The Railway Mandala is a really simple crochet pattern.  It consists of solid concentric circles, broken up by lacy spokes that give the illusion of train tracks.  I have chosen to use a colour-change yarn because I like the way the changing colours remind me of the changing landscape of a long train journey.

I designed this little crochet mandala for the 2016 Crochetville Blog Tour in honour of National Crochet Month (March).  Since then, if I am completely honest, I forgot all about this pattern.

I forgot, that is, until I found myself looking for something to make with a small ball of colour-change scrap yarn, left over from my Life in Colour Shawl!  And so I grabbed my hook and made one of these easy crochet mandalas, updating this post as I went and adding a couple of rounds for good measure.

For the original Railway Mandala, I used Scheepjes Invicta (discontinued) and a 3mm hook to create 12.5cm/5″ crochet mandalas, following the pattern from Round 1-12 and fastening off at the end of Round 12.

The colour-change for the sock yarn was really long, so the beginning and end of each round blended really well.  If you are using a yarn with a medium colour-change, you will notice a clear ‘step’/colour change between the first and last stitch of later rounds (see Round 13 below).  If you use a yarn with quite a short colour-change, the ‘step’ might not be as obvious because each round will contain multiple colour-changes.

Simple Railway Crochet Mandala Pattern

©Dedri Strydom 2016.  All Rights Reserved.  Updated 2020.

Materials (New)

• 3.5mm crochet hook*
• Scheepjes Wanderlust (Hawaii 457) – 50m/22g each
• Optional:  Embroidery hoop (or similar) that is at least 1.5cm/0.6″ bigger than the unblocked mandala.

* I used a 4mm hook, but I crochet very tightly.

Gauge

7cm/2.7″ at the end of Round 5.

Size

• Unblocked:  20cm/7.8″ in diameter
• Blocked/Mounted:  22cm/8.6″ in diameter

Abbreviations

US Terminology

• Ch – Chain
• Dc – Double crochet
• Sc – Single crochet
• Sl st – Slip stitch
• Sp/sps – Space/spaces
• St/sts – Stitch/stitches
• () – Repeat instructions between parentheses the number of times specified
• [] – Stitches to be made into the same st/sp.

Special Stitches

• Magic Ring – If you are not familiar with working into a magic ring, this video tutorial by Tamara from Moogly is very good. Please remember, when working into a magic ring, you HAVE to work away your initial yarn end very well. If you just cut it, your whole project might unravel!

Railway Mandala Instructions

Round 1:  Into a Magic Ring: ch 3 {counts as first dc}, make 11 dc into the ring.  Join to the top of the beginning ch-3 with a sl st.  {12 dc}

Round 2:  Ch 5 {counts as first dc and ch-2 sp}.  (Dc, ch 2) in each of the remaining 11 dc. Join to the top of the beginning ch-3 with a sl st.  {12 dc and 12 ch-2 sps}

Round 3:  Sl st into the next ch-2 sp.  Ch 1 {doesn’t count as a stitch throughout} and make 3 sc in the same ch-2 sp.  Make 3 sc in each of the remaining 11 ch-2 sps around. Join to the first sc with a sl st.   {36 sc}

Round 4:  Ch 1.  (Sc in the next 5 sts, make 2 sc in the next st) 6 times. Join to the first sc with a sl st.  {42 sc}

Round 5:  Ch 1.  Sc in the next 3 sts, make 2 sc in the next st. (Sc in the next 6 sts, make 2 sc in the next st) 5 times. Sc in the last 3 sts.  Join to the first sc with a sl st.  {48 sc}

Round 6:  Ch 5 {counts as first dc and ch-2 sp}.  Skip the next st.  (Dc in the next st. Ch 2 and skip the next st) 23 times.  Join to the top of the beginning ch-3 with a sl st.  {24 dc and 24 ch-2 sps}

Round 7:  Sl st into the next ch-2 sp.  Ch 1 and make 3 sc in the same ch-2 sp.  Make 3 sc in each of the remaining 23 ch-2 sps around.  Join to the first sc with a sl st.   {72 sc}

Round 8:  Ch 1.  (Sc in the next 11 sts, make 2 sc in the next st) 6 times. Join to the first sc with a sl st.  {78 sc}

Round 9:  Ch 1.  Sc in the next 6 sts, make 2 sc in the next st. (Sc in the next 12 sts, make 2 sc in the next st) 5 times. Sc in the last 6 sts.  Join to the first sc with a sl st.  {84 sc}

Round 10:  Ch 5 {counts as first dc and ch-2}. Skip the next st. (Dc in the next st. Ch 2 and skip the next st) 41 times.  Join to the top of the beginning ch-3 with a sl st.  {42 dc and 42 ch-2 sps}

Round 11:  Sl st into the next ch-2 sp.  Ch 1 and make 3 sc in the same ch-2 sp.  Make 3 sc in each of the remaining 41 ch-2 sps around.  Join to the first sc with a sl st.   {126 sc}

Round 12:  Ch 3 {counts as first dc}.  Dc in each st around.  Join to the top of the beginning ch-3 with a sl st.  {126 dc}

Round 13: (Skip the next 2 sts.  [3 dc, ch 1, 3 dc] in the next st.  Skip the next 2 sts, sl st in the next st) 21 times.  The last sl st should fall in the top of the beginning ch-3 (which already contains a sl st).  {21 Scallops}

Round 14: Ch 5 {counts as first hdc and ch-3 sp}.  Skip the next 3 dc.  [Hdc, ch 3, hdc] in the next ch-1 sp.  Ch 3, skip the next 3 dc.  (Hdc in the dc from Round 12 that contains the next sl st from Round 13.  Skip the next 3 dc.  [Hdc, ch 3, hdc] in the next ch-1 sp.  Ch 3, skip the next 3 dc) 20 times.  Join to the second ch of the beginning ch-5 with a sl st.  Fasten off and work away your ends.  {63 hdc and 63 ch-3 sps}

Blocking

This crochet mandala needs harsh blocking to open up the lacy detail.  If you aren’t going to attach it to a hoop, I suggest blocking it.  If you ARE going to attach it to a hoop, you don’t need to block it before-hand.  Sewing it to the (larger) hoop will stretch it out and make it look neat.

Sewing Your Mandala to a Hoop

Using overhand stitches and a long length of yarn (twice the circumference of your hoop), sew your mandala to the hoop with overhand stitches, working into the ch-3 sps at the tip of each petal.

Hashtag

If you share photos, please use #railwaymandala so that I can see them :)

More Crochet Mandala Patterns

• Fancy Nancy (Free Pattern)
• Camping in Cornwall (Free Pattern for a Rug but makes a beautiful mandala with thin yarn)
• Mandala 21 (Free Pattern by John P Kelly)
• Celestial Mandala (Paid Pattern Available in Issue 9 of Yarn Bookazine)

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