Introducing Mandala Madness CAL

The ideas that went spinning through my head were crazy.
But I knew it had to be something very special, and so the idea of a HUGE Mandala started to form in my mind. As I started to work on the design I kept saying to myself “this is madness”… and so the name… Mandala Madness 🙂

And after the sneaky peek we showed you all earlier in December I have just been getting more and more excited, like a four year old waiting to go see Santa.

♥ So what exactly is a Mandala?

The easiest way to understand a Mandala is to think of it as a symbolic representation of the universe, often sacred, based on a circle.
The word “Mandala” is from the ancient Sanskrit language. Loosely translated to mean “circle,” a Mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and appears in all aspects of life: the celestial circles we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as conceptual circles of friends, family, and community.

Creating a group Mandala is a unifying experience in which people can express themselves individually within a unified structure.

There are many uses for a Mandala.
The design of the Mandala is supposed to be visually appealing so as to absorb the mind in such a way that irritating thoughts are unable to get through, like a form of meditation allowing the busy mind to take a break while the creative mind is allowed to run free.

And so it seemed to me the perfect project for us all to join together and share our passion for our amazing craft.

♥ This project will give you a circular blanket.

♥ There are 18 parts, plus an option to make it square, written by my great friend Ineke.

♥ The CAL ran from Thursday 17th March to Thursday 14th July 2016.

♥ Though the cal is now finished, there are still many people enjoying the madness, so please ask for any help you need, and join the fun in Facebook group Helen’s Hookaholics.
This is the only official group for any of my designs.

There is loads of texture, some new stitches to learn, and this is definitely a project for colour!

Legal – Respectful bit……

Copyright: © Helen Shrimpton, 2016.  All rights reserved. This beautiful new CAL, crochet a-long, will be hosted in the Facebook group Helen’s Hookaholics.

♥ Please remember this is my design and I have spent thousands of hours working to bring you this free pattern and all the support that goes with it. My testers and translators have also spent hundreds of hours making sure this pattern is everything you have come to expect.

♥ Each part of the CAL will be available here on my website, with links in the Facebook group.

♥ The pattern is exclusively for members of my Facebook group and website members, it is covered by copyright law. Any translations are only with permission from me, sharing any part of this pattern/cal is not allowed. You may not copy, share or publish any part of this pattern or my photographs in any format.

♥ Please make sure you ask permission from me, should you wish to host any other group to make this cal, either online or in person, this will not be allowed until after the CAL has finished.

♥ You may share a link to www.crystalsandcrochet.com or to the Facebook group with anyone.

♥ You may do whatever you like with your finished item….sell it, save it, gift it, hang it from the local flag pole!!

♥ You may share a link to my website or Ravelry store with anyone, you may print the PDF for your own use, but please do not alter, change or share in any way.

♥ Please love and respect me, as I love and respect you. ♥

PDF Downloads and Video tutorials

♥ Each week you will find the pdf to download from my website, there will be links posted in the Facebook group Helen’s Hookaholics.

You will need to become a member of my website, either free or monthly, as every pattern will be available to download from the free patterns section in your dashboard, you can come back to it as many times as you like.

At the top of the pattern page – click on Access Patterns or sign in if you are a member. This will take you to the Free patterns section.

Click on the picture of the part you want to download.

Choose your option/language.

The pdf will then open for you to download

Links for the video tutorials can be found on the page for each part of the Crochet A Long.
I appreciate any of you who use the YouTube tutorials both liking and subscribing to my YouTube channel as this supports me as a designer.

Terminology and Languages

♥ There will be a choice of US terms and UK terms in both photo tutorial and written only patterns and, also full video tutorial support in US terms.

Mandala Madness has been translated by an amazing team, to help people from all over the world to join together to create this beautiful blanket.

This introduction has also been translated to help everyone understand how to enjoy this Crochet-A-Long.

Click to download pdf in your chosen language.

How much yarn will you need?

There are 3 yarn packs available, please see details below.

Each of the yarn packs has plenty of yarn to make the colourway to the finished size using the hook size recommended.

However, we all have slightly different tension so I do recommend making a very small test square just to make sure that you will achieve the recommended results and have plenty of yarn.
To make a test square and check your tension, and to see which hook size works best for you, please see this tutorial Tension and Gauge.

I always encourage you to create your own colourway to personalise your blanket, either for you or the lucky person who receives it as a gift.

The total amount of yarn needed allowing for colour changes is:

Normal Double Knit yarn – #3 weight – 8-ply – approx. 5000 metres – 5470 yards – 4mm G hook –
Finished size  178 cm /  70 inches.

Aran – Worsted – #4 weight – 10-ply – approx. 6300 metres – 6890 yards – 5 mm H hook.
Finished size 229 cm / 90 inches.

How much yarn you need depends on how many colours you choose to use. Please see the details of the yarn packs below to give you an idea.

Scheepjes Merino Soft 

This yarn is now discontinued and we have replaced the yarn pack with Yarnsmiths Merino DK in the colours shown above in the yarn pack section.

If you do have the old yarn pack the colours per round are listed in the pattern.

For the new yarn pack, please download the colours per round file in the yarn pack section.

Should you wish to choose your own colours here is a colouring sheet to help you created by Carrie Skach.

Mandala Madness colouring sheet Copyright

♥ Stitch Abbreviations and Special Stitches

An abbreviation chart is included on the front page of each part of the CAL.
Also there will be detailed instructions about how to make special stitches given in the pattern for each round.

♥ Difficulty

I encourage anyone of any level of experience to try this project.
Yes there are some tricky bits, but there are also lots of simple bits too…. in fact really it is all just a matter of perspective. If you have done something before or understand how it is done then it seems easy. If you have never tried something it may seem hard…… but there is so much help and support, I know that no matter what your experience level this is something you can do because you have an amazing circle of people to help you.

I am looking forward to this international project and the amazing energy the crochet community has to share.

♥ Please remember all of my patterns are covered by copyright law and may not be copied or shared in any way. You may share a link to my website or Ravelry store with anyone, you may print the PDF for your own use, but please do not alter, change or share in any way.

♥ Please love and respect me, as I love and respect you. ♥

♥ The best way to be in the know with all I am up to, is to follow crystalsandcrochet on Facebook.

♥ If you need help and advice, the quickest way to find support is to join Helen’s Hookaholics Facebook group. There you will find a very supportive group of likeminded people. It’s also a great place to share your crystalsandcrochet makes, and see what others are making, and see what I am up to.

♥ If you are not a fan of Facebook you can always email me with any questions you may have by using the contact form here.

♥ Please feel free to sign up to my YouTube channel for lots of helpful video tutorials.