Crochet - How to hide slip knot in a circle pattern?

Assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته 

(May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you)

When the first time I learn to crochet, I had difficult time to make nice circle in the center of circle pattern after I complete round 1 and I also had hard time to hide the slip knot. After several times trial and error, I had figured out to solve my problem, well at least much much better.

I will share here how I hide the slip knot and create nearly perfect circle in the center of circle work.

I will show step by step process in several images of my way and also the opposite way to compare.

Before we go further, for a beginner needs to know what is slip knot? 

I will use a simple pattern here to show how to hide the slip knot, ( you can use your own pattern to follow this method):

Abbreviation:

sl st - slip stitch

ch - chain

sc - single crochet

lp - loop

yo - yarn over

sp - space

Ch 6 - sl st into first ch to form ring

Round 1 - ch 1, 12 sc into ring sp,  (continue to follow pattern used for the next round)

First I will show my way:

After form a circle, place the sl knot & tail of thread to the left side (in front) of hook,

now we start to make first sc; in making 1st sc, try as close as possible to the first ch after sl st and also try as tight as possible but not too tight, so we still can; yo, pull through 2 lp to complete sc,

before we make second sc, look at space between slip knot and first sc. If still have enough room for next sc; make next sc as close as possible to first sc and as tight as possible,

if the slip knot has not covered yet by second sc, repeat the above step for third sc,

after slip knot hidden keep the remain tail around the circle, continue to make next sc as usual while hiding tail in sc  until all 12 sc complete, sl st into first ch to joint.

The opposite way:

After form circle, place sl knot & tail of thread to the right side (back) of hook,

start to make sc,

after make 2 sc, place the tail of thread around the circle (if you work in bigger circle, you will need to make several more sc till you can reach the tail of thread), and the continue to make next sc while hiding the tail in sc until 12 sc complete, sl st into  1st ch to joint sc.

Below images are the font and back side of final round 1 for both ways to show the different:

The differences  between both ways are:

• The circle in my way is almost round while in the opposite way kind of oval shape.
• The size all of sc around the circle in my way about the same size even the one above slip knot, while in the opposite way; sc above slip knot little bit bigger than other sc around the circle.
• The appearance at the front side for both way look similar, but at the back side in my way look more neat than the opposite way.
• In the opposite way; sometimes we still need to trim the end of tail that still appear in between sc, meanwhile we do not have to do that in my way because all tail covered automatically when we make sc unless if we let the tail a lot longer than the circle.

Hope this help !

Selamat mencoba ... :)