Zombie and Woolly Hugs. Our second thread! Come and find out about Candy's Hugs, all very welcome.

[KnottyAndPistey]

Welcome to our second thread, may it be as vibrantly riotous as the first!

Anyone reading this thinking Shall I? Can I? Yes you can! :) We would love to have you on board, from someone who is keen to learn crochet or knitting to the more experienced, ALL are welcome here. And a lack of funds is no barrier, we have wonderful donors who want to take part and need a crafter, so we can send you yarn, needles and hooks if necessary. It is all about being inclusive and team work.

So let's crack on!

This then a C&P of the crafting info from thread one.

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. wine wine 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, let's do it! 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! smile

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

my 12" square is finished. Ddog approves. Crocheting with so much love for TheZombie tonight

LEM - What lovely bright colours, exactly what's needed right now,

Also love your dog - are you training him up in the art of Happy Hooking ???

Life is short!

BUY THE FUCKING BAG!!!!!

oopsie!! i posted on the wrong thread

Loving seeing all the squares! Have had a manic week at work but met a fellow hooker who has been teaching me more stitches! Managed to get some squares done over the weekend- will be sending them all off this week

A reasonable evening's hooking - feeling pretty pleased with this beastie, particularly for mastering the popcorn and picot stitches! Can fully recommend 'Signed with an Owl' blogspot for easy to follow tutorials for slightly more complex patterns.

Inspired by Zombie and the beautiful work on these threads I've decided to learn to crochet. I bought a hook during my lunch break on Friday and spent Friday night watching YouTube tutorials. Not very carefully apparently, because by the end of yesterday I'd crocheted a small parallelogram! Second attempt is looking a bit more promising, so far at least. I won't have anything for this posting, but I'm going to buy some of the right wool this week and keep practising so I can contribute to the next batch, it's a wonderful project.

Phew .
started knitting a bit late, but here now. With the help of DH taking the photos over my shoulder, here is how I cast off for Marcipex . Sorry about the gardeners hands and nails ....:)
pic 1 - knit two stitches
pic 2- put left hand needle into front of 1st stitch on right hand needle
pic 3 - to stop stitch from getting pushed off , I use the forefinger on my left hand

following pics on next post

next lot
pic 4 - still using left hand forefinger to gently push stitch towards end of needle, while keeping it safe on the right hand needle
pic 5 - bring right hand needle up, and through , and its safe to cast off the stitch
I hope thats helpful , I do it without thinking, and fairly quickly, doing it slow was quite weird!

Morning lovely Zombie, morning lovely woollies

Might have been the wrong thread lovely LEM It still holds true x

Let's crack on

Our first beautiful Candy's Hug is away, love in every stitch for the recipient, may it give warm cosy hugs and comfort, letting them know we are with them.

Thinking of our wonderful Zombie

The second blanket will go this week too, thank you everyone. xxx

If reading this, wondering about joining, maybe a bit unsure, not feeling so confident taking part in a Woolly Hug project, let this be the day you do, we'd love to have you, genuinely all levels of ability welcome. :) xx

I would love to take part in this as my grandmother had breast cancer a few years ago and she was a big knitter. I think this is a fabulous cause and cant wait to get some of the wool and get started. I must apologize now though, my squares can be a bit tight sometimes xx

I have an exam tomorrow then 2 days of outlaws visiting (shuddering) so having to step away from the needles until Thursday

A question for book and any other knitters: when I cast on and cast off I find that it's a lot tighter than the knitting itself (so I end up with a square that has rounded corners as the top and bottom rows are narrower than the normal rows in the middle).

I've sort of invented my own way of casting on which I'm sure has a name already but I don't know it - I do a two-needle knitted cast on, but I cast on twice as many stitches as I need and sort of knit every other stitch normally (so I do a slip knot, then knit into that and transfer the new stitch from right to left, then knit into the new stitch but let it go off the right needle like I normally would when knitting. Then I cast on another which I keep, then another which I let go and so on.) That works for me - the bottom edge of my square is square - but not sure what I'm going to do at the top.

Any tips? Either for getting the tension right in my casting on/off, or a different cast off that's going to work for me?

That is a beautiful blanket.i am now getting on well with my squares so will do a few more and then send them off. I find crochet much quicker than knitting, I can knit but not the best in the world !

I let it go off the left needle, even. Then I transfer the new stitch I've just made onto the left needle.

Am I making any sense? I suspect not.

Just checking in to say this is a wonderful project and tomorrow I'll be picking up some wool to start some crochet squares.

I'd love to help with thus amazing project for an amazing cause. If its allowed could anyone send some stylecraft wool my way (if you have any going spare of course) or key me know where I can get some cheap? I am itching to get started ASAP xx

Mum has given me some needles and wool to practice with as I don't think I've done any knitting since I was 11.

Not wasting the approved wool on my no doubt pathetic efforts. I will report back when I've had a go and buy some huggy wool if it comes out anything like ok. have sent money though as chances are it'll be Easter before I complete a square

bookbook thank you very much.
I am, I think, doing what you do. It's step 5 that fills me with dread.

I shall practise more.

Having seen bookbook tutorial, it made me wonder ... am I the only person in the knitting world who actually let's go of the right hand needle in order to wind the wool round? it used to drive my Granny nuts!

Also, bookbook my cast off edge rolls over. I've added a photo to show what I mean. Is this meant to happen?
That's the trouble with being self taught. There's a knitting group where I live but it's always when I'm at work.
Thank you x

Rolling is very normal.

You can rib the first and last couple of rows to keep it straighter (eg k1p1). I have no idea why this works witchcraft but it's what my knitting club taught me.