Today’s fabulous contribution to Mandalas for Marinke comes from the beautiful Annelie in Sweden.
The four smallest crochet mandalas are made using a pattern by Caitlin Sainio that can be found in the book 75 Lace Crochet Motifs
The largest thread crochet mandala and the smallest yarn crochet mandala are made using Wink’s crochet mandala pattern from Issue 15 of Simply Crochet.
The mid-sized yarn crochet mandala is made using the crochet mandala pattern by Barbara of Made in K-town; it’s called the Little Spring Mandala.
Finally, the large crochet mandala is made using Wink’s standard 12-round crochet mandala pattern.
Annelie writes:
“I wanted to contribute to this project because I love to crochet and it is one of the things that helps me get through tough days. And I felt that I can finally do something that feels meaningful, that what I make will help someone (other than myself).
I am also living with depression and other mental health problems since more than 20 years now. I am still alive and that feels like “just luck” sometimes, because I could have been dead as well, after several of my own suicide attempts.
It is so important spreading the word and information about depression / suicide, that people and society finally start to talk about it and recognize it for what it truly is and not keep hiding it, like “hush, hush, we don’t talk about that stuff”.
I realized so many times that depression has no limits to who is affected by it. You can be poor or rich, “successful” or homeless, have work or not, be alone or not, anywhere in the world. It can HIT anyone.
Any why is it “ok” to talk about someone that died from say a heart attack or cancer but it’s not okay to discuss that someone died from depression. Depression is no more of a “choice” than any other illness. The stigma of it makes it even harder.
But we CAN help change that. We, together, are powerful. We can help raise awareness of depression, and many other health problems/ illnesses. Knowledge about it and talking about it restores our power. If we hide it, everyone loses.
Kindness, compassion, talking about it, spreading knowledge … this is what helps us all in the long run.
I have been so inspired by Marinke and her work for a long time. I love her use of colors. Her patterns are so well written, such high quality and always an inspiration. I love that she was so open with her struggles and story and didn’t “hide”; this also inspired me so much when living with a tough story / life myself.
I so wish that this would never happen to anyone again – in the perfect world.
I am also living with grief from a friend who died from suicide. There are so many people lost. I sometimes wonder why it happens that I’m still here. But I am here still, and I hope that my contribution will help someone somewhere somehow. It has already helped me, to focus on something I like to do, to help me get through the tough times.
Visit Annelie at her blog, CatAnne’s Crafty Place, and on Instagram @anneliekatt.
