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Crochet dreamcatcher: a mandala laced into a covered ring

Crochet a 4-round mandala with 16 picots, then cover a ring with 96 single crochets. Lace the mandala into the ring with a spoke from each picot, and add a hanging loop and three chains.

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A motif laced into a covered ringUS termsHook: 3.5 mm (US E-4), or the size that gives you gaugeSize from your washed swatchDK yarn

Know these stitches: magic ring, double crochet, single crochet, picot stitch, chain, slip stitch

The finished dreamcatcher.

Materials and yarn planning

Yarns we’ve reviewed that suit it: Bernat Softee Cotton yarn, Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton DK yarn. For the hook, choose by size and handle.

Yarn estimate: the 450 stitches and chains at about 4 cm of light cotton each come to about 18 m, plus about 2 m for the spokes. Allow 25 m; one 50 g ball is plenty.

This pattern has about 450 stitches. For a closer figure in your own yarn, weigh what you have made once a good part is done, divide by the stitches made so far, multiply by 450 and divide by the ball weight on the label. Taller stitches use more yarn than short ones, so allow a margin.

Finished size and gauge

Make the mandala first and measure it after blocking: in light cotton on this hook it comes to about 10 cm across, picots included, and the ring should be 2 to 4 cm wider, so the spokes show. Single crochets worked over a ring take about 2.5 to the centimeter around it: a 12.5 cm ring, about 39 cm around, takes about 96. For another ring, work the multiple of 16 that covers it, and space the spokes evenly: the number of ring stitches divided by 16. These are calculations from the counts, not a measured sample.

The gauge calculator compares your swatch with the pattern. A stitch name you do not know is in the abbreviation chart; a UK pattern’s names are in the US/UK term reference.

The pattern

Count rows for this pattern

Mandala (white or cream)

  1. Round 1: make a magic ring, chain 3 (it counts as a double crochet) and work 11 double crochets in the ring. Pull it closed and join with a slip stitch to the top of the chain 3: 12 stitches.
  2. Round 2: chain 3, 1 double crochet in the same stitch, 2 double crochets in each stitch around, join: 24 stitches.
  3. Round 3: chain 3, 2 double crochets in the next stitch, [double crochet in the next stitch, 2 double crochets in the next stitch] 11 times, join: 36 stitches.
  4. Round 4: chain 3, double crochet in the next stitch, 2 double crochets in the next stitch, [double crochet in the next 2 stitches, 2 double crochets in the next stitch] 11 times, join: 48 stitches.
  5. Round 5: chain 1, [single crochet in the next 3 stitches, chain 3, slip stitch in the third chain from the hook] 16 times, join: 48 single crochets and 16 picots. Fasten off, weave in the ends and block the mandala flat.

Ring

  1. Make a slip knot on the hook. Hold the ring with the yarn end behind it, insert the hook through the middle of the ring, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through both loops: 1 single crochet over the ring.
  2. Work 95 more the same way, pushing them together as you go so the ring does not show: 96 stitches. Join with a slip stitch to the first single crochet. Turn the stitches so their tops face the middle of the ring.
  3. Hanging loop: chain 20 and slip stitch in the same stitch as the join. Fasten off and weave in the end. This join is the top of the dreamcatcher.

Lace and finish

  1. Lay the mandala in the middle of the ring with a picot at the top. Thread a yarn needle with about 2 m of the mandala yarn and tie it to the top of the ring, beside the join.
  2. Spokes: take the needle from the ring through the top picot and back to the ring where it came out, so the spoke is a doubled strand. Run the needle along the back of the ring, under the tops of the next 6 stitches, and make the next spoke to the next picot. Repeat all the way round, a spoke from every 6th stitch of the ring to every picot: 16 spokes. Pull each spoke just tight enough that the mandala sits flat in the middle, and tie off where you began.
  3. Chains below: join the yarn in the stitch opposite the hanging loop, the 49th from the join, and chain 40. Fasten off. Make a chain of 30 in the stitch 6 to each side of it. Thread a bead or tie a feather to the end of each chain if you like, and knot the end.
  4. Hang it on a wall or a window, out of reach of babies and small children, and never in or over a crib or playpen: the chains and the hanging loop are long enough to wrap round a neck. Leave the beads off if a small child could reach it.

Check the work

The mandala grows by 12 a round, 12, 24, 36, 48, and its edge has 16 picots, one every 3 single crochets. The ring has 96 stitches: 16 spokes × 6 = 96, so the spokes are evenly spaced.

Stitches by round of the mandala, then the ring12 · 24 · 36 · 48 · 96
  • If the mandala cups or ruffles, count each round: 12 more a round, with the chain 3 counted as a stitch.
  • If the mandala sits off-center, loosen the spokes on the long side and tighten the short ones until every spoke is the same length.
  • If the ring shows between the single crochets, push them together and add stitches in groups of 16, then space the spokes again.

Updated . Stitch counts checked row by row; we haven’t crocheted a sample of this one yet. How the patterns are checked. Keep your yarn label, hook and swatch on the printable project worksheet.

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