The working title for this mandala was “Ode to Amy” mandala. I “met” Amy (@what.amy.made) on Instagram and immediately her colour choices really appealed to me. Her witty captions gave me a chuckle here and there and made my heart warm up for this person in the virtual world.
I decided to ask her if she wanted to test the Bright Star mandala pattern for me and even though she wasn’t an experienced tester she wanted to give it a go! She made a beautiful mandala and gave me elaborate and really helpful feedback.
Since then she’s the first person I approach when I need testers. She lives in the Netherlands, which is really practical time-zone-wise, and is a native English speaker as she was born in South Africa. As I write all my patterns in English and am not a native speaker, I really need that support.
#Crochetcommunity
I think it’s pretty special that there is such a thing as a crochet community. It honestly felt like coming home in a warm bath.
Many people look down on the “socials”. Virtual relationships aren’t real, they say. There is still some taboo with making friends online.
It appears that crochet is a real binding factor. We share the same passion for designs, hooks and yarn. (YARN!) And behind those accounts are real people. Real people, with real families, real struggles, going through the same pandemic as you are.
(Through my other Instagram account lalaloveyou_lila, I met three women in real life by the way. One when we were both on holiday in Sardinia!)
Ode to friendship
I didn’t want to embarrass Amy too much ;), so I decided to change the name to the Ode to Friendship mandala.
Any friendship, virtual or real, is valuable. During the pandemic we missed our friends in real life and I enjoy it so much to seen them again.
“Good friends are vitally important to your mental health and to the quality of your life. To live and to love are inseparable from each other. Friendship is an opportunity to love, to learn about yourself, to mature as a human being, and to open up to the full experience of life.” –Shirley Vandersteen
Amen to that!
Beginner friendly
The crochet pattern is beginner friendly and it works up rather quickly. I wanted it to be an easy mandala you can make in a day (or two ;)) and give away the other day. And it does make an awesome present! Choose your friends favourite colours to make it even more personal!
I used fingering weight yarn, Hobbii Rainbow (8/4 50g/170m) in five different colours, but of course you are free to play around! I used a 35cm metal ring and a 3mm crochet hook.
