Zombie and Woolly Hugs. Please join us, newcomers very welcome. Come and find out about Candy's Hugs.

[KnottyAndPistey]

Her legacy of Candy's Hugs will be one of love and strength, of coming together to show compassion, support and give and receive comfort.

Seven blankets already with women on the rocky road of cancer treatment in Candy's name. Love in every stitch we say and it really is true. Together we go on, Candy is with us every step.

For anyone joining us, and please do, this is an ongoing project, just jump right in, this explains what we are doing and all crafting info. Thank you EVERYONE! x

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.

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.. and third 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 to give hugs and comfort 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

That's how I've been holding it Furry. I'm thinking the problem was doing 6 hours straight! If you're not used to it then of course it's going to hurt.... I am seriously impressed with myself though - I keep looking at it and wondering if I really did it

You can't tell you fluffed it slightly Book, I can't tell if you went wrong at all

That's very nice indeed, book

It is satisfying Witch when you've achieved something! Sounds like you have just been overdoing it a bit...

book that looks fanstastic! I'm following patterns myself now. Sort of

So many beautiful squares on here!

yes thats me Madison - Sort of - its where the asterisk is for the repeats - I have absolutely no problem with knitting patterns, but I have to pore over the crotchet ones , time and time again!

Very lovely squares, everyone!
And so good to see the Facebook pics of the newly-completed blankets : I get so much pleasure from the actual knitting , but seeing the blankets ready for their owners sort of made me refocus on why we are all coming together and doing this.
Not expressed very well, but hope you know what I mean.

Have just completed a cat motif square in plum for the ZFamily blanket , and hoping to get another one in cyclamen done this evening ( no Broadchurch to distract me ! ) then will revert to the Candy Hugs.

Normality has resumed - my wool has arrived. Hurrah!
How often are the photos posted on FB? I'm not on it, but found the photos by the link given by K&P earlier on. But the ones I can see haven't been updated since 24 Feb. Are they the most recent photos? If not, could someone who's on FB paste the link again please?

I have the same problem book and it's not helped by the fact that while I sit here trying to decipher them my husband decides he's going to chat to me so I'm back to square one (or round one as the case usually is!).

Thursday : I'm not on Facebook either , but if you go to the Woolly Hugs website and scroll down there's a "follow us on Facebook" message : I just clicked on that and was able to see the photos.

Looks like they have been updated today, first there are some beautiful donations for the WH Spring Craft Sale ( got my eyes on Emma the Easter Bunny ! ) and then the Candy Hugs squares begin: spotted some lovelies by FurrylittleTwerp" , and CatmadCaz's* gin square. .

Good luck !

my latest 12" square FINALLY finished. I was going to have it for chernobyl but i am worried the pomegranate makes it too girlie.

Thanks yia, I can see them now. It's astonishing how quickly things get sent in. I sent a parcel off about a fortnight ago, had to really scroll down to find them. Lots of craft sale goodies and other hugs too. Is this a full-time thing for K&P? They're really doing a wonderful job.

LEM that really is beautiful! I'd assume that it'll be okay for CHernobyl having looked at the photos of last year's blankets.
Plus it says this on the first post on the Chernobyl thread:

Make squares in a neutral colour theme, or more specifically for a boy or girl. As much as we don’t like to think of colour as being gender specific, these children may.

Thursday How amazing are K&P? There're always several projects on the go throughout the year, some are time limited while others are ongoing. There must be multiple parcels arriving daily!

Sorry I am late to ask, what is the view on embellishments? I have just learnt to crochet butterflies. Can they be sewn on to a finished square, or do they (as I suspect) need to be worked into the crochet?

Hi all, I have been MIA again, have just scanned the last thread and a half, but I have been beavering away, can't quite believe I'm saying this but I have lots of squares ready to send, hopefully most are useable, but I'll send all. Pictures are of the lot and then my two favourites.
I've had a birthday since I last posted, and as a result I am now the proud owner of three crochet books, more hooks and some blocking boards. Had to google the last one to fine out what they are for!
MammaTJ two of my squares have embellishments sewn on, but I'm not sure if it's okay, hopefully a more experienced person will let us both know!
Second crochet class is on Friday, I am having a lovely time doing this. I made myself a hat. I never wear hats, but I don't care, I will be wearing this one.

MammaTJ, I've seen several squares with sewn-on crochet motifs. I'm sure it's fine.

Beautiful squares as usual!

Tonight's effort in Boysenberry and magenta

These lovely squares are on the WH Facebook page, they have added embellishments.

I will tie on, then sew in, it will not budge but it will be lovely!!

I meant the post above, re embellishments, for MammaTJ.

Lovely square, WitchDancer.

Thank you Marcipex.

French and witch - beautiful squares. I finished this one from the bottom of my stash - i think the word is characterful wonky

oops

I think it's still great Lem and you won't tell once it's sewn in a blanket

I missed you all, I haven't had much time for 'hooking' - there are some really lovely squares here.

Here is last night's effort - saffron and tomato.

Hello you lovely lot. Quite a few years ago I contributed to (I think} one of the first blankets created by this nest of vipers. I am sorry to say I forget the details but the blanket was for a family who'd lost their beloved toddler boy to a brain tumour. I often wonder how that family has managed.I also send love and strength to all who are fighting their own battles at this moment.
Since then I've mainly lurked on MN. I followed Candy's journey with awe and she truly humbled me. You see, I've had to deal with a bereavement of someone very dear and this is why I'm writing.
I truly hope that I'm not breaching Woolly Hug ettiqutte but recently I've had to learn to be a very loud advocate for my children. It is therefore much easier for me to ask for help than it was before the death of my fiancé.
I'll cut to the chase

Last July, after only being on the island of Crete for three hours, my DFiance had a psychotic break and threw himself over a balcony. He suffered appalling head injuries and he died before the ambulance arrived. Fortunately my children did not witness the accident but 16 year old DD saw him afterwards whilst I was trying to get to where he was lying. My now 9 year old DS and my DD went through so much in the week he was on life support (Greek rules over blood toxins).
8 months on my DS is still waiting for proper bereavement counselling. He is also just about to be diagnosed with Asperger's or high functioning autism. He is struggling at school, exclusions happen several times a week and he is still in my bed. He decided to get in with me straight after the death of his father but I think we could both do with a bit more private space. I redecorated his bedroom , bought new furniture and bedding but he's not ready yet. However, my sleep is barely non existent as his sleeping patterns are not great. My son is hurting so much and his ASD traits are making things so much harder.
My DD lost the man who'd been her Pseudo Dad. unfortunately my lovely girl has suffered a double bereavement. Her father hanged himself when she was 13. although he hadn't been in her life for a couple of years, obviously he was still her Dad. She has not yet grieved for either Dads yet, instead has thrown herself into her studies. She has done extraordinarily well in her studies.
But I can't take their pain away, despite my best efforts. I'm not asking to be put on a list for blankets for them, I wouldn't be so presumptuous. What I'd like to ask for is some help with knitting cushion covers which I have been planning as I want to give them woolly hugs.
I'm sorry this is so long and please delete if my post is inappropriate but I'm asking for help heal my kids. I'm pretty much on my own and I do believe it takes a village.
Thank you if you have managed to get this far. Just writing this so hard but I know that you lot won't be mean. It's not AIBU.
I have to collect DS now (reduced hours at school)so I'm going to disappear for a bit.
With love
Ghost