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

I'm back to these - will be starting off this afternoon Witch
Crafty - I was intrigued - its expensive by looks, but being bored this morning I saw this
hodgepodgecrochet.net/2014/09/diy-glow-in-the-dark-yarn/

Oh that is fantabulous! I'm loving it Book!

Witch that's the first place I tried and they didn't seem to have it and any other sites were £15 upwards. Book that is fab! I'll be forwarding the link to my mum, see what she thinks.

Unfortunately not able to craft today as am really not well, don't know if its a cold or flu or what but don't want to be sniffling, sneezing or coughing all over the squares xx

Poor you Crafty - take care. I snuffled, sneezed and coughed over a Little Hug, and pm'd K&P - but they wash them

I think the blog is in the USA so not sure on the dye , but ebay usually has the answer to most things :)

Off tomorrow for a week, but Dh is here so not a prob if folk send, will be getting to grips with it all the week after. Will endeavour to catch up with messages etc but please do bear with. xxxx

Evening!
I sent off my Chernobyl squares yesterday , so I am re starting Candys.
I am trying out the squares from Jan Eaton's 200 blocks. I have found that to make it 6" , I miss off the last round. Don't know if it's just because I am a loose hooker ( new to crotchet ) , or they are meant to be a bit bigger?
I have all the colours , from a wonderful donation, so rather than just do random colours, I would try to choose 3 colours at a time and do a set of squares using those 3 colours- hopefully to help when making up blankets.
So today I have lavender, meadow and lime .

I've also been creating a symphony in Lime. I still can't say I love it, but it nearly gone!

I think the next lot may be sherbet, turquoise, empire ( or petrol) - decisions, decisions :)

I've just done the 2 colour linen stitch square linked from ClaireTheWitch70s Pinterest page, brilliant resource for us all

It involved having two colours on the go at the same time which is new for me but the huge plus was only 4 peskies to deal with at the end

scuse the photo, hooking and mumsnetting at the same time

That's a really funky square Raptor, my eyes have gone peculiar, but I love it 😍

It is a bit isn't it Witch maybe if you look at it long enough it'll become one of those magic eye pictures

Sherbet, turquoise and empire you say book? Great minds think alike! Although this is a 12 inch Chernobyl square - or at least it will be when it's finished!

oh, I think that has made my mind up diamante :)
Raptorina - love that!

Oooh.......... I don't have sherbet yet lovely colour combo (and square!), I think Empire is much nice than Petrol, it's brighter.

I've properly gone down the rabbit hole of using many yarns at once and had a go at this (note, I'm still mumsnetting and hooking although I did stream the boat race earlier). Colours are Lime, Pomegranate, Empire and Plum

It's from here: Crochet Between Worlds (US terminology) and is called a solid spiral granny square.

They're all beautiful. I'm sticking to plain granny squares at the moment, basically because I can do a 6" in about 2 hours and I figured they need volume for Chernobyl. I have got a real urge to learn to read the patterns though as I bought the 200 squares book and I want to do them. I'll just have to smuggle them in my suitcase somehow and get stuck in while I'm away 😇

Witch - I have the Jan Eaton book from the library, and I am slowly going through the ones I like - the 4 above are all from it. I have sort of muddled through the instructions, using the photos to reassure myself its looking approximately the same :) Its not quite as bad as I thought, but not natural to me ( its much easier with knitting patterns !)
Raptorina - the lime works in that. !

I've got a very basic crotchet technique book, a magazine called crotchet for beginners, which has a really lush shawl in it that I really want to do myself, and the 200 squares book. Hopefully by the time I've gone through that lot I should be more than a learner! Knitting patterns are really so much easier as there's only really 2 stitches

I'm mostly winging it Witch

I wing most things Book! 😂

I have been a bit busy staring on a baby jacket, so I only managed one square - I did the sherbet/turquoise/empire - agree with Raptorina - the Empire looked nicest

Lovely squares, everyone! My last Chernobyl square is empire and grass stripes and it's... er.... vibrant. I've also got one with a background of petrol and meadow, which is much easier on the eye!

I've been eyeing up lace prickings again. Once my stripes are finished, I'm hitting the photocopier .

Just finished my Chernobyl squares so will be full steam ahead with Candy's Hugs from now on!

I have a Good Housekeeping book, which I bought about 40 years ago! It has basic stitches - with drawings - and then lots of things like 'Peacock stitch' and 'Sunflower edging' (none of which I've ever really looked at) in it.

I used to buy crochet patterns and just make stuff, like baby jackets and cardis for all my cousins' sprogs. I had a ajor ms attack some 30 years ago and my hands have been disobedient since, so I stopped doing all the knitti, sewinng etc I used to do.

It's only now, my hands being a lot better, and mainly because of Zombie - bless her - that I have picked it up again; i have missd it so much!

I really want that Jan Eaton book

Hello MrsD :) Spin lace again eh?
I am stalking you around the threads Jux . I have a Good Housekeeping book - if its the same a couple of the squares they show are basically the same as in Jan Eaton! I also have a Readers Digest general one too . Both old, and well thumbed. Its nice to hear that your hands are working better. It must be hard when you can't do the things you love.
I am just struggling along with a leaping stripes , but its not going well - I made it for Chernobyl in a 12" , and I'm sure it wasn't as faffy as this 6" .
I am seriously thinking I may forg it - I haven't done too much, and life is too short...

Bucks point this time, book.

(just nod and smile. Ta.)

Lace prickings don't tend to be published at a size suitable for DK wool, though. Much use of 'enlarge' facility required!