Dearest Debi Crochet Mandala for Marink

Earlier in the year we lost a creative crochet designer named Marinke aka Wink from A Creative Being to depression. I have since been noticing that people have been creating Mandalas for Marinke using the hashtag #MandalasforMarinke and thought I would jump on board, this would be a way for me to get back to doing what I love after dealing with depression myself.

If you have been following me since I first started this blog you may have noticed that in the last year I haven’t really been blogging. I was blogging one pattern a week last year until the depression hit me. My world turned upside down. Someone had been stealing from me for years and I had no idea until something very important was stolen and can never be replaced to then come online to see that people were stealing my work and offering it free. It really hurt to know that people would steal from me, knowing I offer over half of my work for free, the views on this blog are how I pay to offer patterns free. I broke down and decided to take the time to focus on me, my life, my kids. Crochet became a hobby and my blog got put on the back burner.

I didn’t know of Marinke or her work before she lost her battle to depression but I was really saddened by the news for I, myself was working so hard on my own depression it made me sad to see someone lose the battle. I have worked really hard on myself over the last year and I have come a long way, I am in a much better place and am now looking forward getting back to crochet and my blog.

To start I would like to offer this Mandala for Marinke free to celebrate her life and creativity as well as to raise awareness about depression. There are some different bloggers that have awareness projects you can learn more about HERE. I hope that I will be the only one offering this pattern free and also I would like to say that as a person dealing with depression that you take care when leaving comments for bloggers, some of us do this as a way to deal with our depression, there is another person on the other end reading your comment and they have feelings.

For the love of crochet, share LINKS, not patterns!

Note: This post was prepared before I even made the mandala. As I write this note now, I am done with my mandala and waiting for my testers to get back to me so I can publish this pattern.

It all started with an idea. When I first made my Love Flower Field Square the hearts I worked in the round and really liked it but I couldn’t make the square small enough to fit 6 inches so I frogged my work and squared it off. I thought that I would reattempt working the hearts in the round and would make a Mandala in memory of Wink but couldn’t remember what I did so I changed it up a little and then decided to try to add butterflies. I cannot believe that I got them right the first time! Not anything like I had planned but even better than I imagined.

I am so happy that I took the opportunity to make this mandala, I’ve really enjoyed making them, so much so I’m making a 3rd while I wait to publish this pattern. I hope that you too can find the same joy I had hooking these beautiful crochet mandalas in memory of Wink. ♥︎ Debi

Dearest Debi Crochet Mandala for Marinke Pattern Notes..

DIFFICULTY RATING

COMPETENT

Click HERE for pattern difficulty ratings.

Yarn: #4 worsted weight such as Caron Simply Soft/Bernat Satin /Red Heart Shimmer (discontinued)

The larger mandala (White Edging) I used a combination of all three above suggested yarns.

The smaller mandala (Blue Edging) I used Red Heart Shimmer.

Hook: US H8/5.00mm

Size: Approximately 12-13 inches

Special Stitches:

b-st (Ball Stitch) – yo, insert hook into next st, yo, draw up a loop, (yo, insert hook into same st, yo, draw up a loop) 3 times, yo, draw up through all 9 loops on hook.

– yo, insert hook into next st, yo, draw up a loop, (yo, insert hook into same st, yo, draw up a loop) 3 times, yo, draw up through all 9 loops on hook. dc-pop-st – 4 dc in same st, on last stitch draw up a 1” loop, remove hook, insert hook into beg dc, attach loop onto hook and draw up a loop.

– 4 dc in same st, on last stitch draw up a 1” loop, remove hook, insert hook into beg dc, attach loop onto hook and draw up a loop. hdc-pop-st – 4 hdc in same st, on last stitch draw up a 1” loop, remove hook, insert hook into beg hdc, attach loop onto hook and draw up a loop.

– 4 hdc in same st, on last stitch draw up a 1” loop, remove hook, insert hook into beg hdc, attach loop onto hook and draw up a loop. Picot – (sc, ch3, sc) in same stitch.

– (sc, ch3, sc) in same stitch. Invisible Join

Butterflies..

Dearest Debi Crochet Mandala for Marinke Pattern..

Have you made your own Dearest Debi Crochet Mandala for Marinke? Please share your pictures on my Facebook WALL or ‘hook up‘ your project on Ravelry.

~Happy Hooking~