The Mini Cactus Garden is a fun way to try the Cactus Garden mosaic crochet pattern in a small, quick project. Designed in the American southwest, inspired by the landscapes of the San Juan mountains near Durango, Colorado and the beautiful canyonlands, mountains, and mesas of the Four Corners area of the United States.

This Mini size Cactus Garden is about 23.5 by 23.5 inches, 60 by 60 cm. It makes a lovely triangle shawl when folded in half. Also perfect for a baby blanket for car seats & strollers or a pillow or cushion cover for a 24” square (61 cm) pillow form. To make a cover for a 20” (50 cm) square pillow form, use a 3.5 mm hook or smaller instead of a 5 mm hook.

This project is worked in the overlay mosaic crochet style, inspired by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir’s beautiful Havana Afghan (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/havana-afghan-cal)

Designed for dk, worsted, or aran weight yarn that works well with a 5 mm hook. Lion Brand Mandala yarn and Caron Simply Soft yarn are used in the sample. You can use any yarn you like. Use the hook size recommended on the yarn label.

Each row is worked in only one color of yarn. Odd rows are worked in Yarn A. These rows form the diamond pattern. Even rows are worked in Yarn B and form the background or main color.

Requires 450 yards (411 m) of Yarn A and 300 yards (274 m) of Yarn B.

Yarn A in the sample is Lion Brand Mandala self-striping 100% acrylic yarn in Harpie (gray-silver).

Yarn B in the sample is Caron Simply Soft yarn 100% acrylic yarn in Neon Pink.

This is an intermediate level pattern that requires chain, slip stitch, single crochet, and double crochet stitches. US terms. US and metric measurements given.

Video tutorials are available on the Pretty Peaceful channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ_v3cP2scq5SOBDRt6S8-A

Join the Facebook group for the Cactus Garden crochet-a-long, Pretty Peaceful People: https://www.facebook.com/groups/492055481562505/

For other sizes of the Cactus Garden pattern, see here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cactus-garden-blanket

Pattern copyright 2021 by Susan Kennedy. Please feel free to sell finished items made from this pattern if you give pattern design credit as “Mini Cactus Garden Pattern by Susan Kennedy of PrettyPeaceful”. Not for commercial use. Please do not share screenshots, instructions, or photos from within the pattern. Please share the link to the pattern PDF instead!

Please use #cactusgardenblanket and tag @prettypeacefulcrochet to share your creations!