Woolly Hugs. For our own Beccajo. Lovely donors and crafters, please, your help is needed.

[KnottyAndPistey]

Desperately sad news we’re afraid. In the run up to Christmas, the folk on the current Tamoxigang thread received a message from the DH (on MN as firethornuk) of the very lovely beccajo.

Not long after her last post on this thread she went into hospital, she was very unwell, but she was improving under the care of the drs and nurses. She received her next 2 doses of chemo in hospital which didn't really agree with her. So she was due to have a brand new drug tomorrow. She was doing really well and we had some hope that her new chemo would work for her.

Sadly, last Friday she developed a terrible headache and a scan revealed 2 brain tumours, one of which had bled heavily. She deteriorated very quickly. But she was comfortable, and passed away peacefully with her family with her.

There aren’t really any words are there? We are just so very sorry life has been so cruel. Our thoughts are with beccajo's DH, their little children, family and friends at this time. We are so pleased to say that her DH has accepted our offer of a Woolly Hug, and we hope that he and their children will feel our love and support and that the blanket may give whatever comfort it can to them. Beccajo was a very busy MN poster, and the site will miss her kindness and support for others.

Please, can you help us in any way?

We shall need crocheters, knitters and donors. If you would like to donate wool or funds, I can match you up. If you would like to join in but need donated wool, I can help there too.
Please PM me with your offers of help ( RatherBeOnThePiste) THANK YOU SO MUCH. If you need yarn and are a hooker, do let us know, as we have part balls that will be perfect for crochet.

The Yarn we are Using….

• Artesano Superwash Merino DK
• Debbie Bliss Rialto DK
• Drops Merino Extra Fine DK
• Jenny Watson Pure Merino DK
• Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK 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 - Rowan cashsoft DK, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK or James C. Brett Pure Merino DK in your stash, please do use them.

The colours…

• Warm purples
• Pinks
• Blues
• Greens

Her DH has thought of some ideas to reflect Becca’s loves

• Snowboarding, snowflakes
• Sailing and the sea.
• Roses and gardens, they had planned a rose border for their garden, which her DH is hoping to make this summer.
• Her favourite colour was purple, she loved pinks too.
• We do have the family initials if this is something someone would like to do, please PM.

All crafting abilities genuinely welcome, squares made by beginner or expert are equally welcomed. It really is the love and thought that counts.

Lots of ideas for sure, but please don't feel daunted, we LOVE plain squares and simple textures too. They look as stunning as the more complex squares and play a vital role in the overall effect.

Help with Crafting
Knotty (KnottyLocks* ) will help with any crafting/colour queries, do PM her or post on the thread.

• Squares to be 6 inches, using 4mm hook or needles.
• We recommend double knotting yarn to ensure the square is extra sturdy, and make sure you get a needle to sew the pesky ends in, rather than cutting to the knot which makes the square fragile.
• Please avoid blocking your squares, makes then harder to use and anyway the other squares WILL pull them into shape!!
• Our website has lots of practical info, including recommended online retailers of our yarn.
• If you are new to us, maybe have a look at our website, where there are albums of previous blankets.

We are on Facebook and Twitter at MNWoollyHugs/@MNWoollyHugs which are both good ways to keep in touch.Do join us there.

This means such a lot to Becca's DH, and will be so lovely for him and their children to have. Together we will make something very special for them.

Thinking of beccajo and all those who love and miss her.

Heartfelt thanks

We have more lovely donors to thank this morning, stars, you really are, tomorrow we will be posting more woolly wool to crafters who will make for both of you. Just marvellous

Gobbolinothewitchscat & family
AMillionNameChangesLater

Thank you! x

Thank you for my lovely purple woolly wool, it arrived safely yesterday

Is white ok to use then? for snowflakes or seaside clouds?

I have some ideas, but I will need to use some white as well as shades of blue please, if possible.
I'll make one square with these. Will pm my address in a minute.

And I couldn't help but buy the Spruce and Jewel, they were winking at me!
I will do a garden theme square with these.

I used the specified cream for snowflakes before I think.

Zing, am certain you need to use the specified creams only. I have used the creams for snowflakes.

I used a specified cream for snow too.

thanks, I have neither cream nor white - was only asking as original posts mentions purple, pink, blue & green only, so I was a bit confused about snow themes without "white". sorry

I'll use whatever I receive.

Another question - my gut feeling is that it would be fairly easy to "translate" cross stitch designs into crochet, but I haven't tried it so I don't know if it's just wishful thinking.
Have any of you tried it before? Does it work?

If it helps, I could send you some cream, Zing. (If Pistey hasn't already put some in the post to you).

The info about cream is usually in the OP but it seems to have got left out and is a few posts further on!

I have tried two tone crochet where the unused colour is hidden inside the colour of tge dominant colour until needed for a stitch. I found that really hard! Prefer to do chainstitch designs on top of solid single crochet squares.

I qas going to ask how you were planning to do garden/beach scenes as I can't picture it.

for the "beach/sea" one I'd like to make a chevron pattern with colours changing, so it's like a wavy sea, (green bottom row for grass/land maybe?) then sew on one or some applique motif/s - I've got loads of patterns of sea creatures, cloud, boats etc (books and Pinterest) just need to figure out which would work to scale.

"garden" one will be simpler, solid green square (spruce) and appliqued motifs of rose or heart or butterfly (jewel) maybe?
Do these ideas sound ok?

I haven't done a Woolly Square before, but seen beautiful finished Woolly Hugs so I have some images of what might work. what do you think?

( I found a very good pattern for something lovely looking, and if I can make that I'll send it instead. it shall be a secret till then! )

oh I've just realised it was you, hey Ye !

I have James C Brett pure merino in shades PM 3 and PM 6, are either of those suitable purples?

Another antenataler here, would like to donate, as my knitting is awful, and I always forget how to do it halfway through! Do I PM RatherBeOnThePiste ? Cheers.

Hi!

That all sounds good to me, Zing.

Yep Humpty, PM Pistey.

I may have been a little enthusiastic, I needed to top up my Woolly Hugs stash though... I took a couple of photos, I thought it might help with the questions about the Sublime Betty, as it looks completely different to the website photos but I can't get a decent photo of it either it is at the top, second from the right, but it is much greener in real life. I spent ages faffing with lights and all sorts, to no avail.

I've got various pinks and purples, and I thought I might do some roses on a pale green (Jenny Watson pistacho) background, with Jenny Watson lime stems.

The pinks/purples are JW clematis, JW soft pink, Sublime blackcurrant, Sublime pomeroy and JW heather. Would some combination of those be OK for roses?

If I have enough time I will try and do another square or two, probably something plain ish in a single colour.

I will PM RatherBeOnThePiste as well :)

Morning :)

Wool has arrived today, thanks to my donor.

Approx how many stitched for 6inches?

Zing Yes, cream not white please, snowflakes will look perfect in the cream, will add some to the wool for you. Your ideas sound lovely! Thank you

Tiny - Tis approx 33 stitches, but obvs depends on your tension.

Good news about the woolly wool, marvellous

JustKeepKnitting

Both those purples are lovely and would be fabulous here, thank you

Zing I couldn't even hazard a guess about translating cross stitch designs into crochet, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond me! Sorry

My tension is pretty loise and I get about 24/25 stitches to 6" in crochet. Obv knitting is much more compact so you'd get many more stitches on a knitted square.

Martha Thanks for helping - am loving your stash

The 'Betty" is a hard colour to pin down isn't it - more green you say? Almost feel need to get one to have a look. Is it quite in your face as a colour?!

Pinks and purples are all super, be absolutely beautiful for roses, which one is Sublime pomeroy?

Humpty Thank you so much, I shall PM you, we are very glad to have you on board

And I have Pmd Humpty thank you

More wool will be on the way today, huge thanks lovely donors for your support, just brilliant. We heart the donors