Mandala Wednesday

Yes, I should have written this on Monday for good alliteration, but I couldn't wait...


..so here they are - the two latest - made with the pattern from Alice's blog Crochet With Raymond...





I had no trouble with this one and made a plain back using the same yarn and hook...





...but with this one I suddenly found that, although I had used the same yarn, the same hook and made it in EXACTLY the same way, it turned out smaller...





...and a little bit less round, somehow.  As the number of stitches on the last row was the same as the blue mat, I made the back the same, which meant that it turned out just a fraction too big for this mat and was slightly more puckered.   I think that will go when I block it, though...





I've been using up my stash of RICO Creative Cotton (which is aran weight) and a 4mm hook, so the mats turned out quite sturdy and I think would look good on the table - even as a place mat.


Next I'm going to try my Kool Kotton from James C Brett, which is half-and-half acrylic and cotton but, more importantly, is DK weight, so I may have to add an extra round.