Another free pattern? Really? Well, yes.
Aeons ago, I designed and knitted this large piece of craziness:-
I wanted to play with the idea of the mandala, subvert the medium a wee bit, so I knitted a picture of a mandala. The idea of writing up this monster as a pattern was then filed away in Volume XII of the Great To-Do List in the bottom left corner of my brain**, between ‘learn to speak Finnish’ and ‘organize my sock drawer’.
But then a nudging comment on a recent post prompted me to just get on with it. So I did.
Unfortunately my computer then had a temper tantrum, and I lost the lot.
So I typed it in again… all sixteen thousand cells of it, because if it didn’t happen right now, then it was never going to happen. At first, the process was slow and annoying. But then I reached a sort of meditative state of consciousness and all there was in the world was me and the keyboard and that flippin’ chart. It was like the time years ago when my then boyfriend and I took a non-stop bus journey all the way across Canada:** the first fifteen minutes were by far the worst for fidgeting, feeling bored, squabbling, and generally not coping. After that, the remaining four days and intervening nights of the journey were serene and hazy. But I digress.
So would you like the pattern? You can stretch the finished thing across a wood frame to hang on the wall, or with smaller borders you can use it to make a cushion. With the border, it’s roughly a metre/yard square.
The pattern? It’s RIGHT HERE!
*As you can see, I put all those years of neuropsychology training to good use…
**And may I just say how stunningly beautiful and fascinating and friendly and diverse Canada is? Or at least it was in 1993…
I really love mandala-based things – art, knitting, etc. This is beautiful! 🙂
Thank you. Mandalas in general are rather wonderful, aren’t they?
Thank you for the pattern.. and yes- Canada is still stunning and inviting
One day I’ll get back there. One day…
Oh thank you! That was really fast. I am afraid it may take me a bit longer to choose what color(s) to use.
You’re very welcome. Thank you for prompting me to do it. No pressure to make it, though! Now if you could just nag me to clean out the fridge…
All the way across Canada in four days? I’m impressed. Mind, you did say non-stop.
I’m not sure it was the ideal way to do things. We kept going through the most beautiful parts at night. 🙁
This is an amazing piece of art. Thanks for being so generous with the pattern.
And thank you for your kind comment.
Four days to cross Canada? Non stop? You crazy thing you – I’d rather take four weeks! And I’ve seen a lot of BC already, seeing as I live here, but I’d love to do the cross country trip thing. It seems to be something a lot of people aspire to. Shame the cost of petrol is so high!!!
Four weeks would have been MUCH better, but… well, circumstances. And we kept going through the most beautiful bits during the night. 🙁 I do envy you living in stunning BC…
Wow!! I’ve crocheted / designed mandala but the idea of knitting one and then writing out the pattern is just amazing!! Beautiful design and work!
Thank you!
Impressive!
A bit bonkers, actually. But thank you. 🙂
completely amazing. I am never never never going to knit it. But admire it, yes
*whispers* I’m never going to knit another one, either. But thank you as always for your kind words.
That is beautiful work. You are so talented. I could never ever make something so intricate:)
Thank you! I’m not talented, I’m just a pedantic detail – monkey. 🙂
Wow, crazy cool.
Mostly crazy…
Fabulous, thank you.
Glad you like it. 🙂
This is amazing. You never cease to amaze me Ms T. Just when I think you might have run out of creative ideas, you come up with another one. I have been under a LOT of stress lately working on websites and coding and hoping that the fairies in the garden know more about coding than I do and I can just put my PC out there one night, and much like that girl who was thrown into jail to spin straw into gold, they might just produce the finished website for me if I give them my first born child (tempting…getting more tempting every day…) and thus (I digressed and am getting back to the point) I find myself using food as my newest bestest ever friend and food and I have been expanding my girth for a few months now. That lovely big metre square might just get turned into a jumper to cover my magnificent girth ;). Seriously though, awesome job and learn that Finnish vernacular. You are an adventurous girl. You never know, one of the twins might end up marrying a Finnish girl and all of that effort will be rewarded. At the very least you can learn how to swear in Finnish and reduce stress at home/work EVERYWHERE by introducing Finnish swear words into your conversation and pretending that you are being clever.
ALL words in Finnish are extremely long (I used to have a Finnish friend and have been over there a few times) so I can only imagine that their swear words are satisfyingly lengthy. We should learn…
Thank you for your kind words. Also I’m SURE your fairy plan will work. What could possibly go wrong! Also I’m sorry to have been rubbish and not replied to your Facebook message yet. There is of course NO RUSH with the crochet toys – it’s ridiculously kind of you to be making them at all. If I could knit you a website in exchange, I would…
Meanwhile, keep going. When does all this stress ease off a bit?
Hi, This is absolutely fabulous! I would love to make this. However I’m a bit confused as to the working. Do I stick the patterns together as a big flat plan and then work in the round from the bottom to make a big tube, adding the steek stitches at the end of the rounds? Or am I missing something? Please excuse this old brain not working as quickly as it used to! It’s an amazing amount of work that you have done. Cheers!
I love mandalas … they are spiritually uplifting! this is the first pattern i have seen for a knitted one … and it’s FREE!!! thank-you so very much.
best regards,
daisy 🙂
Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this. I plan on making one too! Again I say thank you!
September 6, 2016 at 10:05 am
Thank you! Ukraine!