I made the ‘Water Lilly’ carpet to share its pattern with my blog readers as part of a crochet-along countdown from December 1st until the Christmas Eve. If you’re curious, you can check it out here – it’s in Polish:

Part 1: http://magiccarpetstudio.blogspot.com/2016/12/kalendarz-a...
Part 2: http://magiccarpetstudio.blogspot.com/2016/12/kalendarz-a...
Part 3: http://magiccarpetstudio.blogspot.com/2016/12/kalendarz-a...

I have been inspired by beautiful works by user “amichen99” I found on the Chinese site weibo.com. Since I was unable to find the pattern, I decided to make my own version.

This carpet measures roughly 110 cm in diameter if you use a 5 mm thick cotton string. If you use a string of smaller thickness, the dimensions will decrease, but I can’t predict by how much.

To make this carpet you will need:

• about 500 meters of undyed cotton string, 5 mm thick – it’s better to order a bit more string, just to be on the safe side,
• about 100 meters of olive cotton string, 5 mm thick
• about 300 meters of light-green cotton string, 5 mm thick
• a crochet hook 9 or 10 mm thick – in the US: size N/P,
• about 10 hours of your time :)

Of course you can use any colors you like. No matter what string you use, remember one important thing: the crochet hook needs to be twice as thick as the string! Otherwise the carpet will come out crooked. For example, if your string is 3 mm thick, the crochet hook should be 6 mm thick (in the US: size J).

I use the same kind of string they put in sweatshirts to tighten the hood. It can be washed in an ordinary washing machine. I order my string from a factory in Poland:
http://www.polimex.net/sklep/index.php?page=Product&i...
but I have no idea if they are willing to ship small quantities of string overseas.

The whole pattern takes 33 rounds but it’s very versatile - you can make a cushion or a handbag with e.g. 21 rounds.