My Crochet Bucket List - I Love Holland Dutch Tulip Crochet Mandala • Oombawka Design Crochet

Last spring I was fortunate to come across Wink’s blog, A Creative Being.

Until then, I had never seen, nor heard, of a Mandala.

Historically they have been linked to religion, deities and the universe (source)…

To me they represent balance. I find their symmetry very visually appealing.

I participated in the Overlay Crochet Mandala CAL hosted by Wink in the spring – I learned so many valuable crochet tricks creating my first mandala. I use the techniques in all areas of crochet – from hats to amigurumi –

Two techniques that I learned in this CAL are:

Seamless Joins – I also learned about Sarah London’s site from Wink!
Standing Stitches – I learned about this from Wink but the best photo tutorial I have seen is Moogly’s

These stitches make changing colours and beginning/ending rounds more visually appealing.

I also learned about some amazing sites that help you decide on colour choices for your projects…they provide colour palettes from images – photos, clothing, etc – you can also make your own using picmonkey –

Here are some great colour generating sites:

Color Collective
Design Seeds
Photo Card Boutique

Here is a blog post showing you how to make a colour palette from your own photos!

The Mother Huddle – How To Make A Color Palette From a Photo

The pattern we worked in the CAL was designed by CAROcreated and she has so many stunning designs! Her patterns are for sale on Etsy. If you have time you should take a look – just for the inspiration.

This is my finished mandala – using her pattern: Crochet Overlay Mandala No.4 Pattern

I loved the CAL – I chose somewhat non-standard colours – but I LOVE my mandala.

When Wink published her I Love Holland Dutch Tulip Crochet Mandala – I purchased a copy for myself the first day. With my blogging challenge this month I finally made the time to hook it – and this is my finished project.

I used Worsted Weight yarn (Bernat Handicrafter Cotton) and a 4.00 mm hook. The project was completed in one evening.

The pattern was very easy to follow, as Wink provided step-by-step photo instructions for the entire mandala. The only thing you will need to know that isn’t included in her pattern is the process used to make a standing stitch (see the link I provided above from Moogly for help there).

I used ‘stash’ yarn – if I were to make this a second time, I would change my centre star/outer border colour to orange, or yellow – but I was somewhat limited with the stash yarn I had available.