Support thread for Woolly Hugs - summer (sort of) 2013

[tribpot]

Our sympathies and thoughts are with daisydotandgertie, who lost her husband this month.

Woolly Hugs is now in action and this is the support and chat thread at which all are welcome - knitters, crocheters and donors. If you are a first time crafter please do have a go. There is bags of support and plain squares are just as important to our endeavour as fancy ones.

As flowers was one of the requested motifs, I'll just note there's a flowers section in the crafting guide. I might try the posies pattern on this sock pattern. For Welsh (or at least Celtic) patterns, I did this for a previous blanket.

Surreal day. Sorry, not really a subject for this thread but I've had bad experiences before starting threads on MN when you're only on the edge of the bad thing as people seem to think you're trying to make it 'all about you'.

We had a supplier team on site at the moment so I've been working with these guys for a couple of months. One of them didn't come in to work yesterday and today we found out he committed suicide at the weekend :( :(

I am devastated for his family (he did not have kids) and his poor colleagues, some of whom had worked with him for 10 years and had to find out this morning in our offices and then for some of them, mill about for most of the day trying to find out whether the team was going to go off site for the rest of the week and thus worth travelling back down south. (They have now left the site for the week).

And of course in an open plan office environment people keep wandering by and making horrendously tactless remarks like 'this is meant to be the happy team, why does everyone look sad?' (fortunately said when only we were there, no-one from the supplier team).

Just so, so dreadful. I will never forget seeing the faces of his long time colleagues, some of whom were too distraught to speak. Even we, who barely knew him, are thinking 'oh god was there something I could have done or said?' so god only knows what they are feeling right now.

Oh Trib How tragic.

Big hugs to you xxx

I lurk on the woolly threads but don't post very often.

Trib - so sorry to hear about the sad death of this man, what a terrible thing to happen. I know exactly what you mean about not wanting to appear to be trying to make it about you, I got very upset a few months ago over the death of someone I didn't really know (knew his wfie and son) but didn't feel it appropriate to post about it. A sudden death affects so many people, even those not apparently close to the person in question.

Thanks both - and again, not trying to make it all about me but it's been a difficult evening because I don't want ds to know anything about it (not that I would tell him the circumstances, obviously) because he lost a class-mate only a few weeks ago - she had underlying health problems but it was still completely unexpected - and we are at the funeral of a family member at the weekend, although he was in his late nineties so rather different.

Just wish I could be of some help to his colleagues who I've also been working with. What an awful day.

Oh Trib and - with extra sugar.

An awful day indeed. Not that any death is easy, but I think suicide can bring up so many other feelings - guilt for not noticing something was 'wrong', discomfort about mental illness, existential angst or whatever you want to call it around ending your own life, not to mention the shock.

I'm sure you did help his colleagues - by being a friendly, sympathetic face; by not coming out with crass comments or jokes; by being professional; and by showing that this has affected you too. By showing that this guy mattered.

Hope your DS is ok too, in the circs.

Oh Trib How awful.

((((((((trib)))))))

:(

trib you aren't making this all about you. We all need an outlet at times like these. You can still be very much affected by someone's death, even if you don't know them well and it may well bring some comfort to this man's family to think that is even a possibility.

Oh trib, that is tragic, how devastating, and no apologies needed, we're friends on this thread, we look after each other, big hugs lovely X

trib, sorry to hear you've had a tough time. What a terrible shock for all concerned.

Hope you are ok today trib. It's never easy.

I'd like to thank my doner. Yarn arrived today for Trinity's blanket. It's a beautiful purple. I'll start today as I have 45 minutes during dd's music lesson which I always use as prime crochet time. :)

{{{{{ trib }}}}}

:(

Hope today is going ok Trib.

Quick (hopefully) crochet query: if a pattern says '1st in ring and last 2st', what stitch does it mean? It's an american pattern. Does it just mean a slip stitch?? (although it does have slip stitch elsewhere in the pattern).

it means crochet into the ring and the last 2 stitches, i think.

But with what stitch?

what's the whole sentence?
there should be something else

it says 1 st, doesn't it? i read it as first!

yes, one slip stitch

Thank you!

I'm attempting this starfish btw - no idea how it's going to turn out, as once I've (hopefully) managed the star shape, I've then got to turn it into a square...

that's gorgeous

I've had a quick look at the pattern. You have only given us part of the sentence. The 2nd round is made up of UK trebles - it tells you where to put the stitches with decreases between the arms and increases at the points. Look at the picture and it will become more obvious.

ah, that makes sense - i had a quick look at the pattern, too, but got confused and couldn't see where the quote was

I got that it was trebles and not dcs, and I got the increases, but I didn't really get that it was a decrease in the middle. If anything I seemed to be making a bulge . I couldn't work it out from the pic either [thicko]

As Trib will testify, I usually pick something new for a blanket square, then get stuck and come running for help...

any chance someone can explain round 2 more simply for me??!

Beautiful woolly treasure arrived today for all three blankets. Do check out the threads for news of safe arrivals