I’ve been a little crazy for mandalas recently. I made my first one over a year ago adapting a pattern I found free online (more on that here), and I’ve loved that little table topper. I still find myself featuring it in my Instagram photos, and in fact, the last time I shared it, I followed the #crochetmandala hashtag, and got sucked in to a world of beautiful circles. I knew I’d need to hook up a few more for myself.
In my travels I came across Haafner Linssen’s Instagram feed. I loved her aesthetic and saw that she’d had a book recently published. Perfect! Within a few days, Mandalas to Crochet was in my hot little hands, and the Starry Starry Night Mandala was on my hook.
Before this, I’d been using my first Project::Granny Square piece in the living room. It has sentimental value, and it practically matches the rug, but I was ready for a change.
Encouraged by how quickly Starry Starry Night came together, I picked another design for the dining room: Marvelous Myriad.
This one is eventually going on top of a piece of furniture we don’t own yet, but in the meantime, I really like the way it looks on top of my table runner.
I love making these mandalas, and I love looking at them around the house.
This has led to Neil asking, “how many more of these things do we need?” He’s not a huge fan of the doily look, no matter how colorful and modern they may be. That, in turn, has led to my next one being made as a gift so that it doesn’t have to live here. I’m doing another Marvelous Myriad for my mother, in colors she chose, but it’s not finished yet.
I think these motifs appeal to me because there are so many different stitch patterns in a single design. There’s very little chance to get bored, because each round is different than the last.
I fell asleep last night thinking about another mandala: one I could design myself. It would be based on my Mod Floral Blanket design, featuring the flower in the center, a lot of white in the background, and some colorful stripes here and there.
I really hope I’ll have a chance to work on that idea this weekend. I’m supposed to be doing Taxes-related work (which I really must do) and I have a Saturday afternoon date with Eamonn to help him with an algebra project (which I’m perfectly happy to do – I love algebra). I’m not sure how much crochet time that leaves me, but I will squeeze it in somewhere!
