Mandalas

Mandala in Italian means 'send it', so 'mandala qui' would be 'send it here', whereas the term in English, or used in association with craft, refers to 'a geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism', according to Google Translate that is ;-)

During a holiday in Holland last year I entered a wool shop that had the rainbow crocheted circle hoop below on display which used the pineapple stitch. Having never seen such a thing in crochet before I enquired about it and the shop owner explained that it was a popular thing to do during lockdown in the area and that as a result there was none of the specific cotton used left. I bought a, slightly smaller, metal circle anyway, with some different shades of blue and my love of crochet mandalas began!

After exploring this website with free mandala hoop patterns I realised that mandala hoops can be as simple or as difficult as you want them to be! You begin with a magic circle and make rounds of various stiches until you have a circle that is around 0.5cm-1cm smaller than the metal hoop you want to use, then using slip stitch or single crochet you attach the last round to the hoop, and just like that you have a mandala on a hoop. I have used them for various gifts, including Christmas decorations and dreamcatchers.

For my own home I have created mandalas to match existing pictures that we have, two of which have been created by my husband. I love how the textures and colours of the pictures are emphasised by the textures and colours of the mandalas. 

For the left hand mandala I used the resources I bought in Holland and the pattern Little Bee's Petal Power Mandala Pattern. It is paired with a print by https://www.benandhannahdunnett.com/shop/ who now also sells cross stitch packs of their prints!

On the right is my own 'crochet as I go' mandala paired with a painting by my husband entitled 'Ecocardiogramma - because life goes up and down'.

Another 'crochet as I go' hoop mandala with an oval hoop my husband found here in Italy. I researched oval doily patterns before and while creating this as I couldn't find any specific patterns for oval hoops. The picture on the left is by my husband entitled 'Mercy'.

I hope one day to be confident enough with mandala hoops to tackle some of these advanced patterns: they really are stunning!