Zombie and Woolly Hugs. ALL very welcome to join us, come and find out about her legacy of Candy’s Hugs.

[KnottyAndPistey]

We knew her time left with us was short, but the news of Zombie’s death on January 30th was still a sad shock, we send so much love to her family and her many, many friends who love and will miss her greatly, we hold our happy memories of her very dear. Bless her.

Just before Christmas, Zombie donated funds to Woolly Hugs and together we hatched a plan to develop an ongoing project with her, which she loved, 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.

So glad we could establish Candy's Hugs with her and thanks to you wonderful people achieve her ambition of seeing it all well underway before her death. Her legacy of Candy's Hugs will be one of love and strength, of friendship, learning and developing crafting skills, of creativity, of coming together to show compassion, support and give and receive comfort, Such a beautiful inspirational woman. How lucky we were to know her. X

Raising a glass or two to the fabulous Zombie, we go on together

Anyone seeing this project for the first time, wondering about joining in, make this the day you do! This project is ongoing, and a friendlier more supportive bunch of folk you couldn’t wish to meet. 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.

Our previous threads are the first one here and the second one here..

[[https://www.facebook.com/pg/Woolly-Hugs-349028448480855/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1339798112737212
We are keeping a photo album on our Facebook page.]] All welcome to join us over there too.

Zombie was a bright and beautiful woman so we chose a palette to reflect this which we call Vibrant Riot; it is inspired too by a blanket that was made for her as she went through treatment. She had it with her at the end, we were so glad to know it still gave her love, big woolly hugs and comfort.

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 all on this thread 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 next collection date is March 11th, then April 22nd. 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. All welcome over there.

Thank you so much xx

I'd love to join in and try to get a few squares done by March 11. I don't need any assistance with buying the supplies or making the squares, I just need a bit of motivation! Hopefully a deadline will be helpful in that regard. Do I just make the squares and send them in?? Do I need to tell anyone how many or what I'm planning to make? (I have no idea right now but I will figure it out :).

Also I plan to place an online order today for some yarn. Does anyone have any recommendations for where they have a good selection of stylecraft in the palette Zombie chose? Sorry if this has already been coveeed, I haven't read all of the threads!

Thanks so much, can't wait to get started!

One more question-- generally speaking, what size hook are you guys using if you're making patterns from the Jan eaton 200 squares book? I'm thinking more like granny type patterns rather than ones worked in rows.

Am I the only one who has found that even with the same yarn and same hook, the squares in that book come out in wildly different sizes???

Hello Loves!

I get mine from Black Sheep on Amazon. They don't always have all the colours but I recently bought ten from the palette so that's a great start!

Hello all, I would love to join in as I am now armed with some 'riot' wool. What a great project, the awesome Zombie spirit lives on!

I was wondering about Swiss darning a simple pattern onto a plain knitted square, would this be acceptable? My skills are limited but there will be love in every stitch.

The pictures on here are fabulous, the blankets will look spectacular.

Hello Loves! Wool Warehouse have a good range of the Riot colours, good pricing and fast delivery too

MrsHathaway how can I find Black Sheep on Amazon please? I tried searching it on the site but no joy x

The shop was open and she only charged me £4 for three balls

Ooh Bear that's a terrific bargain did you get the colours you wanted?

She had all of the colours on the list. I got plum, sherbet and saffron for today so going to spend the rest of the afternoon surfing the sofa and doing squares

Me too Bear I'm using saffron and spice to make a C2C, I want to put matching roses on it afterwards. I could only do a single stitch a few weeks back, the lovely people on this thread have been so forthcoming with advice and cheerleading that I've picked up quite a few stitches

Oh sorry.

I search "stylecraft special dk" and then when it says "9 offers from £1.89" I click through and choose Black Sheep. They don't always look the cheapest but they combine postage which works out cheaper than sellers who don't, once you're ordering in any quantity. I've had no problems with them over quite a few orders now, always quick and well packaged etc.

I think they may be part of Wool Warehouse as I always get the nice organza bags.

Afternoon, lovelies.

Just catching up. Back shortly.

Eleven down , one more to go and then I'll start on sewing in the pesky ends : have been putting it off as the actual knitting is so much more satisfying !
Currently trying a star motif square but am unpicking more than knitting on this one. In awe of the squares, flowers and colour riot on here in Zombie's honour

Crochet lesson booked, she is really interested in Woolly Hugs so gave her the website and will chat to her more about it when I go in.

Banty, embellishments are very welcome.

Amethyst, fill your boots! Sounds fabulous.

Polter, someone asked for us but it's a no for now. Sadly.
However, that has reminded me to ask my lovely local wool shop! Will do that x

Oooo, Five! We have a PDF poster, if she wants one. Just email us.

Will do

I just want to show off my latest squares. I have managed to do a round pattern that's different to a plain granny square, and a pattern using rows that isn't all wiggly up the sides! I feel very accomplished

Big thanks to MrsH for your help with the blog you referred me too

They're from the Jan Eaton book done with a 4mm hook. They have both come out at about 5.5 inch squares.

Get stuffed. They're better than mine now

Oh i'm sure that's just the lighting

I am excitedly awaiting my wool delivery (to work obviously, so can be spirited home in small batches so DH has no heart attack so early in the year) and it only now occurs to me: are shipments from the US okay or is there a local(ish) group gathering them here?

I have watched videos on flower making. Am very anxious terrified to get started!

How can i increase my tension? im doing a square fron the jan eaton book using 3.5 ml hook and its coming out nearly 7"

Please can someone tell me how to find the posting address?

LEM I'm having the same problem.

I've done 2 identical squares. One on a 4" hook and one on a 3.5" hook .
The 4" hook square is approx 7" square. The 3.5" hook square is marginally smaller at just under 7" square.

At this rate I'll be on a 0.5" hook to get a 6" square!!!

Surely her patterns must be a bit out .