Circles and Chains Mandala

WOW! This is my 100th post!

I have been inspired by all of the Mandalas that I have been seeing on the Internet. You can be really creative with circles! I wanted to make a Mandala that was simple and different. This is circles within a circle, with a few chains added in for a decorative edging.

I love the bright colors of the Drops Paris 100% cotton yarn it really makes your projects stand out!

This blog post is a small tutorial for making the circle and chain mandala, you can find the written instructions here

The first step is to make the small circles. Once you have made 10 small circles you can set those aside.

The mandala center is done the same fashion as the small circles but you add another row of dc stitches

Once the mandala center is finished, grab your small circles and connect the circles to the mandala center (see pattern instructions). Connecting is done using a sc stitch, as you connect each small circle make sure that the small circle and the mandala center are crocheted with the wrong sides together.

Once you are done connecting the small circles, your mandala should look like this, at this point the small circles are not connected together.

To join the small circles together hold two small circles right sides together, using yarn and a yarn needle

insert the needle in the dc stitch of both small circles pull the yarn through and repeat for a second time in the same dc stitches

Weave yarn through the back of the circle to the other side to join the next small circle, making sure to hide the yarn in the stitches.

Here is what it should look like when you are done. Make sure that you do not pull too tightly on the yarn when sewing the small circles together as it will bunch up.

The first row of the edging is done with an sc in the top of a small circle, ch 9, sc in the top of the next small circle. Once you have done the first chain row of the edging, keep adding the last rows of chain edging and 

you can add some decorative embroidery stitches to make the center a little more colorful. 

The center of the purple Mandala (see photo above) was done in three colors, so I did not add the additional stitching. 

I hope you enjoy this pattern!

Happy crocheting.