Mandalas for Wink

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of a great contributor to the crochet world. Wink from A Creative Being has recently succumbed to depression, the illness that she has battled with a crochet hook and other tools for some time. Wink wrote about her experiences with depression in Kathryn Vercillo’s amazing book Crochet Saved My Life. As Kathryn said on her blog after Wink’s death:

“Crochet saved my own life and the lives of many people I know. In the end, crochet couldn’t save Wink’s life forever. That’s tragic. But I know from our many online interactions that it did improve her life in many, many ways. It brought joy and creative expression to her world and to the many worlds that she touched through her work. Crochet is not a cure all and it can’t fix things but it does help us heal. I want people to know this.”

In honour of Wink (real name Marinke Slump) and to raise awareness of depression, Kathryn has started a collaborative project, #MandalasforMarinke. Wink was probably most well known for her mandala projects and so a collection of mandalas is a fitting memorial, not only for this reason, but because of the spiritual and healing properties mandalas are said to embody, as well as the meditative quality of the making of the mandala.

[Above: A selection of Wink's beautiful mandalas, © wink, a creative being]

Kathryn invites anyone to make a contribution by crocheting a mandala from one of Wink’s patterns. Please take a trip over to her website to learn more and contribute to the project. You can tweet about your projects and memories of Wink using the hashtag #MandalasforMarinke or #MandalasforWink. We will be contributing our own mandalas in Wink’s memory and to honour the way she inspired us and many of our readers, and we hope that she is finally at peace.