A Mandala Hood to Go With the Mandala Vest! That’s right, I have been working for the past 2 weeks creating and perfecting a mandala hood to go with my stash busting mandala vest!
‘What Made Me Think of Adding a Hood?’, You Ask. Well…
After I created my vest, I had a lot of compliments (and a few requests, I know what I’m going to be working on for this Christmas!). Plus a few suggestions. One of which was to add a hood. Although it took a bit of convincing, back to the hook and yarn I went. I didn’t mind too much as I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to work on yet. I had a myriad of choices, but no real desire to make any of them. At least not without going out to purchase more yarn. What’s a Lala to do in this case?
Yup, You Got It!
No, I didn’t go buy any more yarn, I went back to some more stash busting! Although I do have to admit I looked down the yarn aisles a few times… Well, maybe even more than a few! Anyway, I digress. As I mentioned previously, I went back to the hook and yarn.
Mandala Hood Creation Process
I thought, ‘Ooh! another mandala for the hood would be beautiful.’ So I did the first 10-11 rounds of Nadia’s pattern, using the same colors, of course. I loved the way the red and teal popped off of each other! I also thought the final edging of the vest itself would be a good way to surround the hood’s facing. Then I had to work out how to turn a circle into a rectangle. I found a few examples for simple granny square type circles to give me an idea on how to go about it.
My thoughts on the mandala were good in ways, but lousy in others. My ideas for turning it into a rectangle were spot on! Making as large a mandala as I did, not so much. The way it was designed was too much for the hood. It took up the whole back of the head. And I just couldn’t work out how to make the top of the hood work. I knew other hoods only needed a simple fold and seam, as one was made for me by Perfection several Christmases ago. When I did it to my mandala hood, however, it bulged in a weird spot. And it came to a point. A big point. NOT the look I was going for with my bohemian styled vest. So out came ALL the hard work I’d done, down to the star portion of the motif.
Frustration Abounds
My next few attempts still netted a huge point. I was so frustrated. I had frogged many of the rows at least half a dozen times. Hours of work, over and over again. I was just about ready to give up. Although I had an idea as to what was the problem, I just couldn’t figure it out. I talked to my wonder hubby, Papa, and he suggested I make the hood similar to the one I mentioned earlier. That one by Perfection. I looked at him with surprise. That was a GREAT idea. I asked him why he couldn’t have thought of it sooner!
I continued on instead of completely frogging the first nearly completed hood. Just in case this new idea wouldn’t work out. I had one more idea for the prior incarnation of the mandala hood. I remade the motif, changed around the way I turned it into a square, and used a looser weave of crocheting. Simple double crochets and chains. No huge point! But still not quite right.
I STILL had the problem of trying to complete the head part. No matter what I did, I could NOT create a hood without a strange type of bulge. Instead of a seam, I used triple crochets and chains. I still spent quite a bit of time as I worked it out to keep it from bulging, but I finally managed to do it!
I finally managed to create my own mandala hood, and am excited to be able to share it with you! Please have patience if the pattern isn’t easy to read, this is only my second try at writing a pattern. Perhaps soon I will try making videos to go with the patterns!
Finally, and Without Further Ado, Here is the Pattern!
Stitches used:
- Ch(s): chain(s)
- St(s): Stitch(es)
- Sl st: slip stitch
- SC: Single Crochet
- HDC: Half Double Crochet
- DC: Double Crochet
- TC: Triple Crochet
- V-Stitch: [Double Crochet, Chain 2, Double Crochet] in indicated space
Pattern for Mandala Hood:
Rounds 1-8 are From Nadia and her Crochet Tutorial: Spring Sun Mandala Vest
Start with Magic Ring or Ch 6, Sl st in 1st ch to form a ring
Rnd 1: Ch up 2 (Counts as HDC here and throughout), 15 HDC into ring. Sl st to beg ch up 2. (16)
Rnd 2: Ch 3 (Counts as DC here and throughout), DC in same st, * CH 2, SK 1 st, 2 DC in next st, repeat from * around. Sl st to beg ch up 3. (8 ch 2 sps, 16 sts)
Rnd 3: Sl st into ch 2 sp, Ch 2, 2 HDC in same sp, *Ch 3, 3 HDC in next ch sp, repeat from * around, sl st to ch up 2. (24 HDC, 8 Ch 3 sps)
Rnd 4: Sl st into Ch 3 sp, Ch 1, [SC, HDC, 3 DC, HDC, SC] in ch 3 sp, * Ch 2, [SC, HDC, 3 DC, HDC, SC] in next Ch 3 sp, Repeat from * around. Sl st to 1st SC. (8 petals made)
Rnd 5: Sl st to middle DC of a petal, Ch 1, SC in same st, *Ch 2, V-Stitch in next Ch 2 sp, Ch 2, SC in middle DC of next petal, repeat from * around, Sl st to 1st SC. (8 SC, 16 DC, 24 Ch 2 sps)
Rnd 6: In SC, Ch 1, SC in same st, *[4 DC, ch 2, 4 DC] in next V-Stitch, repeat from * around, sl st to first SC. (8 Ch 2 sps, 64 DC, 8 SC)
Rnd 7: Ch 1, BPSC around 4 sts, *[2 SC, ch 2, 2 SC] in ch 2 sp, BPSC around next 9 sts, Repeat from * around, sl st to first BPSC.
Rnd 8: Ch 1, CH in same st *(Ch 4, SK 4 sts, SC in SC st) repeat from * around and Sl st to first SC.
Rnd 9: CH 4, (DC 2, HDC 2) in Ch 4 sp , SC in SC st, (HDC 2, DC 2, TC 1) in Ch 4 sp (TC 1, DC 4) in Ch 4 sp, *[(DC 2, CH 2, DC 2) in SC st (dc 4, tc 1) in Ch 4 sp (TC 1, DC 2, HDC 2) in Ch 4 sp, HDC in SC st, (HDC 2, DC 2, TC 1) in CH 4 sp (TC 1, DC 4) in Ch 4 sp] repeat from * three times. (TC 1, DC 4) in Ch 4 sp, Sl st into third Ch of first CH 4. End here.
Rnd 10: Begin in any corner. Ch 4, **[*(1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 12 times, (DC 1, Ch 1, DC 1) in Ch 1 Sp] repeat from ** 4 times, Sl st into third Ch of first Ch 4.
Rnd 11: Ch 4, **[*(1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 13 times, (DC 1, Ch 1, DC 1) in Ch 1 Sp] repeat from ** 3 times, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 12: Ch 4, **[*(1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 14 times, (DC 1, Ch 1, DC 1) in Ch 1 Sp] repeat from ** 3 times, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 13: Ch 4, **[*(1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 15 times, (DC 1, Ch 1, DC 1) in Ch 1 Sp] repeat from ** 3 times, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
To form the top of the hood: Starting at the two corners of the top together, and with the same color, attach in one of those Ch 1 corners and Ch 8, TC 1 in opposite Ch 1 corner, Ch 5, TC 1 in first side’s first DC St, Ch 5, TC 1 in other side’s next DC St, *[Ch 5, TC 1 in first side’s next DC St, Ch 5, TC 1 in other side’s next DC St] repeat from * 4 times, Ch 1, Sk 1 DC St, Sl st in next DC st, Ch 3, Sl st in middle st of previous Ch 5, Ch 1, Sk 1 DC St, Sl st in next DC st, Ch 3, Sl st in TC St, Ch 3, Sk 1 DC St, Sl st in next DC st, bind off. (Note: If this is too confusing, please refer to the picture above. Hopefully that will give you more understanding.
Rnd 14: Ch 4, (1 DC, Ch 1, Sk Ch) 17 times, DC 7 spread evenly along first Ch 8 & TC of head, DC in Ch sp, (1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 st) 17 times, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 15: Ch 4, (1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 40 times, (DC 1, Ch 1, DC 1) in Ch 1 Sp, DC 47, DC in third Ch of Ch 4.
Rnd 16: Ch 4, (1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 43 times, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 17: Ch 4, (1 DC, Ch 1, Sk 1 Ch) 43 times, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 18: Ch 4, DC 86, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 19: Ch 4, DC 86, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, turn
Rnd 20: Ch 4, DC 86, DC in third Ch of Ch 4 sp, end
To join hood to the vest: With right side facing, join the hood to the top of the vest. I used SC to do the job.