Leila Coaster

If you've been looking for a simple project that's quick to whip up and always useful around the home

these coasters are the perfect choice. They're great for housewarming gifts or for adding a special touch to your own space

Hey gang, Jane here. Today we're diving into the Leela Coaster. This is the smallest size from my Leela Home Decor Mandala pattern

I do have the full pattern available over in my shop with all four sizes

The coaster, a small trivet, a large trivet, and a placemat. So you can make a complete matching set that works beautifully as a gift

But today I'm going to share the Lila Coaster with you and we'll make it together

This one works up in just seven quick rounds and you can easily make a whole stack in an

evening while you unwind with your favorite movie or audio book. I'll be working with four colors today

And since we're heading into the holiday season while I'm making this, I've picked festive

shades, but it works in any home decor color. You can totally make them to suit your needs

So the colors I'll be using today are Winter White by Bernat Super Value, Tan by Red Heart with Love, Claret by Impeccable, that's Michaels, and Sphagnum, also Impeccable from Michaels

I'll also be using a 5mm crochet hook. I'll be using a pair of scissors and a darning needle to tuck my ends in as I go

So let's get started and make the Lela Coaster together. so we're going to start with a magic ring so we lay our yarn across our palm with the cut end

facing me hold it in place with your thumb and wrap it around your first two fingers

cross underneath and hold that in place with your thumb and wrap it around your three fingers

go under the first loop and over the second with your hook hook it and pull it through and twist it

onto the hook now to hold it in place we need to do a chain one so go under that strand over your

third finger and pull it through. Now I can pull out my fingers and I have my magic ring ready to

go. The first round is going to be half double crochets and we're going to do eight of them

Now in my original Lila Mandala set pattern, including the coaster, I used a single crochet

stitch here instead of a half double crochet. But I like to show you options and I have found that I

prefer the half double crochet stitch because it gives me more to hold on to and work with in that

first round. So it doesn't really make that big of a difference however you get to choose. But in

this case I'm going to be showing you how to do the half double crochet instead. So the first one

I need to do chain two to represent the half double crochet. I already have a chain one so I do one

more chain. That gives me my first half double crochet that represents it and now I need seven

more in this ring. So yarn around my hook, insert into the ring, pull up a loop, three loops on the

hook, yarn over, and pull through all three. That's my half double crochet. I have two now

I need six more and then I can join my ring. Now let's count them to see if I have enough. Best to count, I think, the little v's on top

So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and then this chain two is eight. That's how many I

wanted so I am good. So now I put the working yarn to the side and I pull up that cut end. I place my

thumb and my finger at the base of that last stitch and I pull on the cut end to cinch up my ring

Now you can cinch that as far as you want but we can cinch it again when we go to darn that in

So now we want to join our round. We can do this one of two ways. We can do a slip stitch join which

would mean we would just go into that second chain pull through a loop and pull it through on the hook

but I'm going to show you a little invisible join trick that just makes it look like you can't tell

where it joins. So the way I do that is I cut my yarn three to four inches because I'm not using

this color again right now pull it through get my darning needle and put that yarn onto my darning

needle and now we're going to imitate a stitch over top of that chain two to make it look like

it disappears. So taking your needle, don't go into the chain two, but go into the next stitch

beside it and under both loops. Pull it through and then come back and go back down where it came

out of. So into that last stitch. And I usually go down like two loops there and gently pull it

through so it looks just like the other stitches. So now you can see it looks like the other

stitches. You didn't increase any stitches because you just imitated over top of that chain two

The thing with there only being eight is it's a tight circle, but it works out as you work

your piece. Now that I've done that, I come back up into the stitch in front

back down in the stitch behind and that just gives me that extra loop for security

Then I can just go into the back loops and sometimes I have to go around a few times

I want that to be secure but it will get worked in on the next round

Once I'm happy with it I can clip the remaining amount off and then I just have to work my end

in at the back. So get that yarn onto your darning needle and let's work this center part in

I go in the same direction, so it comes out of here, so I just keep going

So then I can cinch it up a little more if I want to And I go around a few times I usually happy with that If you feel like it not going to hold you can turn around and go in the other direction So go over top of that last place

you came out of because you don't want to pull everything back out again and go in the other

direction. And when you're happy with it, you can clip it off. There's our nice little round one

and we're ready to go for round two. So round number two, I'm using this nice rich red color

and we're also going to do half double crochets. So I start with a chain two because that represents

my first half double crochet. So we're going to any one of the stitches, pull up a loop

and then I chain two and I work my yarn in as I go

we will be working two half double crochets in every stitch all the way around so we had

eight stitches on the first round we're gonna have 16 on the second round work a second half

double crochet into the same stitch that I joined into there's my first two now I'm gonna work two

in every stitch going around it's always very tight at the beginning because you have so little to work with

Sometimes if I'm not sure what the next stitch to work into, because when you did that little

invisible join and then you've darned your end in, sometimes the stitches aren't as defined

so I will say okay I've got three worked so far I need eight sections which will be 16 stitches

but eight groups so with three there I should have five left so I go back one two three four

and five that way I know I'm on track and I know what stitch to work into next so continue to work

two half double crochets into each stitch and I'll meet you at the end of this round when you

have 16 half double crochets. So there we have, we've done it eight times, so we have 16 half

double crochet. And again, we can either do that invisible join or we can just simply do a slip

stitch. So I'm going to show you that option as well if you don't like the hassle of the invisible

join. You just go up to that second chain, insert your hook, pull up a loop, pull it through, and

pull it through the one on the hook. Now I have to say when the rounds are this small sometimes it

doesn't make a difference and I will often do the slip stitch and it doesn't really show but there

are other times where it does show and that's when I use the invisible join. So we cut our yarn

again three to four inches is what I like to cut it at and then I work it in so then I don't have

any of these ends to work in later. So to work this in I go back into that chain that I slip

stitched into and then I come back up through the last stitch here. That gives me a loop-de-loop

and then I work into the back loops only and I go all the way around. I don't always go all the

way around I go most of the way and then I clip off my extra and there's round number two

so for round number three I'm going to my white this is like a winter white a little off-white

I want a single crochet in any stitch so I get to pick where I want to start and I do a standing

single crochet so I hold the yarn at the back wrap my hook around the yarn insert it into the stitch

and under the cut end and then I complete my single crochet so that eliminates that bulk at

front of the chain one that often we do with a slip stitch chain one single crochet but you can

do it either way chain one single crochet in the next stitch chain one single crochet in the next

stitch and that is all we do for this round we are literally single crocheting in every stitch

with a chain one in between. At the end of this round you'll have 16 single crochets and 16 chain

one spaces. So you can keep working that around and I'll meet you back here to join the round

When we've worked our way all the way around and we end with a chain one space

we just want to slip stitch in that first stitch that completes the round cut the yarn three to four inches and pull it through and then again

we work it in so we go down into the next stitch up through the stitch behind it

and work it through the back loops only when I'm happy with that I trim off that end trim off the end of the one I

worked in at the beginning I just trim a little bit of this off you don't have

to trim these off though because they will work their way in like don't have to trim them too short I mean they will work their way in and if they don't you

can trim them at the end. So that's our third round done and we're ready for

round four. Now we're going to use this nice deep green. The next round round

number four we going to be working double crochet sets Find any chain space that you want to work into and we going to either do a chain three to start or we can do a standing double crochet So I show you the

standing double crochet. Wrap the yarn twice around the hook. You go into the

chain space and you do not go under the cut end. You leave that to the side

Yarn over and pull up a loop holding onto that cut end so it doesn't go flying

away. Yarn over pull through two loops and yarn over pull through two. Now we bring that yarn over

and we're going to work it into the next stitch. That's our first double crochet. We go under both

the cut end and the working yarn. Go back in and work another double crochet. So there's your

standing double crochet and right next to it is a second double crochet. I want to work two more

into this same chain space for a total of four. So four double crochet in this chain space

Now we're going to skip a chain space and work into the next chain space

So taking our yarn, we're going to do four double crochets into the next chain space

So this creates a little bit like a petal. But it flares out

So there we have four in the first chain space, skip a chain space, and four in the next chain space

You're going to continue just like that. Skip a chain space, work four double crochet in the next chain space

And it's not a cluster, they're four separate double crochets. You will have eight groups of four double crochets, which is 32 double crochets

When you get to the end, you'll have worked into every second chain space, and I'll meet you back here to finish off the round

Here we are. We have worked our eight groups of four double crochets

It creates a nice little flower look on the round before it. We're ready to join our round. We can do one of two things

We can do an invisible join like I showed you, or we can just go in and slip stitch join, which I'm just going to do this time

sometimes I take the effort to do the invisible join and sometimes I just slip stitch it because

often if it's going to get worked into on the round next to it sometimes it doesn't show

let's cut our yarn pull it through and work our end in

there we have round number four we can move on to round number five round number five is all

single crochets with some chain ones in between so a nice simple round. Starting

at the beginning of any one of these groups work into the first double

crochet stitch work a single crochet. Single crochet into the next stitch and now chain one

Single crochet into each of the next two stitches and chain one

And that's what you're going to do all the way around. So you're working into every single stitch

but after every two, you do a chain stitch. So you'll have one, two, chain, one, two, chain

Then we work into the next two stitches, so you're not skipping any stitches

but you are adding a chain stitch in between every second stitch

so that's a pretty simple round just keep doing that single crochet in each of the next two chain

one all the way around. I will meet you back here at the end and we'll finish off this round

So I've worked my way all the way around and then I ended with a chain one. So all I want

to do now is slip stitch in that first single crochet and then cut my yarn

I will have 32 single crochets and 16 chain one spaces because it's for every two right so you

have half the number of chain spaces but you still have the full number of single crochets

so I'm going to work that piece in and I'll meet you on the next round round six and round seven

will both be done in the same color. I'm using this nice red that I used here and this is the

fun part because it gives you the nice frilly edge. So we're going to start with a what would

be a half double crochet. So I do a chain two to represent the half double crochet. I don't really

do standing half double crochets. I find they're a little tricky so I just stick with the chain two

Work into any one of the chain spaces. Doesn't matter where you start. Pull up your yarn and then

do a chain two. So this represents your first half double crochet. But now we want chain four

So you need to chain four more So really it would say to start chain six right The first two is your half double crochet and then the next four is the regular chain four space you going to be making ultimately you will have a chain six then we move to the next chain space so you skipping over these two

stitches and you're working a half double crochet into that chain space

so that's what we've got and then we chain four one two three and four working my yarn in as I go

and then we skip the next two stitches and work a half double crochet in the next chain space and

that's it that's all you're doing half double crochet chain four all the way around let's do

one more skip these two stitches half double crochet in the next chain space so only working

in those chain spaces and chain four so continue to work all the way around and I will meet you

back here at the end of a chain four to join our round but do not cut your yarn because we'll be

using it again I'll see you there so we've worked all the way around we have 16 half double crochet

and 16 chain 4 spaces. I'm going to slip stitch in the second chain of this beginning chain right

here because that would be considered the top of the half double crochet. And that completes the

round but I am not cutting my yarn because we are continuing on. So for the next round, round number

seven, it's all single crochets. So we are going to work five single crochets into each of these

chain four spaces and there's not going to be any chain spaces in between we're just going right

from one to the next so just starting here no chain nothing just straight into that chain four

and work your first single crochet and now we want five total in there that's three four and five

So I've worked five single crochet into the chain four. I move to the next chain four

and I work five in there as well. So that's what you're going to do all the way around. Five single crochet right into each of

these chain four spaces all the way around and I'll meet you back here to finish off the piece

All right we've done five in every one of these spaces all the way around. It creates this nice

scalloped look. We're going to end with a slip stitch just a basic slip stitch. We have our five

here. Work into that first single crochet and slip stitch it in place. It won't really show

I find but your option is you could do the invisible as well. So pulling my yarn through

I'm going to work this last end in. So normally I work it into the back loops only but because

this is going to be a standalone coaster I don't want it on that outer edge. So I take

the yarn and I take it down into the next stitch and I still come back up in the stitch behind

but then I go down again. So that is where I ended and now I have it. I flipped the piece over

and what I want to do is work it into this solid part of the stitch at the back. It's much better

hidden here because this edge I want to keep it neat and tidy and it's going to show. So instead

I just keep working it into the backs of the actual single crochet post part of the stitches

and I'll go a little ways like that and then I might even turn around just to secure it

because this is a piece that will probably get used a lot being a coaster and possibly also

washed a lot so I try to get that in as securely and as hidden as possible so when I'm happy with

it. I'll just trim off the rest. Usually I don't have anything to trim off there because I really

work that end in and then flip it back to the right side. And there we have our coaster. So

you can block this a little just to get the scallops even all the way around. Sometimes that

helps because it does have a mind of its own. And just like that, your little coaster is all

finished. I did say it goes up quickly, right? I've made these just hours before heading out

to a last minute gathering. There's such an easy house gift and that's such a crochet thing to

do. They're fun to make and perfect for using up those leftover bits of yarn. Thanks so much for

spending this time with me and if you love color play as much as I do, come over and join me in my

Patreon. It's a fun chatty community where we all share ideas, swap color inspiration, and explore

new combinations together. I'm over there all the time sharing what's on my hook every week

extra color tips, alternative colorways for my patterns, and all the yarn details to spark your

next project. Enjoy, happy crocheting, and I'll see you in the next tutorial