Woolly Hug crew over HERE!! Chernobyl project 2017, our second thread

[KnottyAndPistey]

Welcome to our second thread supporting our Chernobyl project 2017, the end of the first one crept up on us!

For the last three years we have been making warm, comforting Little Hugs for Belarusian teenagers and children visiting the UK for recuperative holidays during the summer with the fabulous charity the Chernobyl Children's Project and Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline. Photos from previous projects can be found here..

Each year these marvellous charities bring children who live in the most contaminated area near the Chernobyl reactor over to the UK. In summer, when the dust causes radiation levels to rise, it becomes even more important for as many children as possible to leave their contaminated homeland for a few weeks of fresh air and clean food. The rates of childhood cancer are very high, the most common cancers being thyroid and leukemia. Coming to the UK for a four week break increases their immunity against the awful disease when they return home. Often these children are in remission. Sadly though there is a high chance of these children falling ill again. They all suffer living in such difficult conditions and with very little.

Last year 36 children, teens and their interpreters went home with a beautiful Woolly Hug. This year we are keen to help even more groups, so Liverpool, Gloucester/Leeds (same Leeds group but this year spending 2 weeks at each location) Portsmouth and Helpston, Northampton.

That is about 70+ blankets!! shock

With your help we know we can do this

Please do join us, here’s how..

Crafting Information

• We would like 12" squares in bright and cheery Stylecraft Special DK colours.
• PLEASE AVOID USING black, bright green, bright pink, browns, greys, citron, sunshine, fiesta, jaffa and any pale pastels, white or cream for practical reasons. This will help squares fit together more easily.
• 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.
• We will be happy to accept 6" squares if making a 12" one feels too much.
• Crochet or knitted, 4mm hook or needles. Single colour, mixed colour, simple, complex.
• No blocking and please sew in pesky ends.
• If needed, we can supply yarn. Let us know if we can send to you.
• Posting of squares please to the South Coast address, PM if you need it. star

If you think you’d like to make a whole blanket that is WONDERFUL, but please contact us first. We will be asking for gender neutral blankets which are 48 inches by 60m, but would just like to chat to you first, thank you!

Supporting with funds
If anyone would like to donate funds to support this, we would be so grateful. Please PM us for the donation info. Thank you xx

Can anyone help with extras?
There are a few extras which we will be collecting too alongside squares, items which really help, if you would like to add in any of these we would love to receive them for the children, thank you, bless you.

Underwear aged 10 plus. New only

• Adult size socks (one size fits all) new
• Toothbrushes, single packed please
• Hairbrushes
• Toiletries, toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo etc, but not bars of soap please.
• Sanitary Towels
• Plasters
• Vitamins, please check suitable for 10 years+
• Any little luxuries that teens might love, eg hair clips, make up bits, stickers etc.

If you would like to add 50p in when you post squares for ice creams that would be so kind, we will split any money we receive between the groups.

Last posting of squares (plus whole blankets) and any extras is Saturday 8th April

No later please as we have to get on and sort at the end of that following week. Thank you. The rush will be on as the first group, Portsmouth arrive in May.

What a big ask! Good grief!

But the fabulous Woolly Hug crew never fail to amaze, last year was an astonishing team effort, as the photo shows, we know that together we can do this.

On behalf of these children and their families, a huge THANK YOU.
Actually, thank you doesn't really come close.

Us xxx

• Photo is the collection from last year that went to the Portsmouth group. star

Bear she sounds absolutely gorgeous. Those big gummy smiles are so heartwarming! Fingers crossed for good news from her scan!

Chipping I very rarely drink (though I could murder a bottle of something very strong right now!) and we don't offer her anything as, shall we say, she's not a happy drunk and doesn't know when she's had enough.
Son's fine-ish, thanks. Both sons inherited a blood disorder from me which doesn't cause any major problems and up until now they've just been seen annually. The older one seems to deal with it okay but the youngest' been getting a bit tired, more than normal in that he comes home from college and goes to bed, so we mentioned it to the paediatrician when we saw him last October and he referred him to a paediatric haematologist, and that was who we saw this week for the first time. Should add that the disorder can cause gall stones and they both have regular scans and both have stones, although no pain yet. Anyway, the haematologist immediately said that she wants him to have his gall bladder removed before it causes him any problems, and that will be ASAP so all plans for the Summer are on hold. We were looking at going on holiday but that's not important.

Haha yes, poor dog's shattered! Husband is too as he's had to work today, which was a site visit 200 miles away and has to go into the office tomorrow to start working on the information he brought back from site. He's going in at the crack of dawn so that he can be back to take his mother out, because she wouldn't be understanding about any change of plans.

Aww you posted while I was writing my essay Bear! She's absolutely gorgeous, she looks very relaxed! Hasn't she got a good head of hair!
The bootees are so sweet!

hah!
I was popping on a post, when google unexpectedly quit. Obviously didn't like my latest square. Only got one done as DH decided to stay home instead of going out tonight ....
Madison - gosh - thats a stressful weekend you have, on top of the worries on DS - hope you can find a quiet corner to relax...

I know I'm tired now - thats a Candys hug square, but it is a backup Chernobyl if needed....

book I get confused posting between the two threads even when I'm not tired. That's another lovely square
Thanks

Bear she's adorable! I'm due in July, so taking notes from you and Nerr.

I've got a bit of a stash of acrylic, which I think is DK - it's not far off anyway. Once my Candy's stash is looking a bit depleted, I'll get some refugee stuff done - I might even branch out into things that aren't squares.

Thanks bookbook, we're hoping she'll be able to come out of it completely or if not then at least have her be allowed out if it for a few hours each day (she's allowed out for an hour at the moment).

Madison, she's got loads of hair, DD(5) who was born with none has serious hair envy.

Sleep Spindelina, sleep as much as humanly possible. Is this your first?

Norks that's a great idea for using up peskies, I'm stealing that! Soup, might try yours too, my hoover has a clear cylinder so once they make it past the brushes they'll look nice and colourful whizzing around in there.

I'm going to read up on the refugee project. I have a wool drawer now two after spending my mother's day voucher at Wool Warehouse and needing somewhere to store it. While I was sorting I found some things I made for bear cub that turned out to be far too small, I vastly underestimated her size. I have a hat and mitts, two bonnets and a pair of booties, all tiny sized. If they fit the requirements for the project I'll send them.

Absolutely gorgeous day here today, I'm headed for the garden once I manage get out of bed.

Also what are yarn pegs used for, aside from helping to work out colour combinations?

Morning!
they take all sizes at the refugee appeal . I made hats and mittens with bits of Sirdar crofter left over from DGS knitting, and then squares for blankets too with some wool I bought years ago to make blanket for prams/buggies and never used.
Bear - Wednesday 12th is the scan?
Spin - the best people are born in July!

Bear this will be my second. book my DD is also a July baby- my due date is one day off being exactly five years after her due date was.

Sleep is, unfortunately, one of the things that pregnancy is screwing up. I'm waking at 4 or 5 most mornings and not being able to get back to sleep. However, I am using the time very productively: can you guess how ?

Absolutely agree about the best people being born in July

Madison - yes!
Spin -( tries to recall from the mist of times being pregnant ) -I was always so hot - I never slept on a night I seem to remember. Hope you are resting during the day to make up :)

Can someone let me know where I should have posted my squares to yesterday please :)

Soup I've just sent it.

Thanks :)

I've just darned the ends in on the second rainbow square.

That sounds like a nice one. I am part way through a 12" for Refugees but will be diverted to Chernobyl if they need more. I need to sort out colours as I am not very good at mixing them together.

went to hastings today and the pier had been thoroughly yarn bombed It made me squeal with delight

I'm down near there tomorrow... not sure I can persuade the SmallDragons they want to look at a yarn bombed pier though!

This is my second square. Lovely, but the ends! Oh, the ends....

Been a busy weekend, just catching up.

Chipping That's a good idea about giving peskies to nursery school. I've just stumbled across a tutorial that ELIMINATES PESKIES. Well, sort of. It eliminates the need to use the needle and you just weave them in using the hook instead and if you do the whole thing then there's nothing to cut off. It's the No Needle Needed tutorial. Thanks for the other tutorial links, I'll have a look in a bit.

Soup That's another good peskies idea. I'm not advanced enough for amigurumi yet, but one day! I can't be doing with knots but I imagine something made like that would look good! I've been leaving mine in a pile on the coffee table (occasionally putting them on the cat's head) before just dumping them unceremoniously into the bin. I'm in awe of that rainbow square.

book DH was good enough to take photos of our allotment and show me when he got home yesterday - it's looking good, I can't wait to eat all the things! Long term ill, as in forever, managed with medication but it doesn't touch some of the symptoms. I'm not housebound but an afternoon allotmenting would exhaust me for a few days so I only really go out when I can't avoid it. I'll try your technique for attaching flower and see how I go.

Normans I LOVE that your cat has his own MN name! I can't think of one for mine, it was hard enough coming up with his actual name.

Norks I think you win the for what to do with peskies, that is genius! I'd love to see a rainbow-y woolly birds nest

Bear Your little babybear is beautiful, I love her little boots!

---

I spent all of Sunday figuring out how to do wavy stripes, going wrong, starting again, and again, and again, until I got it. I've only done about 6 rows of a square so far but I like how it looks a bit sort of 3D. I'll post a picture when it's finished. It's slow-going.

Morning all. I returned very late last night from my glorious birthday weekend in Rome. DD1 was an amazing tour guide. We did the hop-on-hop-off bus tour which was good for working out where everything was and DS loved being on the open topped bus, but we really only saw things for ourselves when DD1 was guiding us. Over the three days we walked over 42,000 steps. Good job too - I needed something to walk off all the pasta, wine and gelato. She's now busy trying to catch up on three months of UK tv

Thank you all for the nice things you have said about my blanket. I'm going to do a few squares for Candy now, but I'm also trying to crochet blankets for some of DD2's friends who are heading off to uni in the autumn.

Spin my DDs are five years and 1 week apart. I liked it when they were little because the older one was busy with friends at school during the day so didn't really notice how much time and attention a new baby needed.

And I think you'll find all the best people are born in April

Woolly glad you had such a lovely time, and I love the idea of the blankets for the new uni students.

We have quite a few April birthdays here. My lovely friend, my cousin, my sister, my Dad and it was also my Grandad's birthday. Our youngest was due in April too but stubbornly refused to arrive until May. It's an expensive time of year as it's also my husband's and my mother in law's in early May.

I got my squares in the post this morning - to the Teddington address as it was a mixed parcel.

Next year I would hope to be able to commit to a whole blanket. With other things that are ongoing at the moment, I wasn't sure I would have managed it this year.

Afternoon
Been busy and will be this afternoon, so no hooking until later this evening.
Woolly - I haven't been to Rome . I will give an inch on April - my DD was an April baby :)
Madison - hope yesterday went off smoothly!
Purple - I know where you are coming from. I ended up doing 26 squares, so I could have done a complete blanket, but as it was the first time ever for such a thing, I had no idea. After seeing Poulter's and Woollys blankets, I am thinking maybe next year....

these are on the way

and these:

and finally. as it would not send three photos at once for some reason