Dinosaur drama!

[DarlingArmadillo]

Hey!

I'm fairly new to crochet, in fact I only started about 2 weeks ago. After watching various YouTube videos I get the basics.

 

My aim is to create an amigurumi T. rex however I'm really struggling with the first round. After not being able to fully work out what I was supposed to be doing, I attempted to start the olan with a magic circle instead (starting w/4 stitches, building to 8 then 17 to then jump in on Rnd 2 of the pattern) but after getting to about round 6 it was clear that it just wasn't going to work. 

 

Can anyone explian what im actually supposed to be doing here?! I understand the chain8, but don't get what it means by working on both sides of the chain, or what 4in1 is (definitions in this book weren't helpful at all) 

 

ive added a pic to show what the finished product is supposed to look like 

thanks for helping out a newbie! 

Xx

[Granny Square]

Hi, and welcome to crochet and to the 'ville!  Just FYI, you might want to read up on the terms of use here, you can type in a couple of lines that are confusing on a pattern but it's a copyright violation to scan (even a portion) of a pattern and upload it to this forum.

Meanwhile, This pattern is written is not-quite-typical 'crochet grammar'.  4 in 1 is undoubtedly make 4 stitches into 1 stitch.

 A magic ring or adjustable ring would not have worked here, because although you are working in the round, you are working in an oval, not a circle.  Working into both sides of the chain - when you work back and forth, you chain x, turn, and work across the foundation chain, right?  When you work into the chain, there's 3 ways to do this:  (1) with the chain facing you, use the top loop  (2) with the chain facing you, use the top loop and the loop behind that, leaving the bottom loop unused (3) with the chain facing away from you, using the 'back bump' of the chain.  For things where the starting edge shows (not your dino), the latter looks the most like the edge when you finish off.  It doesn't matter which you choose here, but notice that each scheme leaves 1 or 2 loops unused.  When you work in the round in an oval, you work across in 1 of those ways, in the last stitch making multiple stitches into 1 (4 in 1), then rotate to start to work on what was the unused loops beneath the stitches you just made.  This is probably the center of the dino's face (forehead to nose).

edit - a tutorial on making ovals http://crochetncrafts.com/crocheting-the-first-round-of-an-oval/