I am making this for my daughter who has a high stress job. Hoping this gives her something that helps her to de-stress. She will never suspect this is for her! lol

I know that I am making this with the same beads that the pattern used and my yarn is similar in color. But I like the rainbow look of the Bliss Mat and I just happened to have this yarn.

I had to purchase the beads even though I have a ton of pony beads. I didn’t have enough of the right shades to get the rainbow look. I would have had to go with more contrast. So, since this is a birthday present, I went ahead and purchased the beads.

Now, I get to see if I like the pattern or not. I have looked it over and it looks pretty straight forward and well written.

I am using the Size F hook for the foundation chain and then switching to the E hook for working the pattern. This way, my foundation chain shouldn’t be too tight.

Awesome pattern. Well written.

The bead attachment method is a slight variation and works perfectly. I love it!

Gauge
I do think that she must have really tight tension though. I am using the same beads, the same hook size, and the same weight of yarn. My gauge seems to be right. Yet the width of my blanket is 26.5 inches which is wider than the 22.5 inches wide that the pattern says.

Finished gauge - My mat ended up being 22.5 in x 34.5 in which is EXACTLY what it’s supposed to be. Wow! I would say that the additional rows of beads brought the width in but the mat is very square. No curved or wavy edges. I am shocked that my tension was exactly as it was supposed to be. Shocked!

Beads
Purchase 3 containers to make sure you have enough beads. 2300 beads in a container / 18 colors = 127 beads of each color.

I ran out of 1 color of bead (in the first container) before I was half way through the mat.

127 x 2 = 254
The pattern says

You will need 242-302 beads of each of the 18 colors.

You have to purchase 3 containers of beads, not just 2.

Bead color
I am using the exact beads that the pattern recommends. I did notice in the pattern photo that the regular and pearl green beads look like they are the same color. I have plenty of my own pony beads and have substituted my pearl green beads instead of the ones that came in the container.

They are just enough of a different shade of pearl green that you can see a change in color. I am not sure if this will show up in a photo, but it shows up in person.

If I do this again, I would choose my own rainbow colors so that there was a bit more contrast between the different shades.

Yep - On Row 123, I ran out of the pearl blue. If I hadn’t purchased the 3rd container of beads, I wouldn’t have been able to complete the pattern. There were several other colors where I ended up with exactly 1 bead left (of 2 containers).

Beading technique
This pattern is very easy to follow and to make. It works up quickly. The trick is to lay out each row of beads before you crochet the row. Then you just pick up the bead and crochet it in place. This saves a lot of fussing around. A little time before each row and it’s easy peasy.

Edging
I can see that the corners are curling a bit. I imagine this is because of the weight of the beads. I reinforced my mat by doing 1 round of sc around the outer edge. Then I did 1 round of reverse sc (crab stitch).

Dimensions
width - 22.5 in
length - 34.5 in