In this post you can find the pattern and video tutorial for Part 1 of Enigma Mandalas. In part 1 we make the small mandala, and create the first rounds for the medium and large mandalas. Voor Nederlands, zie aub DEZE post.

Resources

Materials

You will need 6 colors of Scheepjes Catona (50g/125m) yarn and 3 mandala rings to make your Enigma Mandalas. I have designed 3 colorways named Gingerbread, Raspberry Milkshake and Bubblegum. You can find information about color numbers and yarn amounts HERE. You can buy your supplies from any yarn shop close to you, and the rings are often available from craft shops, but you can also buy a full kit with everything you need from my webshop.

You will also need 3 rings to finish the mandalas. You will need rings with diameter 40cm (16″), 25cm (10″) and 15cm (6″). We make the mandalas using a 3mm crochet hook.

Scheepjes Catona is available from Wool Warehouse (UK), Jimmy Beans Wool (USA), The Knitting Network (UK), Love Crafts (USA / UK), Caro’s Atelier (NL / EU), and many other Scheepjes stockists.

I also have yarn kits available for all 3 colorways of Enigma Mandalas in my shop. The mandala kits include everything you need to make these mandalas including the pattern, yarn and the mandala rings.

Abbreviations

This pattern uses US Crochet Terminology

Standard stitches

ch Chain
ch-sp(s) Chain space(s)
dc Double crochet
dc3tog Work three double crochet stitches together over three sts
sc Single crochet
sc2tog Work two single crochet stitches together over two sts
sl st Slip stitch
st(s) Stitch(es)

pul pull up loop
yrh yarn round hook

Special stitches

invisible join Cut yarn, pull yarn through last stitch made, thread yarn on needle, insert needle under both loops of first st after initial chain sts, pull yarn through, insert needle into top of the last stitch made, pull yarn through

surface sts Holding working yarn behind piece and hook in front of piece insert hook through piece, yrh, draw yarn though piece and loop on hook (as a sl st)

standing sts With a slip knot on hook, make stitch as normal

bphdc Back post half double crochet, work the half double crochet around the post of the st inserting hook from back to front to back again
bpdc Back post double crochet, work the double crochet around the post of the st inserting hook from back to front to back again
fptr Front post treble crochet, work the treble crochet around the post of the st inserting hook from front to back to front again
fptr2tog Work two fptr sts together over 2 sts
fptr3tog Work three fptr sts together over 3 sts

Gauge

At the end of Round 10, the mandala is 13cm / 5inches in diameter, at the end of Round 17, the mandala is 22cm / 8 inches, and at the end of Round 29, it is 36cm / 14 inches.

Color Placement

Please refer back to the materials list for the specification per colorway in regards to which color is Color A up to Color F. The yarn amounts per round serve as a guide and are only important when you are making the mandalas from left-over yarn from other projects. This way you can determine before you start a round if you have enough yarn to complete it. If you are using full balls of Scheepjes Catona 50g, you will have enough yarn to complete all 3 mandalas.

Tip: if you want to use the same colors as in one of the given 3 colorways, but you want a different look to the mandalas, consider changing the order of the colors A to F. Also feel free to change the colors placement for a specific round if you feel it looks better that way.

Round	Small Mandala	Medium Mandala	Large Mandala	Yarn weight per round (g)
1	A	A	A	0.5g
2	A	A	A	1.0g
3	B	B	B	1.0g
4	F	F	F	0.5g
5	C	C	C	1.5g
6	C	C	C	1.5g
7	E	E	E	1.0g
8	E	E	E	1.5g
9	E	E	E	3.0g
10	D	D	D	3.0g
RING	D	—	—	1.5g

Enigma Mandalas Pattern – Part 1

Feel free to replace the starting ring in Round 1 with a magic ring. You can replace all slip stitch joins in the pattern with an invisible join, but do not replace an invisible join with a slip stitch join. The invisible joins are used to make the next round more pretty.

Work 3 of mandalas according to the pattern given in Round 1 to 10. One mandala will be finished and attached to the smallest ring, the other two will be grown further in following parts of the pattern.

Round 1 With the indicated color, ch4, join with a sl st in first chain to form a ring. Working into the ring, ch2 (does not count as a st here and throughout), 12dc in the ring, join to first dc with sl st.
[12 dc]

Round 2 Continue with the same color, ch3 (counts as first dc here and throughout), 1dc in same st, 2dc in each st around, join to beginning ch3 with sl st. Fasten off.
[24 dc]

Round 3 Join the indicated color with a standing bpdc in any st, 1bpdc in next st, ch1, do not skip a st, *1bpdc in next 2 sts, ch1, do not skip a st; repeat from * to end, join to first standing st with sl st. Fasten off.
[24 bpdc, 12 ch1-sp]

Round 4 With the indicated color, work surface sl st over the dc of Round 1. Fasten off.

Round 5 Join the indicated color with a standing sc in any ch1-sp, *ch2, 1fptr2tog over next 2 dc, 1dc in ch1-sp, 1fptr2tog over next 2 dc, ch2, 1sc in ch1-sp; repeat from * to end omitting final sc, join to first st with sl st.
[12 fptr2tog, 6 dc, 6 sc, 12 ch2-sp]

Round 6 Continue with the same color, ch1 (does not count as a st here and throughout), 1sc in same st, *1sc in ch2-sp, ch3, 1fptr3tog over next 3 sts, ch3, 1sc in ch2-sp, 1sc in next sc; repeat from * to end omitting final sc, join to first st with sl st. Fasten off.
[6 fptr3tog, 18 sc, 12 ch3-sp]

Round 7 Join the indicated color in any fptr3tog with a standing bpdc, *ch6, skip next ch3-sp, 1dc3tog over next 3 sc, ch6, skip next ch3-sp, 1bpdc around fptr3tog; repeat from * to end omitting final bpdc, join to first standing st with sl st.
[6 dc3tog, 6 bpdc, 12 ch6-sp]

Round 8 Continue with the same color, ch1, 1sc in same st, *7sc in next ch6-sp, skip dc3tog, 7sc in next ch6-sp, 1sc in next bpdc; repeat from * to end omitting final sc, join to first st with sl st.
[90 sc]

Round 9 Continue with the same color, ch3, 1dc in each st around, join with invisible join.
[90 dc]

Round 10 Join the indicated color in any st with a standing bphdc, 1bphdc in each st around. Join with invisible join for medium and large mandala. Join with sl st for small mandala and leave yarn attached.
[90 bphdc]

Finishing small mandala
Work away all yarn tails on all the mandalas. All mandalas are now approximately 13cm. Attach the small mandala to the 15cm ring with the same color as in Round 10. Leave the other two mandalas for the moment; we will make them bigger in part 2 and part 3.

To finish the small mandala, ch1 (does not count as a stitch), *sc2tog in the current stitch, the next stitch AND the ring, repeat from * to end. Close with an invisible join.
[90 sc2tog]

Work an optional hanging chain to hang the mandala. Attach the same color as used to attach the mandala to the ring with a slip stitch in any st, chain the number of sts needed to get the required length, close the loop with a slip stitch in the same st as in which the yarn is attached. Tie a knot between the two yarn tails to secure the loop. Work away the yarn tails.

Tips if your small mandala is too large or too small
If your small mandala is larger than 13cm/5inches, replace the dc stitches of Round 9 with hdc stiches, or even sc stitches if needed. If your small mandala is smaller than 13cm/5inches, replace the dc stitches of Round 9 with tr stitches. If you make these changes for the small mandala, also do this for the medium and large mandalas.

Video tutorials

There are free video tutorials available on my YouTube channel to help you make Enigma Mandalas. The video’s are available in English US Terms, in left handed and right handed versions. I hope the videos make it possible for everyone to make these mandalas.

#itsallinanutshell

If you are making something with one of my patterns or one of my videos, I would love to see your work. Use the hashtag #itsallinanutshell on Instagram to help me find it, share your work in my It’s all in a Nutshell Crochet Nuts group on Facebook or tag me in one of your posts.

With love,
Esther

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Enigma Mandalas Part 1 – Free Crochet Pattern