Sunday 3 April 2016

Cycling and Mandala Madness...

So I made it through the busy Easter time at work, and the actual day at home was a nice lazy one!!



I haven't made too much progress with my basket, it has grown in stature a little, wibbly wobbly though it is, I'm still loving it!



The reason for not completing this project, is I got distracted by something else!!
Now I very rarely follow a pattern, but now and again something jumps out at me, and I think it's good to test yourself, and it helps to learn and grow.
What I had seen was a picture of the Mandala Madness Cal (crochet along)
It looked to have plenty of interest to keep my attention, and plenty of different techniques to try. So I chose a colour palette of purple and green and gave it a try.
I found a video tutorial by It's all in a nutshell on her blog. I'm not sure I would have managed without the visual help, but I have thoroughly enjoyed each round and I've learnt so much


The BIG lesson to learn, is pay attention to what you're getting into, and read the small print, because this I thought was the finished piece, worked over two weeks.


I now find that actually this is an 18 week project!!!
This is already 12" wide, so the end result must be enormous!
So my dilemma is do I stop now or continue??
On one hand, ive found this fun, ive enjoyed seeing how all the rounds link together, I'm curious as to how this will end up looking (its a mystery cal, hence no pictures of the end result) and I'm sure I will continue to learn. But, I don't have much crochet time so this will be all I get to work on, I cant paln what other colours to use without knowing what it looks like, what will I do with it when its complete, I like the way it looks right now, and I wont get the chance to play around with the ideas I have with what ive learnt so far!!
Any opinions welcome...

Last week we were able to get out on our bikes for the first time since moving to the coast.
No nasty hills to contend with just lovely flat ground with fantastic views. We had to do the obligatory café stop


We went as far as Ferring, before doing an about turn. On the return instead of a straight ride, we searched for Geo's on the coastal route. It was our best haul yet, finding 15!


It was quite a busy route to be searching, and they were tucked away in various places from benches and signposts to trees and walls, and under beach huts...


(can you spot the floating teddy bear!?)


We have a week off this week so hopefully more chance to explore and make

until next week...














4 comments:

  1. I love your red basket. I think the wibblyness just adds to its charm. Funny I have been cycling too this week. My daughter got a new bike, and keeps dragging me out with her. But I am pleased to be out getting some exercise in some nice weather. I like your palm tree photo.

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  2. The CAL will probably be an amazing blanket type thing in 18 weeks time but you could easily just stop now and know you have made something lovely so I guess it depends if you feel like you want a beautiful blanker size mandala! It is very pretty either way.

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  3. I think the basket is looking good and will be so useful. Love that flower, stunning.

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  4. I love the basket, pretty and stylish too.

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