The Circle of Crochet

Remember two years ago when I created a mandala in honor of crocheter Marinke and mental health awareness?  Today, I received a copy of the book, Mandalas for Marinke, by Crochet Concupiescence's Kathryn Vercillo (you can buy one here.)  And it is beautiful!  It's a rainbow collection of creativity and craft in honor of an amazing woman and an important social issue (you can see my quote on page 57.)  It's such a gift, a blessing, and I'm so honored to have participated.  There will be an exhibition in November, out in California, a wonderful way to celebrate this loving project.

My favorite part of the book is all the color illustrations--and in some of the layouts, the hundreds of mandalas are arranged in mandalas or rainbows!  It's beautiful. And inspiring.  I'm ready to go make some more mandalas (if you want to learn how, beyond a pattern in this book, a book of Marinke's mandalas was published posthumously.)  Here's just one of the shots, from the promotional page (though, I can't find my actual mandala in any of the mandala mosaics in the book.  And really, that's ok; it's not at all about me.)

Look, mine's above the lower left corner, with variegated yarn and a strong yellow round near the middle.

My Mandala

I was so excited to find my Mandala for Marinke, the donation/memorial hosted in memory of crochet artist and author Marinke aka Wink by Crochet Concupiscence,  on Pinterest today!  Click here to read the article.

It's been wonderful to see all of the beautiful and creative designs posted on the blog by organizer Kathryn Vercillo.  And I like the photos she took, much better than mine!

May the family, friends, and crochet community of Marinke be comforted.

Yarn-cation

This might be my summer of crocheting.  I have really been enjoying both making mandalas from Wink's 12-round pattern and using cotton yarn, a departure from my usual acrylic or wool.  And now I can't decide which mandala to send into the #MandalasforMarinke collection I've discussed here before.  I have the first, straightforward, rainbow-esque burst:

And the second, variegated rainbow with embedded pastel rainbow, which I experimented with today (after Sis and I ran to the craft store for more polymer clay, inspired as she was by Goo's visit):

I'm not sure which I like best, nor which I'll send along.  

My cat has made her choice.

I

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.