Mandala Magic!

I've been trying my hand at crocheting a Mandala. Have you ever tried one? They are such pretty little bits of colour! 

Along the way, I've learned some new stitches and stretched a little by playing around with a beautiful design created by Barbara Smith at MADE IN K-TOWN.

I'm also trying to read and write patterns using symbols. Oh, my! That part is hard!  

I used my teeny tiny crochet hook and Lion Brand Yarns "Little Bonbons", however, you could use whatever yarn you have around.  Only very small amounts are needed.

Little Spring Mandala
designed by Barbara Smith (Made In K-Town)

The first mandala I tried, Little Spring Mandala, was designed by Barbara Smith at Made In K-Town. Simply beautiful!

The third round (pink) is “dc3tog”... double crochet three together... a new stitch for me, but Barbara explained it well.

The orange “overlay” stitch was also new. Google “overlay mandala” images to see what you can do when you layer colours over colours!

Maggie's Second Little Mandala
(based on Little Spring Mandala)

The second little Mandala follows the same directions for Rounds 1 – 4. I added an overlay stitch on Round 1 instead of Round 4.

As I wanted this one to be smaller, I skipped Rounds 6a, 6b and 7.

Instead, I did Rounds 8 and 9.

To help this little mandala tie in to the first one, I finished with the purple round. I like the little points! Can you figure out what I did by looking at the symbols? There's an excellent PDF Crochet Symbol Chart at Craft Yarn Council you can print for reference.

Maggie's Third Little Mandala
(based on Little Spring Mandala)

Here's my third experiment! I followed the Little Spring Mandala directions for Rounds 1 – 7 and then finished with a scalloped edge:

sl, sc, hdc, sc, sl

As I said, drawing the symbols is harder than you'd think! Clear as mud? Hope so!

Cheers,

Maggie