Positivity Mandala Hoop

I always feel  a sense of joy when I create mandalas, they are such uplifting and happy things to make. I decided to name this one the Positivity mandala, as it really did feel that way to me when I was designing it. I've made three so far and every time I've finished up the last stitch I have felt sooooo happy from all that colour and hooky goodness!

The Positivity mandala was designed to be attached to a 30cm metal ring, making it suitable for hanging flat against a wall or suspended so that it twirls and spins. These rings are often used for making dream catchers or for macrame crafts, and can easily be found online. I buy mine from an Amazon seller called Crafty Capers who sell them in eight different sizes from 10 cm up to 45 cm in diameter. If you are searching online, or asking in a shop for these, you need to look for "metal craft ring".

✤ 30cm white coated metal craft ring on Amazon  ✤

✤ DOWNLOAD PDF PATTERN ✤

✤ YARN & HOOK ✤

I like to used cotton yarn for my mandalas, in a DK weight with a 4 mm or 4.5 mm crochet hook.

When choosing colours for your mandala, I would suggest picking out a palette of 8 colours. Choose 4 colours to use for the central flower, and 4 to use for the surrounding mandala circle.

The yarn in the picture above is Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK which comes in 50g balls. I use this yarn a lot for making mandalas and it works beautifully - it has great stitch definition and holds it's shape really well, plus it has a lovely soft, matt finish which I personally prefer to some of the more shiny/mercierised style cotton yarns.

Full colour details for the above mandalas can be found in this blog post.

I've recently been trying out a yarn called Ricorumi Cotton DK, and it's absolutely great for mandala making. This is also a DK weight cotton which comes in small 25g balls and is very good value for money. There are 60 lovely colours to choose from.

I've used Ricorumi yarn with a 4mm hook to make the mandala for this tutorial.

The other useful thing to have when making mandala hoops is a small set of locking stitch markers (you can see what these look like in the picture below). You will need around 6 of them to help secure the mandala to the hoop while you work the final attaching round of crochet.

I'm writing this pattern using UK crochet terms, as follows ::

sl st [slip stitch] :: insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch, then through the loop on your hook.

dc [double crochet] :: insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (note :: this is equivalent to the US sc stitch)

tr [treble] :: yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops on hook (two loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops (note :: this is equivalent to the US dc stitch)

Double V-stitch :: work (2 tr; ch-2; 2 tr) into the same stitch or space. (note :: in US terms, this would be (2 dc; ch-2; 2 dc))

BLO :: work stitches in Back Loops Only.

ROUND 1 : Use colour A

Chain 4, slip stitch into 1st chain to form a ring.

Chain 2 (counts as 1 dc); work 9 dc into the ring.

Slip stitch into the 2nd chain of the beginning chain-2 to close the round. Fasten off. [10 stitches]

ROUND 2 : Use colour B

Begin in any stitch.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr); work 1 tr into the same stitch (as shown above); 

Work 2 tr into each of the next 9 stitches.

Slip stitch into the 3rd chain of the beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [20 stitches]

ROUND 3 : Use colour C

Begin in any stitch.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr); work 1 tr into the same stitch; chain 2 (as shown above);

*Skip 1 stitch; work 2 tr's into the next stitch; chain 2*

Repeat between ** 8 more times;

 

Slip stitch into the 3rd chain of the beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [10 tr groups and 10 ch-2 spaces]

ROUND 4 : Use colour D

Begin in any chain-2 space.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr); work 1 tr into the same space; chain 2; 2 tr into same space;

*work a double V-stitch in next chain-2 space* (as shown above);

Repeat between ** 8 more times;

Slip stitch into the 3rd chain of the beginning chain-3 to close the round. 

DO NOT FASTEN OFF!!!!

Before you begin round 5, you will need to make 3 slip stitches to make sure you will be starting off in the right place.

1. Slip stitch into the top of the treble immediately to the left of where you closed round 4.

2. Slip stitch into the next treble.

3. Slip stitch into the chain-2 space immediately to the left (as shown by my needle in the above photo).

You are now ready to start round 5.....

ROUND 5 : continue with colour D

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr); work 6 tr into the same space; 

See where my needle is pointing in the above picture? This is the space between the double V-stitches.

Work 1 dc in the space between the double V-stitches ( as shown above);

*7 tr into next chain-2 space; 1 dc into space between V-stitches*

Repeat between ** 8 more times;

Slip stitch into 3rd chain of beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [10 shells]

ROUND 6 : Use colour E

Begin in 4th (centre) treble of any shell.

Chain 12 (counts as 1 tr and chain-9);

*1 tr in 4th (centre) tr of next shell (shown by my needle in the above photo); chain 9*

Repeat between ** 8 more times

Slip stitch into 3rd chain of beginning chain-12 (shown by my needle in the above photo) to close the round.

Fasten off. [10 tr and 10 chain-9 loops]

ROUND 7 : Use colour F

Begin in the top of any treble stitch. If you aren't sure about this, have a good look at my hook in the above photo - the top of the treble stitch is the chain that sits slightly to the right of the post of the stitch (the sticky up bit if that makes sense!) Pass your hook under both loops, as shown by my hook above.

Chain 4 (counts as 1 tr plus chain 1); 

Skip 1 chain;

*1 tr in next chain; skip 1 chain; chain 1*

Repeat between ** 3 more times;

You should have made 4 tr's along the chain-9 loop, with skipped stitches and chain-1's in between (as shown above).

Now see my needle? That's the top of the next treble stitch...... 

so work 1 tr into the top of this next treble stitch.

Skip 1 chain; chain 1; 

*1 tr in next chain; skip 1 chain; chain 1*

Repeat between ** 3 more times;

1 tr into the top of the next treble stitch; skip 1 chain; chain 1;

*1 tr in next chain; skip 1 chain; chain 1*

Repeat between ** 3 more times;

Repeat the text shown in red until you arrive back to where you started.......

Slip stitch into 3rd chain of beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [50 tr and 50 ch-1 spaces]

Now have a quick count to make sure you do have 50 stitches - this must be accurate or else the next round won't work out! Ask me how I know this????!!!!!

ROUND 8 : Use colour G

Begin in any chain-1 space.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr); 1 tr in same space; chain 2; 2 tr in same space;

1 dc in next space;

double V-stitch in next space; 1 dc in next space;

*double V-stitch in next space; 1 dc in next space;*

Repeat between ** until you get back to where you started.

Slip stitch into beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [25 double V-stitches and 25 dc]

ROUND 8 : Use colour H

Begin in any chain-2 space.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr);; 1 tr in same space; chain 2; 2 tr in same space;

double V-stitch in next space (shown by  my needle in the above photo);

*double V-stitch in next space*

Repeat between ** until you get back to where you started.

Slip stitch into beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [25 double V-stitches]

ROUND 9 : Use colour C

Begin in any chain-2 space.

Chain 3 (counts as 1 tr); 4 tr in same space;

1 dc in space between double V-stitches (shown by my needle in the above photo); 

*5 tr in next chain-2 space; 1 dc in space between double V-stitches*

Repeat between ** until you get back to where you started.

Slip stitch into beginning chain-3 to close the round. Fasten off. [25 shells]

I like to give my mandala a little bit of a light steam press and a gentle stretch after round 9, just to relax the crochet and even out any lumps and bumps.

Your mandala should be measuring around 25 or 26 cm across - ideally you need about a 2 cm gap all the way around between your mandala edge and the ring. You can test it out by gently pulling out the mandala and making sure it reaches to both sides of the ring ok - it should be tight! However, don't worry too much if you've only less than 2cm arounf, it'll just mean that it will end up a little looser inside the hoop.

Get your stitch markers ready, we're going to stretch and attach before we start crocheting the final round.......

I usually find that 5 or 6 markers will do the trick. Pass them through the 3rd/centre treble stitch of a shell, THROUGH BACK LOOPS ONLY, then attach the markers to the ring.

You'll probably find that the crochet stitch stretches quite a bit and looks rather big and loopy, but don't worry, it doesn't matter.

Ok......ready to begin? Here we go with the final round..................

ROUND 10 : Use colour B.

WORK IN BACK LOOPS ONLY (BLO) for this round.

Begin in the top of any dc, BLO. The top of the dc stitch will sit slightly to the right of the post of the stitch - I've shown you with my needle in the above photo where the top of the stitch is. Remember Back Loop Only.

Pull through a loop of new colour and Chain 1.

Work 1 slip stitch into each of the next 3 stitches (BLO). This will take you to the 3rd/centre tr of the shell.

Chain 3.

You will now need to move your working crochet and yarn to the back of the ring. So move your hook and crochet so that it sits to the back of the mandala, and push your yarn ball through to the back as well.

Pull your chain-3 against your ring, lifting it up and towards you so that it bends over the edge of the ring from back to front. Your yarn ball and working yarn will naturally come to the front again too.

Put your hook into the same back loop where your chain 3 was made......

.....and work a slip stitch to anchor the chain loop around the edge of the ring.

That's your first attachment made - only 24 more to go!!

Work 1 slip stitch into each of the next 6 stitches (BLO). This will take you to the 3rd/centre tr of the next shell.

Chain 3.

Pass your crochet, hook and yarn through the ring so that it sits at the back of the mandala.....

...then pull your chain-3 up and over the edge of the ring from back to front. Your yarn ball and working yarn will move to the front again.

Work 1 slip stitch into the same back loop where your chain 3 was made to form the attachment.

Work 1 slip stitch into each of the next 6 stitches (BLO). This will take you to the 3rd/centre tr of the next shell.

Chain 3.

Pass your crochet, hook and yarn through the ring so that it sits at the back of the mandala.

Bend your chain-3 over the edge of the ring from back to front so that crochet, hook and yarn moves to the front.

Work 1 slip stitch into the same back loop where your chain 3 was made to form the attachment.

Repeat the text shown in red, removing the stitch markers as you come to them.

There is a point where it all looks very wonky indeed and as if it won't possibly stretch and lay flat. 

Don't panic!

Keep calm and carry on crocheting your slip stitches, gently stretching out the mandala as you work, easing those chain loops up and over the edge of the ring.

Eventually you'll arrive right back where you started. To close this round, we're going to use an invisible fastening off technique. When you've made a slip stitch in the last stitch, snip off your yarn and pull your hook upwards to extend the loop until the tail end pulls right out of the stitch. Take care not to pull the slip stitch tight.

Thread the tail end onto a darning needle. Pass the needle underneath the very first slip stitch you made in this round (shown in the above photo)

Now pass the needle down through the centre of the last slip stitch you made in this round, taking the tail end right through to the back of the work.

Pretty neat eh?!

You need to take care when you darn in your tail ends for each round of the mandala - you need to do some careful weaving of the needle and yarn underneath and through stitches so that you secure the ends but keep them as invisible as possible. Your mandala should look as good on the reverse as it does on the front.....now there's a challenge for ya!

Ta-dah!! One super-pretty Positivity mandala hoop ready to hang wherever you need some colour and good vibes.

You might want to play with it for a little while before you decide where to hang it. Crochet mandala hoops are incredibly tactile and really invite you to admire them and smooch them a little.

I hope you enjoy giving these a try, I promise you they are brilliant fun to make. You can read all about the other hoops I've made in my mandala hoop blog post - this includes pattern, yarn and colour info for each of the mandalas shown above.

✤ MAKING MANDALA HOOPS BLOG POST ✤

✤ 30cm white metal craft ring on Amazon  ✤

✤ Download Positivity Mandala Hoop PATTERN PDF ✤

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ps I'd like to give my thanks to Tatsiana of Lilla Bjorn Crochet who inspired me with her fantastic method of joining a mandala to a metal ring. 

x

I hope you might feel inspired to crochet yourself a little bit of mandala goodness to decorate your home.... as always, I am more than happy to provide my patterns and picture tutorials for free here on my blog. If you have used this pattern and would like to donate a few pennies it would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much for your support, and wishing you happy hooky times!

♥

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Comments

[Carolyn Leach-Yearwood]

I would like to do this design in a 5-6” metal ring hoop (13cm+)
Would you please advise as to how to do this

[Susan Fernley]

Hi thanks for this tutorial Lucy.
In round 3 shouldn't it be repeat 9 times?

[Xenia]

This is the best thing I've ever created! Thank you very much!

[Mary J Price]

this is a beautiful pattern.I love the way it is hooked on the ring.We used to use saftypins they could be unhooked to wash.

[Robyn T.]

Hi Lucy,
Could one use the Attic 24 yarns instead if cotton for these lovely mandalas?
Thanks,
Robyn

[Kay]

oh WOW... I have orded craft rings and hope they get to me quickly. I just love this and can't wait to get started. Thank you for taking the time to put this tutorial together!

[Kay]

Is there a typo in round 9? Shouldn't that be colour D?

[Helen]

Hi Lucy, I love this pattern thank you! On round 7 are there chains between the trebles? And should it start with 4 chains instead of three? Thanks xxx