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

What are garters five?
In my day, they were bits of elastic that held your droopy school socks up

I don't know if I want more ideas yet, I am still a bit astonished that anything I make actually turns out square-ish and I seem to be able to finish with the same number of stitches I started with :)

Hi steppe - no, most of them I haven't knitted myself. I think I did say that when I linked them: they came from my Pins rather than projects.

Tbh I find I often have to bodge grids to get six inches, because I knit even tighter than I hook. I'm sorry you've had such issues with my recommendations but it sounds like you're bodging editing and improvising brilliantly.

GArter stitch is just plain knitting, as in the knit bit of knit and purl but y don't do the purl, the one that you did 120 rows for

Norks. Don't be 'sorry', I'm loving having you posting on this thread 😊

There are lots of people on the construction crew now. I doubt any of them are bothered whether it's stocking stitch or garter stitch or anything else really. The only preference/requests I've seen are that the squares are a bit smaller rather than a bit larger. Knitting can stretch a lot (or at worst have a crochet edge added) but you can't shrink it (well, unless it's your best jumper!).

It's normal to have a front & a back, so don't worry about 'messy backs'. There will be far messier ones than the type of squares you are knitting.

The blankets really do need some plainer squares or they go from riotous to 'oh my eyes'. So don't feel any pressure to do anything other than garter or stocking stitch. However, you'll get bored of that pdq & there are loads of patterns you can do with just knit & purl that are really easy but look effective.

Are you sure it was 120 rows for stocking stitch (knit one row, purl the next)? That seems like far too many. I am a tight knitter and I think mine are about 88 (in this wool, on 4mm needles).

Stocking stitch - one row knit, next row purl
Garter stitch - all knit

*Sorry, I've probably cross posted with half the world, but I'm having problems with the iPad.

Morning from sunny hols !
Also knitter, and loose-ish with this wool. I have found 30 stitches and bout 48 rows does a nice 6" size for me , so 120 rows ( unless you are doing a 12" ?) does seem a lot - how do you count the rows?
I am trying crotchet, and enjoying the c2c - seems to work well for me , as long as I concentrate a bit when decreasing !

Vitty hmm...🤔...nope. There must be more to it, an eye for colour that you just don't realise you have. If I take that approach it just looks a mess 😖😬. Maybe I'll try again with a blind grab in the bag!

Norman. Thank you. I've bookmarked the link. I dare not look now, I'm supposed to be working! (for myself, so no employers have been harmed in the making of this post).

Ruhrpott. Excellent square. I'm trying to decide what to do next. I think I'll do a 12" wave.

I'm also a fledgling constructor (?)

Variation in size, tension, stitches, etc honestly isn't a thing - though I did build a blanket for church where no square was flat or indeed square was a challenge involving lots of Strong Language.

What I actually actively dislike is insecure peskies. If they start to come undone it's difficult to reattach them as you typically have a very short tail. So for me it's far more important to have your peskies absolutely secure than worry about whether your square is exactly set-square perfect and bang on six inches.

MrsH. The school are doing blankets for charity. They have told the children (infants & juniors) they can be knit or crochet, in any wool, about 10cm square. I kinda get the feeling none of them have a scooby 😖😬

10 cm?

Wool Warehouse have 10% discount with the code SC23 at the checkout.
And then of course I had to get more than £25 worth for free delivery, so ...

Enabling, moi?!

Help/advice please!

I've finished my stripy square (doesn't look particularly like the one in the tutorial though, not sure why).

Anyway, it's too big so I'm going to crochet a border round it to make it up to 12".

Does the border have to be solid?

I presume it needs to have a straight edge?

Can anyone link me to a tutorial showing what I need to do? I'm a bit lost as this is only my second square!

Love the colours Malcolm
Sorry, no help; can only knit!

Mrs H - no need to apologise! I was just wondering if you had tried them and how they came out.
All advice and tips gratefully received.

Anyone else trying the 6" squares from a grid?
I must be quite a tight tension as I need 33 stiches for 6".
The 30 rows on the grid are only half a square for me, wondering how other people are finding them. I think I should just repeat every row!

The owl pattern was really easy. I used safety pin instead of a cabel needle, the instructions are really obvious - slide 2 stiches on the cable needle, put the cabel needle to the back, the knit 2 stiches, then knit the 2 on the cable needle.
That's it really, and it is very cute. BUT I did 32 stiches across which was 6", and it is way too short, maybe 1-2 " too short.

Hmm, I ma spotting a thread here (groan) maybe i tis my super neat firm tension

Malcolm, YouTube will have videos. If I get stuck in just search on there and usually someone will have uploaded something that helps.

Finished another square, haven't sewn in a single end yet so got all that to do later

Thanks, Bear, I'll go on and have a look!

Is it wrong that I love sewing in the ends?!

Myself and my 11 year old DD would love to join in, but I have the skills but no money. How do I get in touch with someone who can donate, with no crafting ability please?

Hi MammaTJ and welcome! If you send a pm to Knotty&Pistey they will send you out some yarn

I've had a very quite few days ... so little going on that I've been able to crochet a few more. I've managed to do two 12 inches & 6 6 inches - will hopefully get them in the post tomorrow :)

I've loved seeing the pictures of the finished blankets - they really do look incredible.

Those look great Laniakea!

I love the colours of your top square Bearfrills

Laniakea those squares are lovely! Great colours and patterns.

Can anyone recommend a book or website with patterns for 12" crochet squares please?

My book only has 6" squares so for the 12" ones I've just been doing granny squares.

Ooh yes I'd love some good 12" patterns - at the moment I'm just doing things I can scale up from 6" but I'd love some suggestions of proper 12".

I just put 12" inch square into the pattern search on ravelry. There are loads - mostly for 5mm/worsted weight so in DK/4mm they come out at about 10/11 inches but adding a couple of extra rows around the edge works fine.

Laniakea your squares are beautiful.

This is my favourite square so far(not sorted the ends yet).

Okay... I've been googling because I want to do a mitred square in stocking stitch but I can't find anything so I might just have a bash and see what happens.

The pattern I've got is:
Cast on 65 stitches
Row 1. K30, k2tog k1 k2tog k30 - (63 st)
Row 2. K
Row 3. K29 k2tog, k1, k2tog K29 - (61st)
Row 4. K
Etc etc.

Do I purl on the odd or even row???

Hmmm