Crochet Mandalas

A really so interesting book with models really beautiful. I have so liked this book, and will try to create something.

A nice book, great photos and charts with simple instructions

There’s a somewhat new trend in crocheting that is actually a boost for the beginner and that is creating mandalas which are circular pieces with a variety of purposes. There are plenty of patterns available online and several books are popping up with collections of these sometimes delicate motifs. CROCHET MANDALAS by Marinke Slump and Anita Mundt is one with a collection of about 20 projects with eye appeal and instructions that appear to be easy to follow. As an advanced crocheter I wouldn’t have any difficulty following any of these patterns but I also would encourage beginners to try their hand at several.

What I noticed immediately is the 60’s influence on many of the mandalas in CROCHET MANDALAS. They are reminiscent of free spirit and lacy use of white space which is intrinsically very lovely and romantic. Any of the stitch patterns used in the project in this book could be easily adapted to many items. Once you’ve tried your hand in some of the simpler items you should definitely challenge yourself to more complex.

When I review a craft book I like to comment on favorites and I do have a few here. The Rainbow Leaves Mandala lends itself to being expanded to a gorgeous throw. The medallion in the Forest Mandala Shrug is breath taking. The squares in Fruit Picker Vest could be worked up into loads of projects. And last but certainly not least the Doily Rag Rug which would be a great gift for a college bound girl.

In CROCHET MANDALAS the authors give you a choice of following written, listed instructions or charted. In my review copy I was only able to read the listed.

A beautiful book. Fantastic designs and patterns. A+

A beautiful colourful crochet book with a nod to the sixties, but with a truly modern twist. I love it - and I swore I would never wear crochet again after the 60's. There are quite a few that are fabulous with todays The patterns are all made with crochet madalas and are very now. There are bags, brooches, rugs, cushions, blankets, vests, sandals and much more. The colour are brilliant and very heart warming as are the projects. The patterns are easy to follow and the project will be finished before you know it .. A glorious book.

Nice patterns. Something for everyone, very inspiring. Lovely photos!

These designs are just gorgeous. Illustrations are fantastic, making every project something I want to put in my queue at Ravelry. As one who has made plenty of white doilies, mandalas present a colorful change of pace.

This is a beautiful book with pictures that bring the creations to life and truly capture the spirit of the design. I love that the designs are so varied and include standard mandalas, mandala rugs, sandals, blankets, bags and clothing. The patterns are easy to follow. Even though they have different difficulty levels, the fact that each includes a beautiful picture and a chart, in addition to the written instructions, makes them accessible to most everyone with the determination to complete a project.

A very cute book with great photos, simple instructions and great ideas for gifts; my favorite so far are the bowl covers (I saw them once and have been dying to get some and now I can make them!).

The book is pretty 'trippy' - puts me in mind of the hippie days and it's so much fun to flip through anyway with colorful mandalas and puts you in the crocheting mood for sure.

Lovely new ideas!

This book had a lovely retro feel to it,reminding me almost of a 60's hippie vibe.The patterns are clear and easy to follow for anyone with a solid basic knowledge of crochet.I can see me having fun with some of these designs,nice to see good use of quality yarns.This is a good book to add to your craft collection.

Another lovely, inspiring and easy to follow book by Marinke. Sadly, she isn't with us to share in the delight this book will bring to so many. Her designs, beautiful blog and now her two books have been, and will continue to be, an inspiration to many in the crochet world. She would be proud of "Crochet Mandalas".

Flower power isn't dead.

The designs offered in the book "Crocheted Mandalas" are so stunningly anachronistic that I am speechless.

I received a review copy of "Crocheted Mandalas" by Marinke Slump and Anita Mundt (Dover) through NetGalley.com.

This is a wonderful book. I look forward to trying many of the designs inside. Although I enjoy the ebook, since mine is not in color, I imagine the book would be even more beautiful in book form.

Copy provided by Netgalley for an unbiased review.

What a lovely, fun group of crochet patterns Marinke left us. Some are hippie-chic, some are whimsical-yet-practical, and almost all are things I'd love to make (and hopefully will, eventually!). Projects range in size from small brooches and rings to openwork blankets - there's something for everyone - and patterns are both charted and written, and include photographs of each finished project. Very well done.

I loved it.

What a fun group of patterns with colorful designs in small to large projects with range of levels for every crochet fanatic. There are projects for bags, blankets, vest, rugs and many other everyday items. The patterns read easily and the pictures are very inspiring. I hope to find the time to make many of these projects during the winter months. I would like to thanks the publisher and Net Galley for this chance to read this book.

If there is one thing I love to do it is to browse and try out different patterns from the many craft books available on the market these days. If I am lucky I will find one with more than one pattern that I really take notice of and want to try out. Crochet Mandalas is one of them.

This book is really versatile, as it is not just the regular pattern book where it features just say bedspreads, or quilt patterns, on the contrary it has many different things you can make. Here are a few;

an Aztec gold cushion blooming brooch and button ring dewdrop bowl cover emerald muse journal cover,
dream catcher rainbow leaves mandala celestial barefoot sandals-yes they have no bottom, but they are lovely!
twilight hook case leaves and berries bag fruit pickers vest forest madala shrug doily rag rug violet needle case flower in the sun pincushion seashell coasters and a few more!

The patterns all are accompanied by the materials needed, crochet hook size, and other things needed for each project. Of course it has a list of abbreviations so you know what each thing means. There is also a color picture of each project and what it looks like. One of my favorites is the Dewdrop bowl cover, as you can use it on a picnic or when eating outside and it covers the bowl to keep picnic pests out! It is colorful and each point has a lovely tear drop shaped crystal bead to make it look extra special-12 of them in fact! The shrug is special also! I also particularly loved the leaves and berries bag, as it it worked in the round so it has a nice lilac color, a light and dark green, and cream and beige looking color worked on rounds. It also has a nice handle which is long enough-but not too long and it is sturdy.

I can't say enough about the patterns in this book, you will have to look at it and see what I am talking about. It took a creative mind to make these patterns, and I think that this is a book that was inspired and put together with love which makes it special. I would love to have a copy of this book in paperback for sure -it would take pride of place in my crafters shelf! I am sure you will want to have a copy of it too, once you see it!

I gave this book 5***** creative stars and plan to make quite a few of these projects in the near future, and just from reading through the patterns themselves, I know they are clear and concise enough that I will have no problem duplicating some of these beautiful things! A visual delight for the eyes!

Beautiful book with excellent instructions, easy to follow and make your own beautiful creations from the information shared in this book!!!!

A little retro, a lot nature inspired. These designs are for all level of crocheters. Very creative and unique, the variety of projects is sure to offer any crafter a chance to make something original. Recommended.

What a beautiful book! I am an intermediate crocheter and was impressed with the projects in this book. There are many crochet books out there and I probably own the bulk of them, but most are square, rectangular creations like afghans, scarves etc. It is nice to see that someone creative has written a book with something different to wet the crocheter's appetite. Thanks for much for allowing me to preview this book.

Mandalas are hot right now in crochet patterns and the book has a great variety to choose from.

The patterns in this book were quite lovely, and I was very tempted to set aside my holiday gift crochet and start a few. I'm glad I can get started on them now.

The book was well-organized and had a nice selection of different things. That might be my favorite part, actually--that this was not just a book about one item, but that it included all sorts of different items of different sizes and requiring different skill levels. There are a few patterns in here that are probably still beyond my skill level, but that's okay--I feel like I can grow into them eventually, and I'm excited to do so.

Each pattern reads easily and has a very lovely image of the finished project, which I always find useful. There is some explanation of the stitches required, which is always useful, and it does seem like if you have a basic grasp of crochet at all you can pick this up and find something you'd like to make.

Stylistically, this book is a kind of modern take on sixties-style stuff. It's very pretty, both retro and modern, and very colorful. I'm definitely looking forward to playing with a few of these, and anyone interested in a wide array of different things to make is probably going to enjoy paging through.

This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It was very weird to review this book, knowing Wink is gone (for those of you who don’t know, the designer of the book passed away from depression last year). I didn’t know Wink personally, but knew her online as a fellow designer and crochet nut, so my opinion is biased (I also got the book for free from netgalley in exchange for my honest views).

There are many different patterns in the book, including an Aztec gold cushion blooming brooch and button ring dewdrop bowl cover dream catcher rainbow leaves mandala

for a variety of different skill levels (mostly beginner friendly). The designs all showcase Wink’s usual signature style of bright, bold colors, but of course you can make any of the designs with any colors you want. Most of the designs can also use a multiple of other yarns and because of the multiple colors in each design, would make great stash busters as well.

There is NO how to section in this book, which I loved- I hate when books waste time with a basic beginner section.

I do have some negatives to point out, however – the book is not organized in any way (fine with me, but would be a negative for some), there is only one “real” garment in the book, and many of the projects aren’t really projects at all, just embellishments to add onto something else.

Crochet Mandalas by Marinke Slump and Anita Mundt is not only a beautiful collection of crochet mandalas, but also Anita Mundt's goodbye to, and honouring of her sister Wink (Marinke Slump). Wink first began blogging about crocheting on acreativebeing.com, when she was dealing with severe depression. She wrote about how crocheting had given her hope. Unfortunately, depression lies, and even crochet isn't always enough., and Winke took her own life the summer 2015. Crochet Mandalas is a beautiful way to honour the craft that meant so much to Winke, and it is a collection full of beauty, colour and hope.

I was very sad to read that the author of this book passed away before it was published. In both this book and her previous one, she showed great promise.

The projects in this book are based on circular patterns. For those of us of a “certain” age, we will recall that there were many doily patterns available that were based on circles. While the patterns are similar to those I knew as a child, the use of color and the purpose of the finished project make these designs a whole different breed of crochet. It's wonderful to see the old made new again. The newer crocheters have taken the craft and the art to new heights. I'm thrilled that there are so many patterns, tools, and yarns now available.

While there is a chart symbol summary, written instructions, and visual charts, the one thing missing in this book is a series of how-to illustrations. While that makes it a little more difficult for beginners, I think that there are plenty of sites on the Internet where a beginner can find how-to do certain stitches both in photo and video form. Unless there is some really unusual stitch being used, it doesn't seem that necessary any longer to include this information. I am reviewing the digital version of an unfinished book so it may be that the final paper version of this book will include more information.

I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Dover Publications, via Netgalley.

Beautiful crochet mandalas from a talented young woman who left this world too soon. Easy to follow patterns with accompanying photographs. Highly recommend.

I thought this book offered some very unique projects that were young and modern.

Charmingly illustrated and with easy to follow patterns, there is something for everyone here (crochet lovers that is!). While I can see that a book like this wants to show the finished items in use for specific purposes (not sure about the bowl cover with large gaps in it), I think most of the patterns can easily be adapted via choice of yarns and hooks to suit different sizes and uses. For me, mandalas are really about decoration.

Review of an advance copy from the publisher.