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

Tw1nset, I'm so sorry you need a blanket and glad you like yours and it brings you some comfort. Crocheting is such a therapeutic occupation, they should have crochet instructors on the wards! Bella Coco on YouTube is really good and has helped me a lot.

Jux do you mean the different colour beads? They're called spangles (), and the bobbins are spangled in pairs. You wind them in pairs, so the thread gets wound round one of the pair, round the starting pin, then wound on the other of the pair. In a lot of lace, the pair stays together (like it does here), which is a useful clue to tell you if you've made a mistake!

In this one, I've also got two gimps (yes, really), which are the single bobbins wound with shrimp. They outline bits of the pattern. Normally, you'd be working in white and the gimp would be thicker white thread, but plum and shrimp is much more fun! Then I've got a pair of passives, wound with fuchsia, which get woven in round the edge to outline the whole thing.

Glad you asked?! (nod and smile...)

The function of the spangles is the weight the bobbins to keep tension. As well as looking pretty.

Gimps I've had a tough day and that put a smile on my face Spin!

I'm nodding and smiling Spin - and yy Norm it made me smile ( though I haven't had a tough day, just busy.)
Well, I am going to start a square - wish me luck its a toughie. It may end up frogged, hope not, but we shall see !

DH finds the whole thing highly amusing. Especially the gimps.

And good luck, book! Hopefully it'll be worth it.

Wow Spin, that's so complicated! I am honestly interested, thanks for telling me.

We had a lace making kit and I couldn't really get to grips with it at all, and I think dh has returned it to the charity shop - I'm regretting agreeing to that now.

So the gimps are a kind of guide.
The spangled one, I'm trying to imagine winding them in pairs. Does that mean that they're attached to each other?

Yeah, you hold the length of thread in the middle and wind each bobbin starting at one end of the thread.

Thanks Jux it's a simple solid granny in empire (I followed the Bella Coco tutorial on YouTube) with the lazy Daisy stitch (loads on YouTube) embroidered on in magenta. So easy!

Tw1nset Jux recommended Bella Coco and I second that - I really couldn't do it until followed Sarah-Jayne's tutorial and now I can. Definitely check out the Bella Coco YouTube videos you might surprise yourself!

Bear I like the sound of your DH, I am going to start saying wand instead of hook too! Mind you, I always think of patterns as recipes

Bank holiday to you all, I hope everyone has had a nice weekend.

Tw1nset. I tried crocheting once before, dismal failure. However, with online tutorials it could not be easier! They're so lovely & patient 😂 Rewind, try, rewind, try, rewind, try...ah ha! Honestly, we'll have you hooking in no time!

I will check the tutorials, thankyou ladies

I found THIS TUTORIAL really good. Then all you need is a 4" hook (many of us love the Clover Amour) and some yarn. Stylecraft Special DK in certain shades as per the opening post if you want to join us doing some squares or whatever takes your fancy for you You can chat here either way 😊

I, personally, found starting a square the hardest bit, but once I got going I was fine, so don't give up.

I'll shut up now in case you're just being polite 🤣

Tw1nset, sorry that you needed a blanket but so glad that it's bringing you comfort. Sending you lots of good luck and my very best wishes for the 24th
A few of us on here hadn't learnt to crochet until recently. The tutorials are great, though at first I thought I'd never get it but suddenly it all clicked. I love it, it's very relaxing and it certainly helps to pass time.

Wand! Ha! I much prefer that to hook!

Evening !
wipes sweat off brow. Done!, It is almost the same as the picture ,( if you close one eye and squint) .I left off the last 3 rows, as that would have made it 8" , but did a round of dc to make it easy to join. I am quite pleased with it.
Lavender/Meadow/Boysenberry,

That's really pretty book! Flowers aren't too difficult, they look like they'll be trickier than they actually are!

The flowers were okay actually, it was the leaves - they were made in one round and reattached on further rounds. I think it was a poorly written pattern as much as anything. The repeat * and brackets made no sense , so I kept doing it wrong, and then realising what it meant!

My candy pile is growing nicely and I will admit to hooking my most of recent square with many many thoughts of a friend who has just been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (sp???)

& for CT x

for your friend MrsD and for you.

book that square is lovely!

Tw1nset I like the attic24 blog too. It's photos rather than a video tutorial, but they're very clear and show you exactly where to put your hook. I couldn't crochet in rows very confidently until I followed one of her projects. Then I did a whole blanket! This is a picture of the attic24 picot flowers I made. They're a nice little thing to do.

I've made a square today using the shell stitch for the hydrangea blanket. My sister bought me a wool warehouse voucher for my birthday so I could buy the kit. I happily ordered my kit (and a few other bits) this evening and forgot to use the voucher! I shall have to do another order now. It's such a shame

MrsD for friend.
Norm -I shall return the compliment , the square and flowers are lovely!
I am doing some from a set of patterns by Priscilla Hewitt - I did one of hers in the lipstick/saffron set , and liked how it looked. So I decided to do a few more. I have to adjust as most are 7 " or 8" This one is the Irish Rose , without the pretty border
Patterns Here

for your friend, *MrsD.

book, I have saved that link! I'm working through my library book at the moment (I'm on no 12 out of 100). But plenty to keep me going once that gets recalled! Lovely squares from you and Norman.

I've mostly been saving up my crocheted and knotted squares for one big photo, but I've just done this and I'm chuffed with it, one slightly characterful corner aside. DH is (sensibly) asleep, so I can't even get a noncommittal ahmmmm from him, so you lot get a photo instead .

not going to talk about the peskies

Spin that's beautiful!

Thank you for the flowers. By all accounts friend is doing well. It has been a whirlwind for her. Dr's because she was feeling unwell. Blood tests done. Phone call to say "hospital NOW" and chemo underway.

I'm off to the library later today. I might have a look at the crochet section. who am I kidding I'll be taking out every damn book in the place

MrsD charity shop book sections are also worth a browse. Not quite as cheap as the library, but you get to keep the book.

Never thought of that !

I'll have a look thanks

morning!
Spin that is a thing of beauty. That bump is very creative
MrsD - I borrowed the Jan Eaton book from the library - there was a waiting list, so had to take it back. I may have made sure I can use the patterns though.... I took some photos naughty me. I have scoured the charity shops too! -( Not many for crotchet, but if I see another card making magazine !) Don't forget to look in the book section. Jux and I both have the Good Housekeeping Book of Needlecraft, and that has a good crotchet section.