Here is the first of a series of insect placemats that I’ve had in my head for a while. I had to start with the bee in tribute to my bees that we keep on our small farm. The plan is to have 8 of these all as a set so you could create all 8 or just stick to one and create multiples. You could also scale them up on a thicker yarn and larger hook and stitch together into an insect themed blanket!

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Mosaic Crochet Options

Standard overlay mosaic crochet is worked on the front side of your work only and leaves the ‘unused’ single crochets as small ridges along the back of the work. With this technique, the front and the back of your work do not look the same and there is an obvious ‘right side’. As you can see, for this pattern I’ve made it fully reversible with the negative image having been created on the back of the work. This is done using the negative stitch. It does take a bit longer than the standard technique and it also uses up more yarn. Depending on your tension, it usually also makes the piece slightly shorter and squatter. But the finished item does look very dramatic.

Any overlay mosaic pattern can be created using either the standard or the reversible technique, you just need to amend one of the stitch types slightly. I have a full written and video tutorial on this technique here.

Why not try out some projects using both and see which you prefer?

For the standard overlay mosaic technique, you can find a tutorial here.

Now on to our bee!! I’m giving you both the chart and written pattern for free here, but if you’d rather have a printer friendly pdf which includes notes, and tutorials and the written and chart patterns for both right and left handed crocheters, you can purchase it here.

Pattern Notes:

Abbreviations

Sc: Single crochet into back loop of previous row

Dc: Double crochet into front loop of the row BELOW the previous (e.g. dc in row 4 would be worked into the front loop of row 2)

MC: Main colour (white in the chart)

CC: Contrast colour (blue in the chart)

( ): Any sections of the pattern between brackets should be repeated the number of times specified after the ‘x’. E.g. (dc, 2 sc) x 2 would be “dc, 2 sc, dc, 2 sc”.

JS: Joining stitch – Pull yarn through both loops of the first stitch, pull the TAIL through the loop. Insert hook back into the loop and chain 1. Complete 1 single crochet into both loops of the same stitch.

ES: Ending stitch – Single crochet into both loops of the last stitch. Chain 1, cut yarn, pull through and tighten.

Materials and Gauge

Usually I would say this gauge is just a guide and to use whatever yarn and hook you want, however this will change the size of the finished piece, so if you are making placemats I’d stick as close to this gauge as you can.

Gauge: 10 cm x 10 cm / 4 in x 4 in = 13 dc Rows x 24 stitches

Yarn: Yarn and Colors Must-Have, 100% mercerized cotton - 2 50g balls of each colour

You can find this yarn here.

If you’d like to look for alternatives, yarnsub.com is a great website for yarn substitutions.

Hook: 2.5 mm / B-1

Final piece: Without border: cm x cm / in x in

With border: cm x cm / in x in

Start with MC. Alternate colours each round.

MC Row 1: 89 foundation single crochet (or chain 90, sc in second chain from hook and all subsequent chains)

CC Row 2: JS, 87 sc, ES

MC Row 3: JS, 42 dc, 3 sc, 42 dc, ES

CC Row 4: JS, 42 sc, 3 dc, 42 sc, ES

MC Row 5: JS, 41 dc, 5 sc, 41 dc, ES

CC Row 6: JS, 41 sc, 5 dc, 41 sc, ES

MC Row 7: JS, 38 dc, 11 sc, 38 dc, ES

CC Row 8: JS, 38 sc, 11 dc, 38 sc, ES

MC Row 9: JS, 19 dc, 2 sc, 15 dc, 15 sc, 15 dc, 2 sc, 19 dc, ES

CC Row 10: JS, 20 sc, dc, 15 sc, dc, 13 sc, dc, 15 sc, dc, 20 sc, ES

MC Row 11: JS, 20 dc, 3 sc, 11 dc, 3 sc, 13 dc, 3 sc, 11 dc, 3 sc, 20 dc, ES

CC Row 12: JS, 22 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 17 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 22 sc, ES

MC Row 13: JS, 22 dc, 4 sc, 7 dc, 2 sc, 3 dc, 11 sc, 3 dc, 2 sc, 7 dc, 4 sc, 22 dc, ES

CC Row 14: JS, 23 sc, 3 dc, 7 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 11 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 7 sc, 2 dc, 24 sc, ES

MC Row 15: JS, 23 dc, 4 sc, 5 dc, 23 sc, 5 dc, 3 sc, 24 dc, ES

CC Row 16: JS, 24 sc, 3 dc, 5 sc, 23 dc, 5 sc, 3 dc, 24 sc, ES

MC Row 17: JS, 24 dc, 4 sc, 4 dc, 23 sc, 4 dc, 4 sc, 24 dc, ES

CC Row 18: JS, 26 sc, 2 dc, 4 sc, 2 dc, 19 sc, 2 dc, 4 sc, 2 dc, 26 sc, ES

MC Row 19: JS, 26 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 19 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 26 dc, ES

CC Row 20: JS, 26 sc, 3 dc, 2 sc, 2 dc, 21 sc, 2 dc, 2 sc, 3 dc, 26 sc, ES

MC Row 21: JS, 15 dc, sc, 10 dc, 4 sc, dc, 2 sc, 21 dc, 2 sc, dc, 4 sc, 10 dc, sc, 15 dc, ES

CC Row 22: JS, 15 sc, dc, 10 sc, 4 dc, sc, 2 dc, 21 sc, 2 dc, sc, 4 dc, 10 sc, dc, 15 sc, ES

MC Row 23: JS, 15 dc, 6 sc, 5 dc, 4 sc, dc, 2 sc, dc, 19 sc, dc, 2 sc, dc, 4 sc, 5 dc, 6 sc, 15 dc, ES

CC Row 24: JS, 19 sc, 2 dc, 6 sc, 3 dc, sc, 2 dc, sc, 19 dc, sc, 2 dc, sc, 3 dc, 6 sc, 2 dc, 19 sc, ES

MC Row 25: JS, 19 dc, 4 sc, 4 dc, 3 sc, dc, 25 sc, dc, 3 sc, 4 dc, 4 sc, 19 dc, ES

CC Row 26: JS, 21 sc, 2 dc, 6 sc, dc, 2 sc, 23 dc, 2 sc, dc, 6 sc, 2 dc, 21 sc, ES

MC Row 27: JS, 21 dc, 4 sc, 4 dc, 2 sc, dc, 23 sc, dc, 2 sc, 4 dc, 4 sc, 21 dc, ES

CC Row 28: JS, 23 sc, 2 dc, 5 sc, dc, sc, 3 dc, 17 sc, 3 dc, sc, dc, 5 sc, 2 dc, 23 sc, ES

MC Row 29: JS, 23 dc, 6 sc, dc, 5 sc, 17 dc, 5 sc, dc, 6 sc, 23 dc, ES

CC Row 30: JS, 25 sc, 4 dc, 2 sc, 3 dc, 19 sc, 3 dc, 2 sc, 4 dc, 25 sc, ES

MC Row 31: JS, 25 dc, 5 sc, dc, 4 sc, 17 dc, 4 sc, dc, 5 sc, 25 dc, ES

CC Row 32: JS, 28 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 17 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 28 sc, ES

MC Row 33: JS, 14 dc, 13 sc, dc, 31 sc, dc, 13 sc, 14 dc, ES

CC Row 34: JS, 14 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 5 sc, 6 dc, sc, 9 dc, sc, 6 dc, 5 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 14 sc, ES

MC Row 35: JS, 12 dc, 4 sc, 10 dc, 5 sc, dc, 6 sc, dc, 9 sc, dc, 6 sc, dc, 5 sc, 10 dc, 4 sc, 12 dc, ES

CC Row 36: JS, 12 sc, dc, 2 sc, dc, 14 sc, dc, 3 sc, 3 dc, 2 sc, 9 dc, 2 sc, 3 dc, 3 sc, dc, 14 sc, dc, 2 sc, dc, 12 sc, ES

MC Row 37: JS, 7 dc, 6 sc, 2 dc, 10 sc, 5 dc, 7 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 7 sc, 8 dc, 7 sc, 2 dc, 7 sc, 6 dc, ES

CC Row 38: JS, 7 sc, dc, 16 sc, dc, 8 sc, 3 dc, 2 sc, 11 dc, 2 sc, 3 dc, 11 sc, dc, 14 sc, dc, 6 sc, ES

MC Row 39: JS, 4 dc, 4 sc, 16 dc, 12 sc, dc, 13 sc, dc, 3 sc, 3 dc, 9 sc, 14 dc, 3 sc, 4 dc, ES

CC Row 40: JS, 4 sc, dc, 24 sc, dc, 4 sc, 2 dc, sc, 13 dc, sc, 2 dc, 4 sc, dc, 24 sc, dc, 4 sc, ES

MC Row 41: JS, 2 dc, 3 sc, 19 dc, 6 sc, 4 dc, 28 sc, 20 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, ES

CC Row 42: JS, 2 sc, dc, 21 sc, dc, 9 sc, 19 dc, 8 sc, dc, 22 sc, dc, 2 sc, ES

MC Row 43: JS, dc, 2 sc, 8 dc, 2 sc, 4 dc, 8 sc, 3 dc, 31 sc, 2 dc, 9 sc, 4 dc, 2 sc, 8 dc, 2 sc, dc, ES

CC Row 44: JS, sc, 2 dc, 25 sc, dc, 3 sc, 3 dc, sc, 15 dc, sc, 3 dc, 3 sc, dc, 25 sc, 2 dc, sc, ES

MC Row 45: JS, dc, 2 sc, 18 dc, 8 sc, 3 dc, 3 sc, dc, 15 sc, dc, 4 sc, 2 dc, 9 sc, 17 dc, 2 sc, dc, ES

CC Row 46: JS, 2 sc, dc, 18 sc, dc, 10 sc, dc, 4 sc, dc, sc, 9 dc, sc, dc, 4 sc, 2 dc, 10 sc, dc, 17 sc, dc, 2 sc, ES

MC Row 47: JS, 2 dc, 20 sc, 8 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, dc, 9 sc, dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 9 dc, 19 sc, 2 dc, ES

CC Row 48: JS, 30 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 13 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 30 sc, ES

MC Row 49: JS, 29 dc, 3 sc, 2 dc, 19 sc, 2 dc, 3 sc, 29 dc, ES

CC Row 50: JS, 29 sc, 3 dc, 2 sc, 2 dc, sc, 13 dc, sc, 2 dc, 2 sc, 3 dc, 29 sc, ES

MC Row 51: JS, 28 dc, 4 sc, 2 dc, 2 sc, dc, 13 sc, dc, 2 sc, 2 dc, 4 sc, 28 dc, ES

CC Row 52: JS, 29 sc, dc, 5 sc, dc, 2 sc, 11 dc, 2 sc, dc, 5 sc, dc, 29 sc, ES

MC Row 53: JS, 28 dc, 2 sc, 5 dc, 2 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 2 sc, 5 dc, 2 sc, 28 dc, ES

CC Row 54: JS, 28 sc, dc, 7 sc, dc, sc, 11 dc, sc, dc, 7 sc, dc, 28 sc, ES

MC Row 55: JS, 26 dc, 3 sc, 7 dc, 15 sc, 7 dc, 3 sc, 26 dc, ES

CC Row 56: JS, 38 sc, dc, 9 sc, dc, 38 sc, ES

MC Row 57: JS, 37 dc, 2 sc, 9 dc, 2 sc, 37 dc, ES

CC Row 58: JS, 37 sc, dc, 11 sc, dc, 37 sc, ES

MC Row 59: JS, 34 dc, 4 sc, 11 dc, 4 sc, 34 dc, ES

CC Row 60: JS, 34 sc, dc, 17 sc, dc, 34 sc, ES

MC Row 61: JS, 31 dc, 4 sc, 17 dc, 4 sc, 31 dc, ES

CC Row 62: JS, 87 sc, ES

MC Row 63: JS, 87 dc, ES

I hope you enjoyed creating this pattern. I’d love to see your variations on this, so please share on Facebook or Instagram, or you can contact me via email. I also do a ‘featured maker’ in my monthly newsletter and on my socials so let me know if you’d like your work to be featured.

Happy Crocheting!

Bee Placemat

Mosaic Crochet Options

Pattern Notes:

Holly Berry