I’m a passionate lover of Instagram and Pinterest, as anyone who ‘knows’ me on the internet will probably know. Instagram in particular works so well with a ‘mixed up lifestyle’ of family, work and craft and I find I use it as a sort of micro blogging forum; I often end up looking at it to see what I’ve done now and most of the images on the blog come from it.
A couple of weeks ago I happened across the #ZenMandalaProject by Nallie Radloff who runs the Yarnified Studio blog. The aim is to do 3 rounds of mandala freestyle crochet a day for a month. Since we concluded that 3 ‘near the end’ rounds would be nearly impossible, we settled on 50 rounds in total. I made a start as soon as I finished Freddie’s wreath (which is gorgeous) and I’ve been playing with it for a few days now.
I’ve never freestyled before in crochet at all so it is all new to me and I’ve only ever done one thing in the round, a tiny Wink mandala from Simply Crochet, so I’m feeling pretty proud of this so far.
An Easter early April has been a difficult thing, although we managed a pretty happy time together this year, so I’ve forged ahead with it and not stuck to the 3 rows a day. Time will get short now so I would imagine I’ll end up not getting much further than 50 or 60 rows, though I plan to square it off towards the end. Circular blanket/throws annoy me.
The yarn is Rowan Summer Tweed which I had several balls of (and some Silky Tweed) under my bed so it does count as part of #UseUpYarnYear too although I have had to buy some more to accommodate it. It’s discontinued which is annoying because I absolutely love it to work with (just don’t pull too hard) but I suspect it isn’t very robust even when made up. The colours are gorgeous though and the feel is rustic and vintage and slightly exotic too.
Planning the colours is a pleasure. I’m not entirely sure what it reminds me of yet but African or Aztec, certainly something hot and blissful.
I love it so much that for once I think I will actually turn it into a pattern once I’m done. I’ll need to try it out in a different yarn anyway and I’m going to have to sort out the fact that the first big star has 11 points – I just can’t totally decide if I can deal with that lack of symmetry yet. It has an appeal but it also slightly gauls me because I can see it isn’t symmetrical. What do you think?
We decided it needed a name and Amelie said it reminded her of the sun in Watership Down, known as Frith in the story. So I’ve called it Fritha, which turns out to mean both Peace and Protection, not a bad name for something made to occupy my hands and brain during Freddie’s life days.
It’s absolutely beautiful! And perfect for keeping hands and head busy when you need it.
It’s gorgeous – those colours work so well together. I didn’t notice the 11 points until you mentioned it…
I’ve been away from your blog for too long but I’m back now and this was a beautiful thing to see on my return. I didn’t notice the 11 points either until you mentioned it and I think there’s probably something profound to be said about being off kilter but it’s late and I’m tired.
I took an internet break over Lent but I realised when I did so that I would miss some special April birthdays. It doesn’t, however, mean I haven’t been thinking of Freddie and you.
That is so lovely! If you turn it into a pattern I will have to have a try!