Mandela Mandala

I believe in kindness, that we should love one another, and that we should stand up for what we believe in with grace and dignity. These are all qualities embodied by the late Nelson Mandela. He's one of my heroes. So, I decided to make a mandala in tribute to him.

My first task was inspiration. Had other people made mandalas in his name? Yes they had, and there is a wide variety out there. However, as Google does, it found some other images of mandalas that were line drawings, and one just called to me, so I decided to use it loosely as a base of inspiration.

found here: http://www.123rf.com/photo_12227481_mandala-round-ornament-pattern.html

With this design in mind, I looked through my stash, found myself a colourful palette, and started hooking. At this point I have to thank my testers Courtney and Oona for persevering through the edits in this pattern. When I get excited about something, sometimes my pattern writing skills cannot keep up with my hooking ones {giggle} and being seven months pregnant isn't helping with the thought process either. Having said that, the pattern should be straightforward now. There's a mini tutorial on the final page for round 11 - so you can choose whether to print it or not.

So, what do you think? I started with a flat center, but I changed my mind and put popcorn stitch in the center, it balances it out a bit more, but I still like the original center. You'll get to see the popcorn one once I release the square version. That will be one of a dozen squares that I'm still in the process of designing. I hope to run a BAMCAL (block a month crochet along) with them.

I made mine using DK yarn, and it's 14 inches (about 36cm) across. Courtney made hers with worsted yarn and it came in at a lovely 22 inches (about 56cm) across.

I'm really pleased with how it has come out, and I hope that you like it too. You can find it here in my pattern store: Click here to purchase the Mandela Mandala

Happy Hooking!
xoxo