Today’s crochet contribution to the Mandalas for Marinke project comes to us from Kathryn in Kent, UK. This was the first crochet mandala she ever made, which has been true for a number of the people contributing to the project. I love this because it means that Wink continues to encourage people to try new things in the craft even though she’s no longer with us.
Kathryn who blogs at Knotty Biscuits, wrote,
“Depression and mental health problems are killers. I hope the mandalas in this project raise awareness and celebrate Wink’s life as she would have appreciated.”
In her own post about making this mandala, she writes:
“This mandala symbolises many things. For the wider crochet community, it is a contribution to the amazing talent of a wonderfully creative woman. It’s also a small piece in a global collaboration, ignoring many boundaries, geographically, ethnic, philosophical and more. It helps to raise the profile of mental illnesses and the impact they can have of the lives of suffers. More personally, it represents a new creative outlet for me and a way to further combine my love of crochet with my need to de-stress and meditate. And in this busy and stressful world, who doesn’t need something like that?”
I also wanted to share a more recent post that she wrote about crocheting woolly boobs for use as teaching aids when explaining breastfeeding. She shared,
“Sometimes, when one finds oneself a tad stressed, crochet is not just a hobby but one of the few ways of completely grounding myself and emptying my mind. So when my mind was full of midwifery, what else could I crochet but a woolly boob!”
The post also includes a free crochet breast pattern.
And finally I wanted to point you to her KnottyLove crochet work. She explains,
“Sometimes the world can be a daunting and unwelcoming place. For many, self doubt and worry as well as more serious depression and anxiety are a daily battle. Even those who consider themselves happy-natured have off days. During times of sadness, doubt and general malaise, little things can make all the difference. This is where #knottylove comes in.”
She leaves notes of encouragement attached to little crochet hearts in random places that she encounters throughout her daily life, as a way to reach strangers who might need a little bit of unexpected encouragement. I’d like to add that creating random acts of kindness like this is not only good for the people who find those little gifts but has also been shown to reduce depression in the maker.
