How can I finish the tops of my balls so the stitches are not so open in appearance?

Question

Pokemon Go has been a feature in my family, and the world, as of late. I figured it would be fun to make some pokeballs for the kids. The first time I make something I expect there to be flaws. I make mistakes so that I can learn from them. However I have now made two balls which have similar issues that I see when I make spherical objects.

As you can see the tops of the balls have rather open stitching. I don't have this issue with the bottoms, which is where I started working, as they are tight and closed.

Based on the instructions I was following, which are pretty much the same for all balls, I just did the reverse of the inc rows using dec's for the top. When I made the first ball the rows stopped leaving a large circular gap at the top. I added some more stitches to round it off.

How can I finish the tops of balls and other spheres so that it looks tighter and not obvious that I finished there.

Answer 1

Here is an amazing tutorial for how to close amigurumi shapes. It's a bit of work but the results are beautiful.

Essentially, this method works by creating an identical system to your opening magic loop (if you're using the magic loop start), by adding a drawstring to the last circle of stitches. This drawstring can then be pulled until the circle is completely closed and then tied in place and finished off.

As laid out in the tutorial, the steps are:

1. Decrease the opening in your work until you have 6 to 8 stitches or less.
2. Thread a tapestry needle with the tail left from your work. Insert the needle under the next front loop.
3. Repeat for the remaining stitches pulling the yarn lightly.
4. Pull the yarn tightly until the hole closes completely.
5. Insert the needle under a loop close to the closed hole. Repeat one more time.
6. Pull the yarn until creating a loop and insert the needle into the loop. Pull the yarn creating a knot.
7. Insert the needle into the closed hole and make it come out as far as possible.
8. Pull the yarn until the knot disappears into the piece. Cut the yarn close to the piece, the end will disappear inside it.
9. Piece closed.