Many of you know that I love to crochet mandalas and that I also love to crochet outdoors. So, here is a project that combines those 2 things 🙂 Introducing the Chunky Outdoor Mandala!

I was able to quickly crochet 2 of these mandala projects and have already hung them in my backyard.

This mandala project is actually a combination of 2 free mandala patterns I recently completed and I LOVE how it turned out!

Would you believe it is only 6 rounds and ends up being 21″ across?

And don’t worry about hanging it outside – it is crocheted with a thick acrylic yarn that holds up well to the sun and rain.

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Skill Level: Easy

Measurements: 21″ diameter

Gauge:

Round 1 = 2 1/2 inches across (If your Round 1 is a little smaller, that should be fine – your mandala will still fit across the ring and will be nice and tight. If your Round 1 is bigger, than you should go down in hook size or use a bigger ring)

Supplies:

(Please note that many of these supplies include affiliate links which means this blog earns a small commission if you choose to purchase but it is at NO extra cost to you – yay! – Thank you for your support 🙂 )

Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown – 2 skeins (Purchase here)

(Colors shown in photos: New York White (#100) and Tampa Spice(#114))

Hook: N/P (10 mm) (Purchase here)

Small hula hoop (21″ from outside edge across to other outside edge)

Optional: Spray paint

Special Stitches:

Adjustable Ring = Wrap yarn around hand to create a loop; pull working end of yarn through lp with hk; work stitches inside lp as indicated by pattern

To watch a video tutorial of this technique, click here

(If don’t want to do adjustable ring, then ch 4 and work 11 dc in 4th ch from hk instead of the Round 1 written below)

Beg. Popcorn (Beginning Popcorn) = ch 3, 4 dc in same place; remove hk from working loop and insert through top of starting ch-3; pull working loop through top of starting ch-3

Ch-3 picot = ch 3, sl st in 1st ch

Popcorn = 5 dc; remove hk from working loop and insert through top of first dc; pull working loop through top of first dc

Back Loop Only = insert hook into back loop of st

(To watch a video tutorial of this technique, click here)

ch =chain

sc = single crochet

dc = double crochet

sk = skip

Notes:

This project is stitched using the pattern from the Fairy Garden Mandala project (found here) and that comes with a detailed step-by-step video tutorial that you can watch here. (Rounds 1-4 are very much like the smaller mandala except there is no changing of color and Round 4 starts a little differently but is basically the same; Round 5 of the big mandala is just like Round 3 of the smaller mandala)

The joining-to-a-ring technique can be found in the Boho Mandala Necklace project (see video tutorial here for this step).

Instructions:

**Special stitches are printed in bold and italicized text and defined above**

***To see the stitches for Rounds 1-3 demonstrated, watch this video here (from time stamp 1:55)***

Round 1: Make an adjustable ring; Ch 3, 11 dc in ring; join with sl st to top of starting ch-3. (Starting ch-3 counts as a dc – now have 12 dc)

Round 2: Ch 8 (counts as first dc and first ch-5 sp); (sk next dc, dc in next dc, ch 5) around 5 times; join with sl st to 3rd ch of starting ch-8. (6 ch-5 sps & 6 dc)

Round 3: Sl st into next ch-5 sp; Beg. popcorn; (ch 3, ch-3 picot, ch 3, Popcorn) in same ch-5 sp; (ch 3, ch-3 picot, ch 3, Popcorn) 2 times in each ch-5 sp around ending with a ch 3, ch-3 picot, ch 3, sl st in top of 1st popcorn. (12 popcorns)

Round 4: Sl st in the next 3 chs and into the next ch-3 picot; (ch 6, sl st in next ch-3 picot) around ending with sl st in 1st ch-3 picot. (12 ch-6 sps)

Round 5: Sl st into next ch-6 sp; Beg. popcorn; (ch 3, ch-3 picot, ch 3, Popcorn) in same ch-6 sp; (ch 3, ch-3 picot, ch 3, Popcorn) 2 times in each ch-6 sp around ending with a ch 3, ch-3 picot, ch 3, sl st in top of 1st popcorn. (24 popcorns and 24 ch-3 picots)

Round 6: Sl st into next 3 chs and into the next ch-3 picot; (ch 5, sc in next ch-3 picot) around ending with sl st in 1st sc. Do not fasten off.

Finishing:

Optional: Spray paint hula hoop to match yarn color (or contrast with yarn color) and let dry completely

(My hula hoop had a bunch of bright colors on it so I spray painted it a dark grayish-brown color to give it a better look)

While holding the ring in front of the mandala, ch 1; (insert hk into back loop only of next st on mandala while working over ring in front; YO, draw up a lp through st and bring up this lp so on top of ring; YO at top of ring, pull through both lps on hk) around working in each chain and each st around (*Note: You are working a single crochet around the ring and into each stitch); join with sl st to 1st sc. Fasten off.

**You can watch a video tutorial of this step here – time stamp 15:51- (This is a segment of the Boho Mandala Necklace tutorial)**

Cut a length of yarn and thread through mandala – tie in a knot for hanger (see photo)

Now your Chunky Outdoor Mandala is complete! Don’t you love how quickly it came together?

I love how the popcorns “pop” and the ch-3 picots are “sharp” once you stretch the mandala across the ring.

Remember, you can find more of my mandala patterns here and all of my FREE patterns here –

Don’t forget to use @celticknotcrochet or #celticknotcrochet if you post a photo of this project on Instagram – or send me a photo of it ([email protected]) – I always enjoy seeing your creations!

Thank you for stopping by – Make sure to pin the image below to your Pinterest board so you don’t forget about this quick summer project!

Jennifer

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