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

Does anyone else gets splits in their fingertips when working with wool? A friend said themwool was "sucking my life-blood"! (A joke she meant I needed to use hand cream more when using wool. I don't much like hand cream.....)

Hi everyone, I've been busy with Easter stuff/school holidays, so not much progress, I'm on my last square of 4 in my flower series though.
I'm going to do a Little Hug after that, also c2c, just deciding between pinks, blues or oranges though. I've pm'd the Woollyhugs FB account to see what's most needed but I guess they're swamped with Chernobyl.
Jux yes I do have split finger ends! I had no idea it was the wool though. My hands are completely wrecked anyway from years of washing with DCs bottles, nappy changes etc ( plus I'm a bit germphobic when it comes to baby stuff). I was thinking of starting a thread to ask for some advice actually.
Norm that Little Hug is looking gorgeous, the colours blend really well.
Nerr beautiful blanket (and baby )

Lovely squares everyone! Lipstick and Saffron is a great combination book

Norman that wool is beautiful!

Jux I do, but then I get splits anyway (mostly in Winter) but usually just on my thumbs. I've noticed them more often though these last few months, I did wonder if it was a crochet-related injury, and I've had them on my left index finger which hasn't happened before.

Evening!
lovely squares Claire - crotchet ends up being somewhat addictive.
Not really had a problem with splits. I do have dry hands/fingers in general, but more just snaggy dry skin, which catches on the wool. I don't use handcream .
I have started a lacey pattern in one colour today - I thought it was a 12" and it is 9" I am now going to have to fudge another set of pattern rounds as I think it will look sad just doing a big border of trebles .

Progress being made here.

Wow Spindelina my mind is boggled! So will you sew it on to a plain square when it's done or is it strong enough just to put a border on?

RR, I generally sew them to a plain knitted square.

But this one's hexagonal instead of square (different type of lace - Bucks point instead of Torchon, in case anyone's listening...) so I plan to crochet a hexagon for it then square that off with a contrasting colour. That all depends on me working out how to square off a 12" hexagon, which I've (in turn) gone and made complicated by doing my trial hexagon as a six-colour spiral... ho hum.

Evening!
a true challenge Spin - but that is looking so good.
I finished my 12 " , with a slightly fudged extra 3" from the original pattern. Realised it did say it was 12" , but was in a thicker wool and
bigger hook .Hopefully, nobody notices the mistakes. Its in Turquoise.

Book that is a lovely square. What is it called?

:) hello!
its this one, but I had to add another complete butterfly pattern to make it 12" !
Butterfly garden

Lovely square book it doesn't look fudged at all, beautiful pattern.

I've finished my series of 4, so I'm going to get started on a little hug, hopefully it's ok for me to still hang out here though while I work on it?

they are so pretty RR . I am doing a Little Hug in between times . As it is a simple C2C, I can easily pick it up and put it down when I only have a few minutes here and there .

I did post on FB at the time but I would like to say thankyou for my blanket which arrived the second week in February.

It has been a constant source of comfort and jealously guarded from my teenage daughter who has her eye on it. I will be taking it into hospital with me on the 24th for my surgery.

Thankyou so much ladies, it meant an awful lot during some very dark days and am sure it will keep me going on the difficult days ahead.

Tw1nsetAndPearls. I'm glad you've got a WoollyHug 😊 But I'm very sorry you're in the position of getting one (iykwim)💐 How old is your DD? I think she needs one too! The amount of love put in them, they should multiply😁

TwitterQueen I hope you can feel the love & hugs in every square x💐

Nerr. BabyNerr is gorgeous. Please feel free to send first class! I need baby cuddles!

SORE HANDS the only hand cream I can use is Clarins. It's the only one that doesn't feel greasy or like it's sitting on my skin. The only downside is that it doesn't smell nice. It's not horrible, just not nice. Does the job well though.

Chipping she is 15. I have just bought her a new furry flamingo coloured throw for her bedroom - which is nicer than it sounds - so she doesn't have to use my previous blanket!

Tw1nset that sounds hideous lovely 😊 I'm sure it is nicer than it sounds 🤣 I see you have a snuggly NB too, I'm envious of those snuggles and sniffs! They just smell so lovely! I'll be thinking of you, especially on the 24th. You could always get a crochet hook & join us, it's pretty addictive & a nice place to hang out 😊

Tw1nset - sorry you needed a blanket, but glad it is of comfort, and know all the support and love is there in the stitches. Hope all goes well on the 24th

book, someone else (Malcolm?) has done that one - for Chernobyl I think. It's very pretty!

Tw1n, I have a slightly flamingo-obsessed 4yo. She loves the pink iconography.

Speaking of pink... RR, they are a lovely cheery set of flowers.

Hello everyone, Happy Easter! I've been quiet lately but I'm still hooking away now I've been converted working on this square. Attic 24 has also been distracting me!

Tw1nset I will be thinking of you on 24th for both you and Twitter I wish you didn't need a blanket but I'm so glad they're out there providing some comfort.

Tw1nset I'm so sorry you're in a position to need a Woolly Hug, but glad it's giving you some comfort. Good luck for the 24th.

My DD is 7 and also loves flamingoes, probably because they're pink!

Happy Easter everyone

Tw1nset I’m glad you find your blanket so comforting. I hope all goes well with your treatment

Jux I don’t get splits in my fingertips but I have developed strange rough bits on my fingers. I’ve now worked out it’s where the wool rubs over them. I have dry skin on my hands anyway, I work in open food and am always washing them. I find astral cream works really well, I think you need to find one that suits your skin though, my friend hates astral!

Lovely squares everyone! book I’m going to try that pattern. RR did you crochet those flowers? I made some little picot ones from Attic24 and thought they would look nice sewn onto a square. I’m also alternating between my little hugs and Candy squares, while keeping an eye on Chernobyl… So much to do!

I like flamingoes too. Apparently if they don’t eat the right kind of food they turn from pink to grey. Fascinating or not fact of the day

Happy Easter!

Tw1nset good luck for the 24th, I hope it all goes well

I'm going to catch up on posts, moving back to Candy's now that I've sent my Chernobyl squares. Got a Wool Warehouse voucher for Mothers Day and used it to buy a ball of each one of Candy's colours.

DH has decided to learn to crochet. So far we've had three "go fuck yourself" squabbles over my teaching/his ham-fistedness and because he keeps referring to the hook as a wand.

"So I use my wand to..."
"Hook. It's called a hook."
"Yeah. Hook. So I hook the string..."
" Wool "

So far, in a week of learning, he's managed to chain four and owes me a new size 4 hook after managing to put a thumb sized bend in my spare one from gripping it so hard.

I would love to try crocheting. I tried when pregnant but just couldn't do it. I might try again after my op as I imagine I am going to have the free time!

Wow Spin you clever thing, you! Do the different coloured bobbin things have different uses?

Book another beauty!

RR what a clever way to use colour.

Love that square, Amethyst, what's the pattern?

Thanks people for suggestions of hand creams. I'm using (v expensive) calendula atm as we have no real hand cream! Shall investigate when shops reopen.

Jux - I don't use hand cream, But what I do use after bath/shower, and last thing at night is Neutogena Deep moisture body lotion . You don't need much, bit soaks in well, and hasn't got a fragrance.