We stay in a rented property with beige walls and beige carpets. Its lovely and light, but a bit boring on the eye, so I wanted to brighten the room up with some crochet!
Ive always liked the idea of mandalas, but I tended to miscount stitches and the pattern wouldnt work. Amigurumi has been great for mastering increases in the round and keeping a good count, so I gave them another shot.
The 'Bullseye' mandala is really easy - there may be a written pattern somewhere, I just worked with basic increases, so didnt use one. I used 4 main colours, with a slate grey in between each. Ive been using chunky yarn (a mix of Hayfield Bonus and Stylecraft), and for this project used a 6.5mm hook. The main colour rounds are double crochet increases, and the grey between is single crochet increases. Instead of working in spiral, I joined each round with a slip stitch. If you were making this yourself, it could be made as large as required by adding extra increasing rows. I finished mine off with tassels around the edge.
My cats seem to like the new addition, so considering it a winner :)
My other attempt started off life as a rug, but we are a clumsy family and tend to trip over anything given half a chance, so the loops were a danger to life! It has ended up as a 'topper' for a beanbag and does it job helping to brighten up my space :)
I cant remember the pattern I used, but I would encourage searching pinterest or google for excellent mandala patterns!
Tips for mandalas:
- as every thing else, count stitches! Theres nothing worse than realising 2 or 3 rows through the pattern that you've made an error. Frog or not to frog!
experiment with colours - mandalas are a very personal expression of feeling and emotions in my opinion, so crochet one that reflects how you feel or the emotion you want to represent. Small ones can be a nice way of testing how colour palettes will work. - block in needed - sometimes the edges will curl and the pattern doesnt quite sit right - block if needs be. I didnt bother with mine and just left in place on the floor, both ended up flattening off.
Hope you enjoy the mandalas, and please share your own :)