Zombie and Woolly Hugs. OVER HERE!! Come and find out about her legacy of Candy’s Hugs, newcomers and old hands, all very welcome

[KnottyAndPistey]

Welcome to the most beautiful corner of Mumsnet, here the love and support is boundless, these are the folk you need to be around, come and join us, you'll not regret it :) Our inspiration comes from the wonderful Zombie, a true legend who continues to inspire us.

We knew her time left with us was short, but the news of Zombie’s death on January 30th was still a shock, we send so much love to her family and her many, many friends who love and will miss her greatly, we hold our happy memories of her very dear. Bless her.

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. X

So many blankets with beautiful women going through treatment now because of your love and support. Thank you doesn't even come close. xx

Raising a glass or two to the fabulous Zombie, we go on together

Anyone seeing this project for the first time, wondering about joining in, maybe a bit unsure, 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..

[[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 xx

oh, love those two colours together MrsH - is it saffron and violet?
Spin - forgot to say - hope you are okay in this heat - though it's rather cooler this morning :)

Thanks book - it wasn't hugely fun, if I'm honest!

I'm doing a blanket for DD and a stash-busting ripple blanket which might be a billies blanket or a little hug. And I've got an SSDK square on the go for out and about. And another knitted square in random acrylic because my crochet hook was squeaking in the heat / humidity and driving DH mad .

I've also offered to have a go at construction, with the proviso that I have an unknown amount of time in which to do it. Haven't heard back yet though!

I think they are very, very busy atm.
I am trying to get a few norks done, to send off next week , but knitting them is very slow going for me now I have been converted to crotchet
I have actually bought some lovely colours for the kinship hugs too. And some gorgeous wool from a charity shop which I can use for refugees ( 50p a ball for wool I know is about £7 normally!)

Does anyone know -if we are continuing with the colour schemes for Manchester? I know they are going to be continuing with them , but not sure if they are keeping the colour palette separate.

Morning!

I have ten houseguests at the mo which is lovely, but making woolly things almost impossible, am hopeful to be catching up with arrivals over the weekend!

Yes, I guessed there was much busy-ness chez K&P!

Good spot book, yes!

at squeaky hook - mine too! Makes me think I should invest in a nice set of bamboo

I too have been afflicted with the squeaky hook.

I'm really excited because I've just ordered some SSDK yarn cakes which have just come available at wool warehouse! I'm going to make some mini hugs. Looks like the weather is cooling down for a bit now.

I've also been working on a secret project for WH which is going really well and also contributing to my excitement!

I'm feeling left out now - my hook doesn't squeak ....
10 houseguests???

Those yarn cakes look lovely Norm , but I must not buy anymore wool! ( well, not just for the moment , anyway.... )
And you can't get away with that - a secret project ? totally unfair to tempt us with that....( you can just tell me - no one will notice )

It's good to see everyone! I've been doing stuff for the church fair, plus my sister suggested I crotchet a shawl for my nieces birthday, which isn't far away. 😱

I haven't had a squeaky hook either..... should I have? 🤔

Finished it not overwhelmed by my colour choices on this - maybe thats why the last rows felt a bit long to do
It is in Saffron/Lipstick/Sherbet/Petrol .
Aw lovely octopus - is that the one for premmies witch ?

witch that's lovely! Is it the bella coco pattern? I used her pattern to make some spirals for my secret project.

Lovely square book To be honest I have so much wool now I really shouldn't buy any more. I couldn't resist the yarn cakes though. I'm a sucker for them!

Here are my twirls

It is the Bella Coco one off you tube yes. I'm not sure if it could be used for a premi baby, I've just made it for the fair because I liked it 😊

Your twirls are better than mine Norman. I'm intrigued as to what the mystery project is!

Lovely square Book. I know what you mean about the last row being the longest - if I remember correctly my virus shawl took just over an hour on the last row 😱

Witch I made the twirls the normal way with trebles and then did a row of double crochet around the outside of the twirl in another colour. I love the virus pattern, I've not tried it yet. I thought I might do it for a little hug but it's quite holey so I'm not sure it's appropriate.

Evening!
Witch - mine was just a bit boring, but at least it didn't take an hour!
I have been crocheting a square from a book I have just got from the library. (Beautiful Blankets, Afghans and Throws by Leonie Morgan), but every row is a change of colour, lots of BPDC and stuff. So not got far....
lovely spirals/twirls :)

Interesting Norman - my twirls were just a chain and then two doubles in each chain stitch. I suppose mine needed to be doubles otherwise it would be disproportionate to the size of the head

Book BPCD???? No no no no - what have you got me into! I keep on looking at the Sophie's Universe, which is really stunning, but I think that would be running before walking

I've practised the shells blanket pattern by making a 6 inch square. Just to check I can do it before using my long awaited yarn cakes.

I struggle with Leonie Morgan patterns, I have her book beyond the square. She confuses me! Although that's not difficult to be fair.

Witch I will PM you about the mystery project, it will out me if I put it on here. I apologise for being annoying, I can't keep exciting secrets!

Afternoon
managed to watch a bit of tennis , and finish off the square from last night.
It is saffron/spice/meadow/shrimp/empire
The patterns in her book are pretty, but tbh, I'm not sure they are quite accurate - I had to sort out the corners myself, as she seemed to leave a stitch out , but that may be me reading it wrongly - I'm not very good at reading patterns yet.
I have done the shells in a Little Hug Norm - its just waiting to be posted off next week - it is a nice pattern to do, and once you have the hang of it , easy and relaxing :)

Beautiful, both of your squares. I'm on plain old granny at the moment, making a blanket for DS1. DS2 has one on order too. I need to give up work and everything else in order to have enough hours to crotchet everything I want to 🤓

Lovely squares everyone - and as for the octopus Witch, it's so cute!

book the square has come out really well. It's very different to the ones in Jan Eaton's book.

I'm just finishing a few squares and I'll send them with my boobs.

Brill squares (and Octopus) everybody

I'm on a bit of a go slow ATM (life has got in the way a little - DD's GCSEs and prom etc) but I'm slowly making my way through my stash and creating a little pile of squares. I need to crack on............ so I can buy more yarn I really want some of the new SSDK yarn cakes

Raptor I have yarn cakes I'm making a little hug with the coconut ice ones. Not sure about the others yet. You must get some though, they're so pretty

My name's Norman and I'm a yarn pusher....

Ooh norm that is lush

Maybe i need one to take on holiday in a couple of weeks.... One cake is far more space saving than lots of balls