Zombie and Woolly Hugs. Come and find out about Candy's Hugs, we need your help.

[KnottyAndPistey]

Our lovely Zombie (who has said she doesn’t mind being outed as Candy) has long been a supporter of Woolly Hugs, bless her for it! Recently she made a very kind donation to us, and we would love to start an Ongoing project to honour this remarkable woman, who we have both had the privilege of meeting, dancing and drinking with. She is utterly fab-u-lous. :)

After a chat with Zombie we have made a plan which she loves. We would like to make comforting cosy blankets with love in every stitch for women going through treatment for breast and other cancers, and at times these may form part of palliative care. They will be called Candy’s Hugs.

Zombie is a bright and beautiful woman so we have chosen a palette to reflect this which we call Vibrant Riot; it is inspired too by a blanket that was made for her to give big hugs as she goes through treatments.

Will you join with us? If you would like to be involved in any way, we’d love to have you on board. Please post on this thread and PM with your offers: crafting, donating, need wool, etc, we can help you with all of it.

The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK. Just this please for consistency, and in these colours...

Vibrant Riot Palette
Boysenberry
Claret
Empire
Fuchsia
Grass
Kelly green
Lavender
Lime
Lipstick
Magenta
Meadow
Petrol
Plum
Pomegranate
Saffron
Sherbet
Shrimp
Spice
Turquoise
Tomato
Violet

Squares to be 12 inch or 6 inch, crochet or knitted equally welcome, please use 4mm hook or needles. No blocking necessary and please sew in ends, and make sure any colour changes are firmly knotted.

All crafting abilities genuinely welcome, squares made by beginner or expert will be equally cherished. Simple, complex, single colour, mixed colour. It really is the love and thought that counts.

If you would like to learn how to knit or crochet in 2017, crack on! We have help for the complete beginner here…. And are on hand to help talk you through as well. YouTube has lots of tutorials, you WILL find one that suits! :)

If you feel ambitious and would like to make a whole blanket, then that is wonderful, we are aiming for blankets approx 48 inches by 60 inches, certainly no smaller.

Candy’s Hugs will be an ongoing project, our first posting date is to be January 28th. Do message for posting info when ready.

We are on Facebook - Woolly Hugs and Twitter too @Woolly_Hugs both are good ways to keep in touch.

Thank you so much xx

For those wanting to learn - there might be a knitting / crochet group near you. We've got a 'Stitch and Bitch' group nearby which meets on a Saturday morning.

Heman and anyone else who wants to learn to crochet - if you need any help PLEASE just ask!
I'm more than happy to help answering questions or posting photos - as we'll be others, no doubt.
No question is too silly or wrong, we all had to start somewhere & needed help, then got better!

Just last October I wanted to learn the star stitch. It took me 5 different video tutorials and looking at different photos to understand the stitch count and the first few attempts were miserable!
Am I embarrassed? Hell no!
Can I do it now? Hell yes!

Just ask!

Stupid question alert...

Just need to check that it's a 4mm crochet hook that I need to use rather than a Size 4 one?

Bless you Zing . I've had another crack at crochet this afternoon. Sat with the book in front of me I still ended up with a hot knotty mess . I think my tension is too tight because I can't distinguish where to hook once I've done the foundation chain. Could you post a pic of what a foundation chain SHOULD look like when it's laid flat, if that makes sense?

I'm cracking on with a wonky square in Pomegranate. I'm hoping the gorgeous colour will compensate for any lumps and bumps (and possibly a dropped stitch).

Tamsworth - when I first started crocheting, my stitches were very loose (I posted a pic in Arts and Crafts, and was told I was a 'loose hooker' ) - I found that going down a hook size helped. Then it is just practice - the more you do, the easier you will find it to keep the tension tight enough but not too tight.

I've done this square today - to prove that I don't only knit squares and appliqué flowers on!

I'm a very keen crocheted, and would love to help! Do we have to buy the yarn ourselves? If so, it will be a fair while before I can start (skint in January syndrome 😁)

Oh and I'm happy to join together too. (the squares, not myself 😁)

And for the tight/loose crocheters, I find going up or down a hook size helps, if this is allowed. If I can help anyone with crochet-related problems, please just PM me.

Pop - people who can't knit or crochet donate yarn or money for yarn, so other people can make squares - I am sure if you ask Knotty or Pistey, they'll happily send you some.

I have some of these colours in, although I may have to visit wool warehouse for a wider selection... what a shame! I will get knitting, my squares are always extremely wonky full of character.

Fantastic! I've just given up smoking so am crocheting like mad atm to keep busy...bring it on!

Does everyone have links to different squares etc? I have them bookmarked, I can share a shitload of them if you like.

Heman does this help?

Yes it does PUG!!! I'm clearly a very tight hooking novice . I just end up with a curled up little knot of wool. I'm going to screenshot your pics if that's ok. I've got a size 4 hook. Should I go up a size or half size?

Maybe try a half size?

Ok! That means another trip to Hobbycraft . What a shame . We have one dangerously close to us so I can pop in tomorrow or Monday.

. I bought a little pack of different sizes from Boyes - cheap as chips.

Of course I don't mind you screen shotting the pics.

I am not very adventurous when it comes to crocheting squares, I find I can do the plain granny one without having to think about it so can turn a few out. Usually I have DDog sat across my lap who likes to have one paw over anything that I am trying to do hence me not doing anything more adventurous. Have done a bobble square before and a couple of other designs but for me that needs hard concentration.

I would love to join where do I purchase the wool please?
No big wool shops where I live.

Oh and I am rubbish at knitting! When my parents come to stay and mum asks if there is anything she can do (she gets under my feet mostly), I say yes here are a pair of needles and some wool, get knitting some squares .

You can purchase wool online onestep. Wool Warehouse, Deramores, Wise Badger to name a few.

Is it possible to post crochet hooks? For some random reason I have a load of 4mm...happy to donate them to those who haven't got them.

I don't see why not Pop. Bit of bubble wrap and a small Jiffy bag will do it.

Brilliant!

How fantastic would this look in those colors?

Is it too fancy? Because I'd like to do it if I'm allowed to.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?q=www.lookatwhatimade.net/crafts/yarn/crochet/sophies-universe-cal-2015/sophies-universe-cal-2015-information/&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwio5cbP5LDRAhXFf5AKHaGyCBMQFggLMAA&sig2=6OshP298Pr5SoYlnBigNRQ&usg=AFQjCNG-nEMJLs_A9_o1jTb2wN-tO7utug" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?q=www.lookatwhatimade.net/crafts/yarn/crochet/sophies-universe-cal-2015/sophies-universe-cal-2015-information/&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwio5cbP5LDRAhXFf5AKHaGyCBMQFggLMAA&sig2=6OshP298Pr5SoYlnBigNRQ&usg=AFQjCNG-nEMJLs_A9_o1jTb2wN-tO7utug

I'm totally in with this!

Zombie has been an absolute inspiration during my time on mn, and with my own mum having had breast cancer, this is a cause I would love to support.

I'll be cracking on with a Candy Hug forthwith!