Ta-dah! Overlay Crochet Mandala No.1!

Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a good week :) 

Anne and I have not had such a good week - we have both been hit really hard by the fatigue monster. Stupid monster. When Anne comes to visit me in December we are going to crochet ourselves a Fatigue Monster so we can stick pins in it and hit it with a hammer!!! 

To cheer ourselves up we are having a little giveaway on Instagram, to celebrate reaching 500 followers! If you are on Instagram and haven't found us yet, we are @crochetbetweenworlds :) Go find us and enter the giveaway!! 

You might remember that last week, on a rainy and cold day here in Sydney, I posted about my crochet wishlist. This week I really needed some bright colour and quick satisfaction, so I decided to have a go at CAROcreated's Crochet Overlay Mandala No.1. Here are lots of photos of it, because I love it so much :D

Even the back is pretty!

Have you made mandalas before? 

What are your favourite mandala patterns? 

PATTERN: Happy Granny Blanket (Translated from Vivre Au Crochet)

Good Morning!

A few days ago Lucie from Vivre au Crochet asked if we could translate her blanket pattern into English and we were happy to agree as the blanket is a real beauty. It is a blanket made out of granny clusters and because of its unique layout, it looks rather sophisticated. All pics in this post belong to Lucie! If you finish a blanket with this pattern, Lucie and we would love to see it! Post it our Facebook pages (Crochet Between Worlds and Vivre au Crochet) if you like. :-)
 

Pattern: Happy Granny Blanket

For this blanket, you need 10 different colours of the same yarn. Lucie used Red Heart Soft Classic in:

red
pink
bright pink
yellow
turquoise
cyan
forest green
soft green
electric blue
ivory

and a 6mm hook.  You can follow Lucie’s colour scheme by using the following chart. 

I reckon it would also look great with one of the Stylecraft Colour Packs, don’t you think? The blanket made with Stylecraft Special DK would be smaller though, as the Red Heart Soft Classic is an Aran yarn.

For this pattern, you need to know how to make Granny Squares. There are several good tutorials on the net and on YouTube. I recommend this tutorial from BunnyMummy and this one from LittleTinBird.

For sewing the grannies together, I recommend either of the following tutorials:

Crochet Grannies together from BunnyMummy,
Crochet Grannies together as you go from Michelle. 

Your blanket should lay flat, thus I recommend this tutorial from BunnyMummy on how to crochet a flat row into sewn together granny squares.

Pattern


Step 1

Make 9 granny squares with 4 rows each. Add an extra row in ivory to each to theses squares. You now have 9 squares with 5 rows each.

Step 2

Sew the 9 squares together (3x3) to make a large square. These nine squares give the equivalent of a big square of 15 rows.

Step 3
 
Add 10 rows of granny stitches/granny rows to the big square in different colours (10 granny rows) - it is important to make exactly 10 rows. Start and end with the same colour. You now have the equivalent of a 25 row granny square. 

Step 4
 
Make 24 more squares of 5 rows each and sew them to the sides. You now have the equivalent of a 35 row granny square.

Step 5
 
Add 10 more granny rows to the big square (10 rows). It is important to crochet exactly 10 rows. You now have the equivalent of a 45 rows granny square.

Step 6
 
Make 64 tiny squares of 3 rows: 1 row of one colour and 2 rows of a contrasting colour. Do not use the colour of the first row made in step 9. Sew the tiny squares to the sides of the big square. You now have the equivalent of a 51 row granny square. 

Step 7
 
Add 2 rows of granny rows in two different colours. You now have the equivalent of a 53 row granny square.

Step 8
 
You will now crochet the border. Work into the gaps between the granny clusters. 1sc and 4ch into each gap. The ch-stitches will look like a little bow. 

Step 9
 
Add a row of sc in a contrasting colour.

Thank you so much Lucie for the opportunity to translate your beautiful pattern! If you do make this blanket, make sure you post pictures on Lucie's and our Facebook pages :) 

Triple Ta-Dah on Tuesday

Welcome to Triple Ta-Dah Tuesday! I have a few lovely things to share with you today, all finished and ready to unleash on the world :) 

Crochet Between Worlds Facebook Page!

Crochet Between Worlds now has its own Facebook page! 

https://www.facebook.com/crochetbetweenworlds 

Head over there and Like the page for notifications of new posts, plus teasers and tidbits that occur to us between posts, plus shares of beautiful and inspiring work from other crochet pages :) 

Magnificent Mug Markers!

At our new house on Lake Macquarie, all the mugs will be the same... 

We drink a lot of tea, and I figure there is going to be endless confusion if everyone has identical mugs! So, using some of my lovely Red Heart Miami cotton and a little bit of internet exploration, I made a set of mug markers :) 

I was inspired by patterns I found online for the little motifs, but adapted them to make them a bit neater, a bit easier, or a bit more straightforward to add the loop. To each motif I added a loop of 30 chain stitches, to wrap around the mug handle. Plus, they are dishwasher safe if we forget to take them off! 

Star: http://mymerrymessylife.com/2013/06/crochet-mini-star-applique-free-pattern.html

Bowtie: http://crocheteverafter.com/tutorials/free-pattern-workshops/bow-applique/

Loopy flower: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flower-doodle 

The mug markers can also be used on stemmed wine glasses - a colourful, washable, practical way to keep track of whose is whose!

Cosmos Fields Shawl

Last, but definitely not least, I completed my Cosmos Fields Shawl. I proof read this amazing pattern for Zelna of Zooty Owl's Crafty Blog a few months ago, but hadn't gotten around to actually making it!

I used some of my precious Stylecraft Special DK, and it was just a dream to work with. My Ravelry Projects Page has all the details on colours and yardage :) 

The colours remind me of photos of the lavender fields of Provence in France - purples, blues of the sky... It is so warm and cosy too, and very large! It measures 218cm (85") across and 108cm (42") long. 

This is for a birthday present - I hope the intended recipient likes it, and it keeps her nice and warm in her chilly office :) 

That's all for Triple Ta-Dah Tuesday! 

What projects have you finished lately? Put links in the comments for us to visit!! 

Round and round in circles - Mandala time!

I've been a little bit naughty today - supposed to be working on the order list, and hunting down kitchen equipment for the new house at the lake, testing a pattern for a friend... but instead all I wanted to do is play with my new cotton supplies that arrived yesterday! 

It's Red Heart Miami, 4 ply 100% cotton, from loveknitting.com. Such vibrant colours and reasonable prices! 

This colourful cotton is to make pretty and useful coasters and heat mats for the house my parents are building at Lake Macquarie. My mission sent me hunting for good coaster patterns that show off the lovely colours, while also being the right size and shape. It took me ages to find one that I actually liked, and when I tried the pattern, I just couldn't get it to look neat :( 

But then... hunting through Zooty Owl's blog for other things, I saw some of the amazing mandalas she has designed. I haven't really been interested in mandalas before - I like the things I make to be practical, useful or good to cuddle, and the contexts I had seen mandalas in before was as art or just being beautiful. Mandalas are round though - could they make good coasters and heat mats? 

Absolutely!! Above is Zooty Owl's Sunny Flower Mini Mandala in two sizes - 10.5cm for coasters, and 21cm for heat mats. The coasters are made with a 1.5mm hook and one strand of the cotton yarn, and the heat mats are made with a 3.5mm hook and two strands of the yarn. I also washed and blocked the heat mat to make it sit nice and even :) 

Sadly, as you can see in the photo above, the orange dye ran a little bit being washed and ironed. I am a bit reluctant to wash the pink yarn now. Any ideas on how to stop the colour running in the finished piece?

I'm really looking forward to making a whole stack of the little coasters and some more heat mats in this pattern. Plus, I discovered Zooty Owl has a table runner pattern using the same mandala! House decoration solved :D 

Have you ever tried making mandalas? What have you used them for?