Marinke Slump aka “wink” from A Creative Being has lost her battle against depression on June 26th 2015. She was only, and will forever be, 31. This devastating news crept up on us unexpected and hit us hard. The memory of that horrible phonecall will be engraved in my memory forever. Until that day I never fully grasped the meaning of ‘being depressed’. But now I do.

After the funeral I had the urge of ‘doing something’. Making something to make me happy and take my mind off things as well as healing and coping. With Marinke’s beautiful mandalas in mind, the idea of a blanket began to take form. I ordered all the yarn and spent many hours gazing at the mandalas, puzzeling which color went where. I immersed myself in her colorful mandala world, thinking about her with every stitch. It was a way of meditation, a way of therapy. With great happiness and equally great sorrow I thought of the lovely time we spent together as a family. How we could chat endlessly about this or that crochet pattern.

She introduduced me to the craft herself. Without her I probably wouldn’t have started crocheting at all. She was also the inspiration to start my own blog only last year.

It goes without saying this blanket is more than just ‘something’. I think of it as all my memories of her and our time together put into one giant crochet square, which happens to be a blanket.

I hope you love making it as much as I did.

There is now also a ravelry group available to share all of your stories and mandalas: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/winks-mandalas-blanket-croc...