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

Oh no Jux - that sounds dreadful - and I have just bought some Patons for embellishments ( I think that is why I got mixed up)

hah! just pmd you on that :)

Jux, would it be worth PMing KnottyAndPistey about doing a swap? Yarn is horses for courses, I'll bet there's someone out there who prefers to work with Patons and they could maybe organise a swap of your Patons for some donated wool? Worth a shot if you're finding it difficult to work with.

Shattered well done Knitted or crochet?
If it's knitted and you can do knit AND purl stitches the world is your oyster, even before you start thinking about slipping stitches and yarn overs etc. Just make sure the pattern only refers to k's and p's and not to yo or ssk etc and it will be straightforward to follow.
Although yarn overs etc are easy to follow too if you want an extra challenge.

I've tried crocheting this week. It's a disaster.
I've gone back to knitting. Tried vertical stripes but ended up with a 4" square when I cast on my usual 38 so cast on 50 and then had a 7" square. Will keep trying!

Oh that's Sod's Law isn't it, AaTSea?

Shattered, well done! It's very satisfying, finishing one, isn't it?

AtSea I'm doing vertical zigzags, which are coming out narrow. I think it's because I'm pulling it together at the joins so my tension in the whole thing has gone up. I'll see how narrow it is when it's finished, and I might crochet an extra bit up each side (which is what I did with my last narrow knitted square).

I'm knitting, first one just knit but I "think" I can do purl too so might have a practice. I'll check the YouTube as well.

What do I need to do with the ends? I assume I can't just leave them?

Shattered, sadly those pesky ends have to be sewn in.

Thank you MN for removing that phone number.

Chipping, it's called block stitch; I got it from "hopeful honey" dot com. (Truly about crochet!)
I did a 2 colour version a couple of pages back which is also very effective. It is really easy, but the peskies are a pain.
I love how we all inspire each other to try new things! Go for it!

Morning all, if anyone is thinking of ordering more supplies, deramores.com are doing free delivery today only. Sorry to encourage more yarn buying I'm not

Sorry, free delivery til Sunday not just today.

Thanks amethyst I really really really need more yarn. Honest My current colours are a bit dull. I need brighter! What are the best bright riotous colours?

Brill, thanks for that, I have just bought a couple of balls for this project. Shhhhh, don't tell the hubby

Jux. No, I'm not. I've never liked Patons wool :( you could exchange any unused balls. I've never known a shop refuse.

shatteredstudentmum. Well done💐 I'm We love a photo...

I'll have a look for some knitting tutorials this evening when I get home, but I think there might be some linked to the original post?I

The ends (Peskys) need sewing in. You need a rounded fat needle, I'll link to something me later.

Axolotyl. Thanks for that, I'll have a look when I get home.

Chauffer duties call...back later.

Thanks everyone. I've two poorly boys today so spent a fair few hours on the sofa watching films and practicing following a pattern. It's scary how easy it is to become addicted 😁 especially when dh is away!

shatteredstudentmum. There are too many good tutorials to link to just a few! If you go to you tube & search 'knitting tutorial' you'll be spoilt for choice. Or sign up to Ravelry (it's free). Click on 'Patterns' and there's a 'search patterns' bit, ignore that and go to advanced search and you'll find gazillions of patterns and you can narrow it down too if you want (I usually choose 'with photos' and 'free'), then you can google or ask here if you need help. Or search knitting blogs. There's just so much out there that you need to find something that appeals to you 😊

I think my needles are tapestry needles. You can use darning needles or some of the websites gave little Pesky kits (needles in a cute container).

Axolotyl. I like yours much more than hers! I'll be giving it a go soon, thank you.

shattered. I cross posted with you. I was looking for a good 'sewing in Peskies' tutorial. I didn't find a great one, but watch a few will give you some ideas. Frankly, my sewing them in is far more random, & admittedly not as neat, but they'll never come out!

I hope they boys are better soon 💐🍫

This is my first crochet attempt! Struggling to find left handed YouTube that I can understand

looks like you have cracked it though atsea x

Bella coco has a left hand crochet tutorial on you tube, my friend used it and got on really well with it

AtSea. Honestly, there isn't much wrong with it at all. You have the basic concept sorted (two sets of doubles in the corner separated by two chain stitches. From round 3 a chain stitch to the 'gap' & a single set in the gap (increasing by one gap each round). The top right corner isn't right, but the bottom right corner is. Try again, you're almost there 😊

This is the 11yo's (I don't have any photos of my Basic Granny squares). There are a couple of mistakes, but with the colour changes you can see the basic concept more easily.

I foolishly left my pile o'peskies on my side table yesterday, so DH made me some art after I went to bed...

Introducing: Mr Pesky

That is so funny, love it, can we share your pic?