Mandala has been one crochet project that I have the time to do now. I have been travelling back and forth to Sangiran and Salatiga for work purposes and haven’t been able to find time to select a serious and large crochet project to do. Although the travelling bits had been fun, I must admit I miss my yarns.
But fear not, dear me. Browsing through Pinterest led me to Crochet Millan, a crochet blog with loads of wonderful small and medium-sized mandalas. Crochet Millan was a treasure trove of fantastic mandala patterns designed by Camilla Lindberg.
I first dipped my toes with one of her easy patterns called The Magnolia Mandala. The aftermath of it, I got hooked, and ended up trying some more patterns of hers.
In my opinion, the secret of her mandala is in how she chooses and combines colours; sometimes, impossible colours become an artsy combination through her eyes. I tried to mimic this skill and rummaged through my yarn stash to mix and match colours.
Colour coding or colour combination is not my strongest suit. People who know me will tell you that I am traditional, and I like to stick to what works and what I know worked. Therefore, I have the tendency to get comfortable with the same palette, hues, or shades.
But I tried, and I hope I hit the mark with the colour combination for these mandala projects.
Lessons from the Mandalas
It turned out that I really enjoyed working on these mandalas!
The process of choosing colours can be stressful for me, but it was fun anyway. I guess I can take this experience as an exercise to sharpen my skills in creating colour palettes. Yes, I know there’s a generator that does it for you online. But I prefer the old ways of doing things, with my eyes.
In the pictures above, I used Indonesian soft cotton yarn, a collection of my shop. I paired the yarn with Tulip 5/0 crochet hook because I don’t want to crochet too tight as I do with 4/0.
As I changed the yarn colour, I did the ‘weave in as you go’ method cause I did not want to be bothered with weaving yarn ends afterwards.
As I changed the yarn colour, I did the ‘weave in as you go’ method cause I did not want to be bothered with weaving yarn ends afterwards.
One more important thing: I followed Camilla’s advice to block the piece as they’re finished. Blocking the piece will reveal the pattern and colour distribution better.
How do I block? A spritz of water, a Styrofoam board, and loads of sewing pins. Check out Bella Coco’s video on how to block a crochet project.
After a month of tinkering with Camilla’s patterns, I made nearly ten pieces of mandalas. Along the process, I think these mandalas are great for coasters, placemats, or appliques on tote bags. It’s very versatile and applicable to anything you want. I applied some as an applique for tote bags, which turned out quite pretty.
Want to block your crochet project?
Thank you, Camilla, for the inspiration and wonderful patterns. I wish I had half of your talent and time to design such wonderful pieces. In the future, I would love to try out some of these patterns using a bigger yarn, such as Indonesian big-ply cotton or soft cotton.
Have you tried any of Camilla’s mandala patterns?
Did you enjoy making them as I did?
Share and show your mandalas; let the colours party!
Update 2022: It seems Camilla has currently made her website private. Some of her mandala patterns and other crochet patterns are still accessible through this link which appears to be her old blog and from the Way Back Machine.