Pastel Mandala Madness

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

It is WIP-busting time here. This project has been lying patiently in the pile since August 2017. It was originally started as one of a pair for my twin Grandaughters, but I decided that it would be more practical to make their blankets in SSDK  so this project was put away….. until now.

Here is a link to my Photo tutorial for the Spiro Star Centre. and how it connects to the Mandala Madness pattern

Both patterns are by Helen Shrimpton, and she kindly gave me permission to share how I joined the two together. There are superb video tutorials by Esther from Its All in a Nutshell for the rest of the Mandala Madness pattern.

Made with Scheepjes Stonewashed, 78% Cotton, 22% Acrylic, Sport/Baby weight and a 3.5mm hook. The colours are wonderfully subtle shades, easy to blend for an ombre effect, but have not come completely true in the photo. Go to the Scheepjes link to see truer colours.

The Colours I have used are (in order of use): Moon Stone as the main colour, Rose Quartz, Citrine, New Jade, Larimar, Amazonite, Axinite, Pink Quartzite, Green Agate, Crystal Quartz.

Colour order Round by Round as follows:

Round 1: Moon Stone

Round 2, 3 : Rose Quartz

Round 4, 5: Moon Stone

Rounds 6,7,8,9: Citrine

Rounds 10, 11: Moon Stone

Joining Round 1: Pink Quartzite

Joining Round 2: Moonstone

Joining Round 3, 4, 5: New Jade

Joining Round 6: Larimar

Now you go to

Round 20 in Part 2 of the Mandala Madness pattern: Larimar

Round 21: Larimar

Round 21: Larimar

Round 22, 23: Moon Stone

Part 3

Round 24: Amazonite

Round 25 and 26: Amazonite and Citrine

Round 27, 28: Amazonite

Round 29:Rose Quartz

Part 4

Round 30: Axinite

Round 31: Pink Quartzite

Round 32, 33, 34: Moon Stone

Part 5

Round 35, 36: New Jade

Round 37, 38: Green Agate

Round 39: Larimar

Round 40: Crystal Quartz

Part 6

Round 41, 42: Moon Stone

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This completes the colour order as shown in the top picture.

The lack of stretch in the cotton yarn takes a bit of getting used to but I love the colours and the feel of the piece – strokeable – verrrrrry strokeable.  🙂

 

Coastal Cosy: WiP Wednesday

This is so relaxing to make and I’m enjoying making up the colour order as I go.

I started from the top of the picture with sky:

Cloud Blue, Sherbert, Cream, Soft Peach, Sherbert, Cream, Buttermilk, Soft Peach, Silver, Cloud Blue.

Then the sea:

Denim, Petrol, Storm, Denim, Aster, Cloud Blue, Petrol, Aster, Cloud Blue, Sherbert.

Breaking waves in Cream, Sherbert, Cream

onto a sandy beach: Buttermilk, Camel, Buttermilk

and one row of pebbles in Silver.

All in Stylecraft Special DK (acrylic) and a 4.5mm hook.

Pattern: Cosy Stripe by Lucy at Attic24.

I have made this pattern before when I joined in with Lucy’s Crochet Along (Cal) and I’m loving making another.

Graphite rocks will come next and then some grassy cliffs, followed by more sky …………

and so to choose more pink for the sunrise/sunset

Soft Peach is in the first bit of sky. Do I keep it calm and soft and gentle by just adding Pale Rose

Or liven it up with the corals of Pomegranate and Blush

Or go wild and vibrant by adding Fushcia Purple and Pomegranate

Which I think would require a more colourful sea beneath it, so I would add Empire into the blues. That Empire blue is much more vibrant in reality – you can see all the colours on the Wool Warehouse website here. But even there it is difficult to see the true colour. Blush is much more peachy pink than it looks on the website.

Which pinks would you choose? I’d love to know!

As Miss E would say when she was about 2 “cany’elp me?”

Joining today’s Daily Post: Lines

 

WiP Wednesday

I have been away for a few days and needed a small easy project to take with me, so I made a start on the Coastal Cosy.

Pattern by Lucy of Attic 24 

Thank you for all your helpful input on the colours. As you can see the Pink (Soft Peach went in). I have no idea why I wanted to start with the sky bit, but there we go, I did.

Then on to the sea – but it is looking a bit dark and stormy so I will add in Aster next to cheer it up.

I’m waiting for a yarn delivery and I’m excited to see if Blush will be added to my next ‘sky’ section.

Jurassic Blanket

My Wednesday WIP.

It is now big enough to keep me cosy whilst I’m working on it, and I’m loving being with these colours in Stylecraft Special DK and Stylecraft Batik.

Linen stitch, or extended Moss Stitch is perfect for blending colours and it makes a really warm thick blanket.

There are sections that are inspired by specific places along our Jurassic Dorset coast, and then some random stripes in the coastal hues.

Still a way to go if it is going to be snuggly warm for my nephew who is edging towards 6’4″ tall. I love that even at 23 he is keen to have a blanket to curl up under.

You can see the blanket I made for his sister here.

WIP Wednesday

Progress so far.

I’m building the mandala back up again.

This free pattern is by Helen Shrimpton  (I have made a few alterations.)

 check out her website for this and so many other amazing patterns.

Below is what the mandala looked like when I decided to unpick the edge. I didn’t feel happy with the solid row of folded trebles followed by the semi-circles of dark turquoise, it seemed too heavy an edge. If I was going to use it as a tablecloth as originally intended, this edge would have been fine as not all of it would have been seen at once.

But now I’m thinking I would like to attach it to the painted canvas and hang it on the wall, so a softer edge will please me more. Crochet as art is something I’m getting a teeny bit excited about.

~

I unpicked about a week’s work – thank you to everyone who helped me make the decision. Once the decision was made it felt good to quickly undo it.

Experiment time: The Lime Juice (pale yellowy-green) still seemed too solid a line

so I broke it up with some of the pale turquoise.

I’m much happier with it now and will add a row of white next and then there will be more decisions to be made about the final few rows.

The end is is sight!

Made with Scheepjes Bonbon cotton thread and a 2mm hook.

W.I.P. Wednesday

Going back to the dark side!

The squares are arranged in rows of  like squares at the moment – this will not be the final placement.

I needed to crochet all this:

before I was ready to return to Master R’s colour choices.

I’ve decided to leave it at these 12 squares and do a wide border – I just know it will languish for far too long in the UFO pile if I try to make myself crochet more squares!

Are you struggling with any WIPs at the moment? Leave a link in the comments and we can share your pain!

Work in Progress

She’s growing