarn under, but you don’t have to. It is not necessary for this project.
• Increase: work 2sc into the same stitch.
• Decrease: Unless otherwise specified, use the invisible decrease method. Insert your hook into the front loop of the next stitch, then insert your hook into the front loop of the following stitch, yarn over and pull through the first loop (3 loops on the hook), then yarn over and pull through all 3 loops on the hook.

If you prefer to watch tutorials, check out the video below!

Peppermint Spiral Tutorial

The trickiest part of this technique is getting the magic ring started and part of the reason for that is all of the color changes. If you’re unfamiliar with changing colors or just want a refresher, check out this article and then come back.

NOTE: For following instructions, you’ll see how I create a magic ring. If you have a preferred method, then please use whatever technique you’re most comfortable with. The important part is to change colors in every stitch.

Creating the Magic Ring

Rnd 0: form a MR: [A: sc, B: sc] 3 times. (6)

1. Holding both strands together, wrap the yarn around your index and middle fingers.
2. Reach the yarn across the back of your hand and then use your pinky to hold the tension.
3. Insert your hook into the MR, grab the red only and pull up a loop.
4. Grab the red only and ch 1.
5. Insert your hook into the MR, yarn over (or under) with the red only and pull up a loop.
6. Yarn over with the white only and pull through both loops on the hook.

This creates the first single crochet of the MR. We need a total of 6 stitches and we need to alternate colors for each stitch.

1. Insert your hook into the MR, yarn over with the white only and pull up a loop.
2. Yarn over with the red only and pull through both loops on the hook.
3. Repeat steps 5-6 from the section above and steps 1-2 until you have 6 stitches in the MR (3 red and 3 white).

Once you have all 6 stitches in the MR, pull the tails to cinch it closed.

Continuing the Spiral

Now you can continue working as though this were a normal (single-color) magic ring. For example, if you want to create a flat circle, you’ll increase evenly around. Or to make straight rows, you’ll work single crochet stitches around.

The most important thing to keep in mind with this technique is to only work the same colors into each other. Red into red and white into white.

Let’s look at an example:

Rnd 1: [A: inc, B: inc] 3 times. (12)

Rnd 2: [A: inc, sc, B: inc, sc] 3 times. (18)

Rnd 3: [A: sc, inc, sc, B: sc, inc, sc] 3 times. (24)

The best part about this technique is that you really don’t have to do anything special to make the colors spiral. Even if you’re just working regular single crochet rows (making a tube), the stitch drift will naturally curve the colors like with Piper the Peppermint Snake.

Floats & Tension

One last big thing to keep in mind with this technique is making sure your floats have an even tension. As you continue to change colors, floating the yarn along the inside of the project, it’s really easy to pull them too tight or leave them too loose. If your floats are too tight, it can pucker the outside of the piece. If they are too loose, you’ll end up with gappy stitches.

If you’re still getting the hang of hanging color like this, I recommend going for slightly looser floats. That way you can tug on them to tighten your stitches. Plus, when you add stuffing to a project, that will also naturally stretch out your stitches and the slight give from the floats will help.

Summary

In this article we covered how to crochet the perfect peppermint spiral so you can make all sorts of holiday-themed projects! If you want to give this technique a try and snakes aren’t your thing, check out Sammie the Turtle’s Peppermint Shell (soon to be updated)!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, share it with your friends! And make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter so you never miss a new post, pattern or special event.

Here’s another tutorial you might enjoy:

• How to Create the Perfect Spiral

Have a wonderful day and happy stitching!