Blooming Mandala

When I was making earrings nearly exclusively, many of the patterns were very much like little mandalas. It wasn’t until last year that I made a large one, the Memory Mandala, and I’ve been feelin’ like designing another one. In this design I’m really channeling my earrings designs, which is why it’s really open. I was thinking of it blooming from the center out, getting bigger and more open and it got larger. Also, the colors get “hotter” to “cooler” as you travel out. I did have a thought about making more rows, to add blues, purples, and maybe a pink or two, but I decided I really like the red to green colors.
Oh, and I have a new shawl pattern out, the Zelda Shawl. It’s on sale for $2.00 right now. 😀

Materials:

• US H hook
• Worsted weight/ medium/ size #4 yarn
  • 1.5 0z/ 92 yards
  • I used scraps, Red Heart SS, Bernat Super Value, Vanna’s Choice, etc…
• Tapestry needle

Gauge:

• 4.5” x 4.5” = 16 dcs x 8 rows

Terms/ stitches used:

• Magic circle
• Ch: chain
• St: stitch
• Slip st: slip stitch
• Sc: single crochet
• Spike sc: spike single crochet
• Hdc: half double crochet
• Dc: double crochet
• Dc3tog: double crochet 3 stitches together
• Dc4tog: double crochet 4 stitches together
• Tr: treble crochet
• Dtr: double treble crochet
• SeptTr: septule treble crochet
• Picot

Notes:

• This pattern is worked in the round, with a slip st into the first st from the last st.
• Numerous stitches require you to know how to create a slip knot on your hook.
• The ch 1 on some rows does not count as a stitch.
• There are 9 colors used in this pattern, feel free to eliminate some or all. A couple colors are repeated on more than one row.
• You’ll probably want to block the finished item. I used wet blocking for this.
• I didn’t fasten off the colors until I was sure that I did the row correctly. I would suggest doing this.
• Keep an eye on the stitches, I used non-traditional Tr stitches in this pattern. Moogly’s tutorial/ explanation on this is very helpful.

Finished measurements:

• Diameter: 12.5″ – 135.” (depending upon where you measure)

Pattern instructions:

Row 1: Color A: Create a magic circle, ch 1, sc 6 times into the circle, slip st into the first st to secure – 6 scs
Row 2: Ch 7 (counts as tr + 3), *tr into the next st, ch 3,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the top of the ch 4 to secure – 6 trs, 6 ch-3 spaces
Fasten off Color A.
Row 3: Color B: Create a slip knot on your hook, sc into a ch-3 space, sc 3 more times into the same ch-3 space, ch 1, skip the next tr, *sc 4 times into the next ch-3 space, ch 1, skip the next tr,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first st to secure – 24 scs, 6 ch-1 spaces
Row 4: Ch 2 (counts as the first leg of the dc4tog), dc3tog the next 3 sts, skip the next ch 1 space, ch 8, *dc4tog the next 4 sts, skip the next ch 1 space, ch 8,*  repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the top of the dc3tog to secure – 6 dc4togs, 6 ch-8 spaces
Fasten off Color B.
Row 5: Color C: Create a slip knot on your hook, sc 4 times into a ch-8 space, dtr into the ch-1 space from row 2, sc 4 times into the same ch-8 space, ch 3, skip the next dc4tog, *[sc 4 times, dtr into the ch-1 space from row 2, sc 4 times] into the next ch-8 space, ch 3, skip the next dc4tog,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first st to secure – 48 scs, 6 dtrs, 6 ch-3 spaces
Fasten off Color C.
Row 6: Color D: Ch 1, sc into the same st as join, sc into the next 8 sts (this includes both sc and dtr), [2 sc, picot, 2 sc] into the next ch-3 space, *sc into the next 9 sts, [2 sc, picot, 2 sc] into the next ch-3 space,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first st to secure – 78 scs, 6 picots
Fasten off Color D.
Row 7: Color E: Create a slip knot on your hook, spike sc around the first sc of the next [2 sc, picot, 2 sc] in a ch-3 space, ch 10, spike sc around the last sc of the same [2 sc, picot, 2 sc], ch 20, *spike sc spike sc around the first sc of the next [2 sc, picot, 2 sc] in a ch-3 space, ch 10, spike sc around the last sc of the same [2 sc, picot, 2 sc], ch 20,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first spike sc to secure – 12 spike scs, 6 ch-10 spaces, 6 ch-20 spaces
Fasten off Color E.
Row 8: Color F: Create a slip knot on your hook, sc into a ch 20 space, sc 4 more times, ch 15, skip the next [spike sc, ch-10, spike sc], *sc 5 times into the next ch-20 space, ch 15, skip the next [spike sc, ch-10, spike sc],*repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first st to secure – 30 scs, 6 ch-15 spaces
Row 9: Ch 1, sc into the same st as join, sc into the next st, picot, skip the next st, sc into the next 2 sts, front post SeptTr around the next dtr from row 5, [10 hdc, ch 5, 10 hdc] into the next ch-20 space, *sc into the next 2 sts, picot, skip the next st, sc into the next 2 sts, front post SeptTr around the next dtr from row 5, [10 hdc, ch 5, 10 hdc] into the next ch-20 space,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first st to secure – 24 scs, 6 picots, 6 ch-5 spaces, 6 SeptTrs, 120 hdcs
Fasten off Color F.
Row 10: Color G: Pull up a loop in the first sc of a [2 sc, picot, 2 sc] section, ch 7 (counts as a tr and a ch 3 space), skip the next [sc, picot, sc], tr into the next st, ch 2, skip the next 4 sts, hdc into the next 5 sts, skip the next 2 sts, hdc 6 times into the next ch-5 space, skip the next 2 sts, hdc into the next 5 sts, ch 2, skip the next 3 sts, *tr into the next sc, ch 3, skip the next [sc, picot, sc], tr into the next st, ch 2, skip the next 4 sts, hdc into the next 5 sts, skip the next 2 sts, hdc 6 times into the next ch-5 space, skip the next 2 sts, hdc into the next 5 sts, ch 2, skip the next 3 sts,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the 4th st from the bottom of the original ch-7 to secure – 12 trs, 96 hdcs, 6 ch-3 spaces, 12 ch-2 spaces
Fasten off Color G.
Row 11: Color H: Create a slip knot on your hook, sc into a ch-3 space, ch 5, skip the next [tr, ch-2 space, hdc], hdc into the next 2 sts, SeptTr into the ch-10 space from row 7 (skip the corresponding st on the row here and throughout this row), hdc into the next st, ch 3, skip the next 2 sts, sc into the next st, ch 3, sc into the next st, ch 3, skip the next 2 sts, hdc into the next st, SeptTr into the ch-10 space from row 7, hdc into the next 2 sts, ch 5, skip the next [hdc, ch-2, tr], sc into the next ch-3 space, ch 5, skip the next [tr, ch-2 space, hdc], hdc into the next 2 sts, SeptTr into the ch-10 space from row 7 (skip the corresponding st on the row here and throughout this row), hdc into the next st, ch 3, skip the next 2 sts, sc into the next st, ch 3, sc into the next st, ch 3, skip the next 2 sts, hdc into the next st, SeptTr into the ch-10 space from row 7, hdc into the next 2 sts, ch 5, skip the next [hdc, ch-2, tr],* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the first st to secure – 18 scs, 12 ch-5 spaces, 36 hdcs, 12 SeptTrs, 18 ch-3 spaces
Fasten off Color H.
Row 12: Color I: Pull up a loop in the ch-5 space left of the first sc of the previous row, ch 4 (counts as a tr), [tr, ch 3, 2 tr] into the same ch 5 space, ch 2, skip the next hdc, hdc into the next 3 sts, dc 3 times into the next ch-3 space, ch 2, skip the next sc, dc 7 times into the next ch-3 space, ch 2, skip the next sc, dc 3 times into the next ch-3 space, hdc in the next 3 sts, ch 2, skip the next hdc, [2 tr, ch 3, 2 tr] into the next ch-5 space, ch 2, skip the next sc, *[2 tr, ch 3, 2 tr] into the next ch-5 space, ch 2, skip the next hdc, hdc into the next 3 sts, dc 3 times into the next ch-3 space, ch 2, skip the next sc, dc 7 times into the next ch-3 space, ch 2, skip the next sc, dc 3 times into the next ch-3 space, hdc in the next 3 sts, ch 2, skip the next hdc, [2 tr, ch 3, 2 tr] into the next ch-5 space, ch 2, skip the next sc,* repeat from * to * 4 more times, slip st into the top of the original ch-4 to secure -48 trs, 12 ch-3 spaces, 30 ch-2 spaces, 18 hdcs, 78 dcs
Fasten off Color I.
Weave in all your ends.

Like I said above, you might want to block the finished version of this mandala, depending upon what you’re using it for. I really hope you like this design, it’s more open than a lot of mandalas out there, including my previous design, but I wanted something fun and Springy.

This post is linked to the Linky Ladies’ Community Link Party #47.