Last year's work, Mandala 2020, was about grief, despair, resolution as treasured people in my life left and the pandemic raged across the globe, nation, state and community. We are still in the throes of COVID-19; some restrictions have lifted, the vaccine makes us braver and we feel lighter and more "normal". As always, time has eased the bright personal grief into a grayer, poignant memory, and the massive national and global grief of lives lost to this disease is simply becoming a new normal.
Like the pattern of this work, life today is about Transformation and Hope. The last year of reflection, consideration, meditation, exploration and resolution resulted in a shift in me, in my outlook on life, my understanding of myself, my willingness to pause and consider, breathe in and begin the arduous chipping free of the chrysalis built around me. Us.
How can I not be anything but different? How can I not be in the midst of a metamorphosis, a change in my being, a transformation? The world is different. My family is different. My friends are different. Work is different. Our lifestyle has shifted and is different. The way I get food, clothes, basics is different.
Like last year, this pattern is not my own. It is called Sacred Space CAL copyrighted by Helen Shrimpton of crystalsandcrochet.com. I followed her recommendation on the yarn - Stylecraft Life DK at 75% acrylic, 25% wool - and am very glad I did so. It is beautiful, perhaps the nicest I have used for many years. Thank you, Helen, for sharing your experience and craft freely and generously.