Inspired by a journey through Japan last year i made a few notes about a pattern idea that involved the sacred lotus flowers and the stunning blossom trees that is tourist visit idea number one when you go to Japan. I had an idea in my head to turn these wonderful gifts of nature into a crochet pattern. After a lot of designing and testing the end result was even beyond my imagination.

So i introduce the Lotus & Blossom mandala. A really easy-to-go pattern which has written instructions with photo highlights in it. At each row you have a photo tutorial to make things a bit more easy when you get confused along the way. But once you got the hang of this pattern, you can lay back and crochet on and on.

Every project so far made in any kind of yarn is made with a 3 mm hook.

The finished sizes of the projects are :

Finished size in Catona cotton : 75 cm/ 29.5 inches from point to point
Finished size in Scheepjes Whirl : 70 cm / 27,5 inches from point to point

UPDATE : 10/03 : I wrote a seperate blogpost on my blog about extending the mandala. In this way you could use up a total Whirl or just make it larger as it seems a lot of people wanted this.

Yarn needed :

Of course u can use any yarn you like, but for the examples are used :

6 colors of mercerized cotton – i used Scheepjes Catona in skeins of 50 grams.
Color A : - 392 lime juice ( 25 grams needed )
Color B : 512 Lime ( 45 grams needed )
Color C : 130 Old Lace ( 60 grams needed )
Color D : 255 Nude ( 90 grams needed )
Color E : 408 Old Rose ( 55 grams needed )
Color F : 264 Light Coral ( 40 grams needed )

Or take a Scheepjes Whirl with a length of 1000 meters and a weight of 215 – 225 grams. You can just work your way through the pattern without colour changing. The pattern is written for both ways as it gives the option for the color changes and working with one thread.You only have to make the modified when using a Whirl becaue you will use more yarn. See the notes about it in the pattern. When finished you will have 30 – 50 grams left, this depends on the tension of your work.

stitches used in this pattern variates from sl st - tr but most of them are front-posted or back-posted. There is a written instruction of the stitches, however if this not enough to make them i refer to the internet. It are common stitches which can be found all over the internet with tutorials. All stitches are in US/European measurements.

The pattern contains a printfriendly version also without any pictures.

The pattern is tested carefully by five different testers.

The pattern is now available in a Persian, Swedish, Danish and German translation also. German translation is made by Christina Berberich. The Swedish translation is made by Johanna Lindahl from Mijo Crochet.The Danish version is translated by Line Lykholt.

Some small errata’s were detected before 17-06. No huge differences that would be effected the pattern, but the pattern is changed and updated after this date.

For more information about the pattern or some background information, please visit my blog : https://theguywiththehook.wordpress.com/