Woolly Hugs. A Blanket for lovely JungleZgok whose wonderful teenage son has died.

[KnottyAndPistey]

You may have heard the dreadfully sad news that JungleZgok’s wonderful 18 year old son recently died very suddenly. Mental ill health can be such a devastating illness. Bless his heart. Life has been very cruel to them all. We send JungleZgok, her DH and their daughters our love and are so sorry. They are all in our thoughts.

We are so glad that she has accepted our offer of a Woolly Hug, we hope it may give whatever comfort it can. There will be love crafted into every stitch. JungleZgok’s original thread is here…

So we are now asking for help once again.
We shall need crafters and donors of funds and wool, can you help us? We’d be so grateful. Thank you so much.

Important crafting info, please do read
Squares to be six inches, using 4mm needles or hook. Please knot off VERY carefully when finishing or changing colour and sew your ends in, thank you! No blocking please, makes it much easier to join squares.

Simple or complex, made by beginner or expert, we genuinely welcome them all. It really is the love and thought that counts.

Ideas from lovely Jungle
His favourite colour was purple and he liked flowers (in particular the Bird of Paradise, pic in OP). He loved DIIV the band, sunsets and all types of music too. (DIIV is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York City.)

The Colours
Purples, his favourite, we plan to join and edge in purple too.
All blues from night sky through to pale blue
Greens, woodland shades
yellows, oranges, pinks, red (sunset shades)

The Yarn we will be Using….
Debbie Bliss Rialto DK ( Is on sale and can only be bought from Love Crafts)
Drops Merino Extra Fine DK, try Wool Warehouse here..
King Cole Luxury Merino DK on sale and at Love Crafts too.
Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK Currently on sale on at Black Sheep Wools
Patons Merino Extrafine DK Currently on sale at Lady Sew and Sew Knits

Just from the brands listed please because we know they combine for wash and wear. If you still have any of our wools that have been discontinued or difficult to source - Artesano Superwash Merino DK, Katia Merino 100% DK, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK, Jenny Watson Pure Merino DK or James C. Brett Pure Merino DK in your stash, please do use them.

When posting, it will be the Teddington address, please make sure you add your name and who the squares are for, and if you would like to include a card for JungleZgok and her family, please do, we will pass it on.

We know that some schools in the UK are already on summer break, and others are imminently doing likewise, so plan to stretch the last posting date to Saturday 10th September to give everyone a chance.

Thank you so much lovely Woolly crew.
Remembering their wonderful son.

longtompot - I had to smile at the thought of a woolly thug !!
Great to see so many new and old faces already on board for Jungle . 💐

Thank you for the FB heads up!
I would definitely like to donate 2-3 balls of wool.
I have a question re. the greens - I know you said woodland shades, but would a teal be ok? I know it's not about me, but teal and purple makes a beautiful combination IMO - but of course I'll bow to your judgement.
I followed JungleZgok's thread when it happened - so very sad for them all - glad that they've accepted the offer of a woolly hug.

Typos are the bain of my life, obviously my last post should have read Black Sheep Wools. Although, a woolly thug from Black Sheep Woods does sound amazing

I’m a regular namechanger who has contributed to a few blankets, I agree it’s nice to see old and new names. I just wish I could knit!

I would like to donate some funds to this please .

I would like to donate; such a heartbreaking loss💔 I followed the thread and want to help out in the only way I can x

thanks lovely, will be along with a crafter, teal would be fab, thank you xxx

Morning beautiful ones

Thank you so so much @hetty74 and @madmumofteens this is incredibly kind, bless your hearts, I shall away to PM you, THANK YOU!

Is everyone ok for yarn? Does anyone need?

Can't knit but would love to donate in some way. Such a heartbreaking thread. Just let me know what I can do x

Talentless but I'd like to send yarn if someone needs it.

Thank you. I have made my payment so that someone can receive wool for the blanket. Thank you to whoever received the wool on my behalf.

I have ordered yarn and it will be there tomorrow or the day after.
Thanks to you lovely crafters for taking the time to make the blanket.
Someone on JungleZgok's original thread said that something similar had happened to their family member and that he had stayed with them as long as he could - this really resonated. In the end I guess we must simply preserve and enjoy our memories of our loved ones and be glad that we have shared the time with them that we have. Precious boy.

Morning. Just checking in. Thanks everyone. A huge thank you to offers of donations. We will gladly accept everything. Just need to get some addresses. Hope back later.

We are friends with a mum whose son received donated organs. He was able to grow from grey and dying before our eyes child into a man. Living life to its fullest. Literally doing everything! He went to college, tried to grow a beard, went out with mates, got drunk! He fell off his bike and broke his arm. He had cystic fibrosis and before the transplant could no way have ridden a bike. He couldn’t really walk. It was an odd thing, because there was so much joy him riding that bike the broken arm was almost and weirdly wonderful. You get what I’m saying I hope.

But this joy and life came from another family’s devastation. Extraordinary gift of life and love. This is Jungle. Her son. I am in awe.

Oh knotty you've set me off again to give the gift of life to another at the worst of times 💔

Quick question on the colour scheme; the DIIV logos all seem to be quite monochrome. Should I stick to the theme colours or would a bit of black/white/grey be ok?

I'm going to attempt a bird of paradise flower, I think I have all the colours except orange, if someone could possibly help with that please?

Afternoon All,
I've just popped on to thank my anonymous donor for the 3 balls of wool that have just arrived from Black Sheep Wools.

Possibly from @IceCreamYouScreamWeAllScream who mentioned the company earlier in this thread.

If it wasn't from IceCreamYouScreamWeAllScream then thank you to whoever purchased 3 balls for a crocheter in East Yorkshire 😊.

I'm off to dig out my size 4 hook and plan a few squares so thank you again whoever my wool donor was.

@KnottyAndPistey Would it be possible to see pics as the blanket develops?

I couldn’t read Jungle’s post before, but just did with tears streaming down my face. What a wonderful woman. The love and warmth for her beautiful son was palpable. May the blanket give her some comfort. I love MN - we see the best of humanity here.

Lovely wool has arrived from Woolwarehouse. Many thanks to my donor.

Shitscared123 - Generally speaking, us knitters post pics of our squares before sending them off to K and P - who then upload lots of photos of the completed Hug in due course .
Its always fascinating to see the squares as they’re being made, but when you get to see the whole blanket it’s wonderful - somehow so much greater than the sum of its parts, and very rewarding .

Aaargh - knitters AND hookers.
Apologies , never mastered the dark art of crochet ! xx

@Yiayoula I will look out for these. Thank you for letting me know.

A lovely woolly package arrived today from love crafts, blues and purples. Thank you so much to my amazing donor