Welcome back to another Crochet Crush of the Month, the little corner of Intwined where common sense quietly leaves the room, my existing pile of unfinished projects is conveniently forgotten, and I fall completely and hopelessly in love with something made from yarn.
And this month?
Oh, this one feels as though it was made for me.
There are patterns you admire because they are clever.
There are patterns you save because you think that perhaps, one day, you might make them.
And then there are patterns that make you stop scrolling, stare at the screen and immediately begin imagining which colours you would choose.
The Lunar Tree of Life Mosaic Crochet Blanket by Carri Carey of Nerd Princess Designs is very firmly in that final category.
Because this isn't simply a blanket.
It feels like a story.

A great tree stretches its branches across the centre, its roots reaching downwards while its limbs curl and twist towards the sky.
Around it sweeps the moon.
And suddenly yarn and stitches become something that feels almost ancient.
Earth and sky.
Roots and branches.
Darkness and light.
The moon watching silently above it all.
There is something wonderfully magical about the Tree of Life.
It appears in stories, mythology, religions and cultures stretching back through centuries, but I think part of its beauty lies in the fact that we can each see something slightly different within its branches.

For me, a tree has always felt like a wonderful symbol of family.
We talk about our family trees, after all.
Roots disappearing into soil we cannot see, rather like the generations who walked this earth before us.
A trunk standing in the present.
And branches reaching towards a future that hasn't happened yet.
Generation after generation.
Life after life.
Story after story.
All connected.
Perhaps that is why this particular blanket caught my attention so completely.

As somebody who can happily disappear down a family history rabbit hole for hours, there is something rather lovely about the thought of crocheting a Tree of Life.
Stitching roots while thinking about where we came from.
Watching branches slowly appear while wondering where the generations that follow us might go.
And creating something that, perhaps one day, might itself be passed down.
A blanket becoming part of the family tree it depicts.
There is something rather beautiful about that.
But then Carri Carey added the moon.
And apparently my resistance didn't stand a chance.

The Lunar Tree of Life is an overlay mosaic crochet design, meaning that rather than simply changing colours to create stripes or blocks, the stitches themselves gradually reveal the picture.
Row after row, the image begins to emerge.
A curve appears.
Then a branch.
Then another tiny piece of the picture.
Until eventually something that began as two balls of yarn has transformed into a piece of textile art.
I think that must be one of the most satisfying things about mosaic crochet.
You don't simply make the blanket.
You slowly uncover it.
Almost as though the picture had been hiding inside the yarn all along and your crochet hook simply knew how to find it.
And despite how wonderfully complicated the finished blanket looks, the designer explains that the pattern creates its textured fabric using just two basic stitches.
That feels almost like crochet witchcraft to me.
The pattern itself contains both a full chart and written instructions, so whether your brain prefers following symbols or words, there is something to guide you.

There are also step by step tutorials with photographs and links to videos, along with tips and tricks aimed particularly at people who are new to mosaic crochet.
Which makes this even more tempting.
Because there is nothing quite like looking at an incredibly intricate crochet pattern, deciding it is far beyond your abilities, and then discovering that the designer has apparently anticipated your panic and provided photographs and videos to hold your hand through it.
Suddenly the impossible starts whispering...
Go on.
You could probably do this.
And that is usually how another project finds its way into my life.
The design itself is worked over 225 stitches and 225 rows.
If you choose DK yarn with a 4mm crochet hook, the designer gives a finished size of approximately 56 inches by 50 inches.
For this version, the pattern information recommends approximately 2,300 yards of your background colour and 1,850 yards of your design colour.
If you want to make the reversible version, the quantities increase to approximately 2,650 yards of each colour.
Or, if subtlety simply isn't your thing and you would rather create a glorious great statement blanket, you can use worsted weight yarn with a 5mm hook.
That version finishes at approximately 75 inches by 64 inches.
For the standard worsted weight version, the designer recommends approximately 2,850 yards for the background and 2,300 yards for the design.
For the reversible version, you are looking at approximately 3,300 yards of each colour.

Imagine a midnight blue background with a silvery grey tree and moon, as though the whole design had been caught beneath moonlight.
Or deep forest green against warm cream.
Charcoal and gold.
Dusky purple and soft lavender.
Black against copper.
A deep burgundy background with an antique gold tree could make it feel like an old tapestry discovered in some forgotten castle.
You could choose natural woodland colours, with mossy greens and earthy browns.
Or abandon reality entirely and make the tree something that could only grow in dreams.
Turquoise against navy.
Rose gold against plum.
Silver against black.
The wonderful thing about a two colour design is that those two colours have an entire conversation with one another.
Change them, and somehow the personality of the whole blanket changes too.
And perhaps that is part of what I love about crochet.
We can all begin with exactly the same pattern and somehow none of us will make exactly the same thing.
Our yarn choices change it.
Our tension changes it.
Our hands change it.
And eventually our lives become stitched into it too.
Because blankets remember things.
Not literally, of course.

But I think anybody who makes them understands what I mean.
You remember the television series you watched while making one.
The audiobook that carried you through another.
The winter evenings when it slowly became large enough to cover your knees as you worked.
The conversation you were having when you realised you had made a mistake.
The places you took it.
The months of your life that quietly passed while it grew.
That time becomes part of the finished piece.
And somehow that feels particularly appropriate for a Tree of Life.
A blanket about roots, branches, connection and time slowly gathering a little of your own life between its stitches.
I love that.

A Little More About The Pattern
The Lunar Tree of Life Mosaic Crochet Blanket was designed by Carri Carey and is published through Nerd Princess Designs.
It was first published in August 2025 and is an overlay mosaic crochet pattern.
The pattern is written in English using US crochet terminology.
It contains a full crochet chart alongside written instructions, as well as step by step tutorials with photographs, links to video tutorials and additional tips intended to help people who may be relatively new to mosaic crochet.
The pattern is worked over 225 stitches and 225 rows.
The designer gives options for making it using either DK or worsted weight yarn.
Using DK yarn and a 4mm crochet hook gives a finished blanket of approximately 56 inches by 50 inches.
The DK version requires approximately 2,300 yards of the background colour and 1,850 yards of the design colour. If making the reversible version, approximately 2,650 yards of each colour is recommended.
Using worsted weight yarn with a 5mm hook produces a much larger blanket of approximately 75 inches by 64 inches.
For that version, approximately 2,850 yards of background yarn and 2,300 yards of design yarn are recommended, increasing to approximately 3,300 yards of each colour if you decide to make the reversible version.
The pattern is for the blanket only. You are purchasing the instructions to crochet it yourself rather than a finished blanket.
At the time I found it, the pattern was listed on Ravelry for $12 USD, although prices can naturally change, so please check the current listing before purchasing.

Where To Find The Pattern
The full name of the pattern is Lunar Tree of Life Mosaic Crochet Blanket.
The designer is Carri Carey of Nerd Princess Designs.
I originally discovered it through Ravelry, where it is available as a digital download through the Nerd Princess Designs Ravelry Store.
If you are searching for it yourself, using the designer's name as well as the pattern title should help make sure you have found the correct one.
It can also be found through the Nerd Princess Designs website.

A Little Note Before You Buy
After writing about AI crochet patterns recently, I think this is something I am going to continue mentioning whenever I feature a pattern I haven't personally made.
I have purchased but not yet crocheted the Lunar Tree of Life pattern myself, so this is a Crochet Crush rather than a personal pattern review.
That distinction matters.
I can tell you why I have fallen in love with the design and I can share the information supplied by the designer, but I cannot personally tell you what it is like to follow every row of the pattern from beginning to end.
There are so many AI generated crochet images and questionable patterns circulating online now that I think we crocheters have become understandably cautious when we see something extraordinarily beautiful.
However, there are some reassuring differences with this pattern.
The Ravelry listing names the designer as Carri Carey and links the pattern to the Nerd Princess Designs Ravelry Store. The listing also shows completed Ravelry projects made from the pattern, rather than simply presenting a single beautiful promotional photograph.
The designer also has many other crochet designs listed through Ravelry, and the Lunar Tree of Life is available through the Nerd Princess Designs website as well.
None of that replaces personally purchasing and testing the pattern, of course, and I will never tell you that I have verified something that I haven't.
But I am much happier when I can follow a pattern back to a named designer and see other crocheters actually making it.
And perhaps one day there will be another project added to that list.
Mine.
Because this one has got me.
Completely.

There is something about that ancient tree stretching its branches beneath the moon that keeps drawing me back.
Perhaps it is because trees remind me that everything has a beginning.
Every branch began somewhere.
Every leaf is connected to something older than itself.
Every family has roots disappearing backwards into lives and stories we may never completely know.
And crochet isn't so very different.
Every enormous blanket begins with one tiny loop of yarn.
Then comes another.
And another.
A row.
A picture.
A story.
Until eventually something exists that wasn't there before.
Something made slowly.
Something made by hand.
Something that might remain long after the final stitch has been fastened off.
Perhaps even something that will pass from one generation to another.
And for a blanket bearing the Tree of Life, I cannot imagine anything more perfect than that.
So yes.
The Lunar Tree of Life has officially become this month's Crochet Crush.
And my yarn stash has just developed a rather nervous look.
Until next time, 
Toodle pip,
Yours, Lainey.

🪾🌳🪾