Single Crochet Decrease.

The close-up isolates the three-working-loop checkpoint on separate demonstration fabric. Follow the written base selection and count key for the complete ten-to-nine-stitch exercise rather than counting every visible stitch in the cropped image.

Chain eleven. Work a single crochet into the second chain from the hook and each remaining chain. Count ten single crochet stitches.

For the next row, chain one and turn. That turning chain does not count as a stitch in this exercise. Mark the first and last stitch tops if they are hard to recognise.

Work a single crochet into each of the first four stitches. You will decrease across the fifth and sixth stitches, then finish with one single crochet in each of the remaining four stitches.

1. Insert the hook under both top loops of the fifth stitch.
2. Yarn over and draw a loop through that stitch. You have two loops on the hook. Leave them there.
3. Insert the hook under both top loops of the sixth stitch.
4. Yarn over and draw up another loop. You now have three loops on the hook.
5. Yarn over once more and draw through all three loops.

One active loop remains. The decrease is complete, and the two base stitches now have one shared new top. Continue in the next unused stitch, the seventh stitch of the old row.

The practice row is:

Ch 1, turn. Sc in each of the next 4 sts, sc2tog over the next 2 sts, sc in each of the next 4 sts. (9 sc)

The instruction consumes 4 + 2 + 4 = 10 base stitches. It produces 4 + 1 + 4 = 9 new stitches.

Do not count the two gathered bases as two stitches in the new row. Find the single V at the top of the decrease. On the next plain row, that V normally receives one stitch unless the pattern tells you otherwise.

If your count is still ten, check whether you finished the first single crochet before moving to the second base. That would make two separate stitches rather than one decrease.

If the count dropped to eight, you may have skipped a base as well as working the decrease. Trace the two gathered bases, then find the next unused stitch before going on.

The method above uses both top loops of each base. A common amigurumi invisible decrease instead gathers selected front loops before finishing the stitch. The movements and appearance differ.

Use the decrease your pattern specifies. A designer may choose a particular method for the face of the fabric, shaping or texture. Do not silently substitute one because its name sounds neater.

Skipping a stitch is another way to reduce the count, but it can leave a more visible opening. It does not reproduce this sc2tog structure.

Draw the gathered loops to a workable height on the shaft. If they are very tight, pause and ease them before pulling through all three. Pulling harder can split the yarn or hide the two bases you need to inspect.

This is a practice row, so stop and remake the decrease if the insertion is unclear. A quick check is more useful than carrying an uncertain count into the next row.

Review single crochet if the basic movement is new. The amigurumi lesson shows how increases and decreases contribute to a shaped piece, while the glossary helps you interpret the abbreviations in your own pattern.