Amy from Pennsylvania sent in one large crochet mandala and three mini mandalas, each beautifully embroidered with an “XO” for Wink, which is such a special small touch. Amy is a knitter and crocheter “who was an Internet friend and follower of Wink and her amazing talent”. She shares,
“I was always inspired by Marinke’s love of color and yarn. She would often share stories on her blog about trips she had made to local yarn events or stores, as well as sharing yarns from her sponsor. She loved the feel of yarn andĀ particularly loved yarn with different textures and multiple colors.”
She adds,
“I wanted to contribute to this project as a testimony to my friend Marinke and to create something lasting to remember her in a way that represents her amazing talent, her lovely of color, and her ability to bring the crochet community together.”
And she shares this message specifically for Wink’s family,
“Marinke and I were Internet friends. We shared a love of color and crafting. We talked about going to Vogue Knitting Live in New York, and I hoped that one day I would meet her there. We never had a chance to meet but we had a real friendship. I miss her and think of her often. The mandalas I made for this project were made with the colors I love and I hope that they bring joy to others as Marinke brought joy to my life in her enthusiasm for craft and love of color. Thank you for being so open with the crochet community about your loss. I hope that the love that others show by making these mandalas will be a comfort to you.”
I really appreciate that Amy added this line about how grateful we are that her family shared the news about Wink, something that must have been very hard for them to do. There is no protocol, yet, for sharing tragic news like this through blogs and social media. Everyone has to make their own choices about when and how to do this when they experience the loss of someone, how to say to the online world that they are experience grief and how to let the lost ones’ online community know about the loss. In the case of someone like Marinke, who touched so many lives through the Internet, it would have been confusing/ worrying for many of us to just suddenly stop hearing from her and not know what happened. Although the news was so difficult for many of us to read, especially as it unexpectedly popped up in our feed readers, I think it was so important that we got the news so that we could be aware of what happened and process how that impacted us, whether we knew her or not. I, too, am grateful for her family that they shared what happened and I hope that they did so in the way that was best for them.
Since Wink’s death, I have thought about (but not yet acted upon) creating a “social media plan” in case of my death. I don’t have a will at this stage of my life, but when I start working on something, I want to include some kind of plan for letting people in the online world know whatever happens to me. It’s an odd thing to think about, but it’s even odder to think about my online identity just floating around out there unfinished somehow in the case of my passing. It’s a complicated, strange thing.
Thank you Amy for your kind words and for sharing your memories of Wink. Yes, she was bright and colourful and all the lovely mandala’s made in her honour are a great comfort to usee as her family. It is good to see how many lives she has touched just by being her self and to be a sharing creative being. It is heartbreaking that she could not see this herself the last few weeks of her live. Depression is a very nasty disease š
Keep her memory alive by crocheting with as much colour as you can! ā”