My Mandala for Wink and Friends

I had never made a crocheted mandala.  I had never heard of Wink.  I didn't know there was a tight-knit online crochet community.

That has changed.

Earlier this week, friends recommended I take a look at Lucy at Attic24, who does a lot of bright and rainbow arts and crafts projects.  So I followed her on FB.  And she soon posted about the loss of crochet artist and author Marinke Slump a.k.a Wink, who had succumbed to severe depression.  Wink, who blogged at A Creative Being, had been very straightforward about her mental health issues and how she used crochet to stay in the light.  I went looking for her blog and found her little sister's touching post.  And all of her beautiful crocheted mandalas!  So colorful, so intricate.  I found Kathryn Vercillo of Crochet Concupiscence who had published a book, Crochet Saved My Life, including an interview with Wink.   Two separate memorials were started--#MandalasforWink and #MandalasforMarinke.  I was sad for Wink and her struggles, for her family and friends and their grief, and for the crochet community and their loss.  I was touched by the beauty of Wink's art.

And so out of the darkness and sadness of others, I started my first crocheted mandala as a way to honor Wink and acknowledge the grief of her community, a way for something good and beautiful albeit small to arise from it like a lotus out of mud.   I'll admit that it isn't one of Wink's patterns, which are beautiful.  I wanted something easy (I only later found Wink's basic 12-round mandala.)  I found a Granny Mandala--"grandala!"--by "Crochet with Raymond" (really a blog by a lesbi@n hooker and her Siamese cat.)  And so this with a package of Lion Brand pastel "poppers" that I had on hand, I made a straightforward crocheted mandala--pink, peach, lemon, lime, blue, lavender, white.  Lovely.

Now I'm stiffening it, to hang in the window.  I plan to make a second one to donate to the memorial, now that I've gotten more of the hang of it.  Instead of liquid starch, hairspray, or a sugar solution, I'm using an equal mixture of white glue and water.  I hope it works.  It's drying right now.

And it will be a lovely reminder of love, art, light, and life.

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I followed Crochet with Raymond's pattern, using thing #2 Lion Brand pastel "poppers" yarn and an H hook.