Meditative mandala madness

April 19th

Ok so I'm late to the party, so shoot me, no please don't take me literally.

Spring colours

I'll stop being silly. This post is all about mandalas.

If like me you are ignorant about Mandalas, then let me share with you what I have gleaned over the past year.

What is a mandala? 
They were first mentioned around the 4th century in Tibet and in Sanskrit the literal translation means circle. But what is a mandala? A mandala has its origins in the spiritual world and Buddhists see it as a journey from suffering to joy.  The circle is to represent a balance of unity and harmony, thus it is a concentric structure.  The detail within the circle helps to absorb ones mind and is an attempt at almost being hypnotic in its complexity and design.  The aim is to slow the mind down and to allow it to be still and calm and to try to focus the analytical mind to take a nap.  A mandala is a tool to help serve us on our spiritual journey of healing within.  Tibetan Monks after 9/11 travelled to NY  and began creating a sand mandala.  It took ten days to produce the mandala, made of many colours of sand to help New Yorkers begin their journey of healing.  Today we crochet mandalas, knit them even and more popular has become the 'mindful' colouring in of mandalas, all with the same goal, to slow us down and give inner peace.

Last year whenever I looked at my blog reading posts or delved into the world that was Facebook and glanced at IG, crocheted mandalas were popping up everywhere.  If memory serves me correctly it was the wonderful Zelna in South Africa that first drew my attention to the crochet craze of 2015.  Next up was Lucy over at the Attic and I promised my self I would whip up a mandala and send it along with the hundreds of others that whizzed their way over to her for the Yarn get together that is Yarndale in Yorkshire, but I failed miserably.

So it was with great irritation that I learnt that the latest photo challenge I am in was to have us all posting a crocheted mandala today.  Not to be left out a second time, the weekend just past saw me beavering away in the corner determined to have a completed mandala by today.  Knowing how many beautiful ones there are out there and how intricate and colourful they are, I realised that time was not on my side and for once was sensible and decided to make a quick 'granny' based mandala in the hope it would be speedy to hook up. So not a traditional intricate mandala able to absorb the mind, I tried for the hypnotic feel.  And for once I was right, it was super speedy to make!  I even finished it a day early, the sun graced me with it's presence so I was able to utilise it as the now intended table cloth for the small patio table and ate my lunch, albeit with a coat on outside.

Want to see?

A close up of the granny stitches that
made up the majority of my mandala

Fits the table perfectly, I toyed with making
it larger but decided against it in the end

Ta-dah!

I have not posted how to make it as I think it relatively straight forward, but if there is interest I'd be happy to add in the instructions, just let me know...

 

♥  It's almost time to eat every meal outside, yeah!  ♥