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

My problem on that square is I did the wrong stitch size, so its a bit flat! :)

It still works, though, book, and very prettily too.

You are all putting me to shame! I haven't actually completed any more squares despite so much more lovely wool!

Jux - are you sat admiring it ? :) We all have other things to do , and busy lives - I was feeling rather guilty at not getting some more Candys done - so much for my grand ideas over summer !

Life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of crotchet & knitting! It's either that or too many projects for the time available!

Yes, book that's abut it! I have cleared a bookcase and am planning how to dispose all my wool in it. Do I do it by colour? Or project? Ihave printed out lists of colours required for projects and think I may attach them to the bookcase to show what each section is for. Or maybe that would be confusing as some colours cross projects..... such decions

Such decisions Jux. I have pretty butterfly boxes for mine, which are sort of by project and then one for leftovers and another for stuffing, knitting round needles, crotchet loom and other stuff. Then I've got a basket for my current projects, which seems to have 3 different things in at the moment.....

Oh and then there's a couple of cardboard boxes of wool, and then some Wool Warehouse bags of wool, and then a couple of kits to do, which are all shoved down the side of the settee......

Oh and the couple of boxes on order, which may have to go under the bed.....

My name is WitchDancer and I have a wool habit! 😊

you need some sort of Ven diagram for interconnecting colours Jux
I have got sidetracked tonight with some wool from my stash - so actually started a shawl ( very first one....)

A Venn diagram! Brilliant idea! (And now I have the excuse to procrastinate a bit more - I have to find my geometry set in order to do perfect circles. And I'll need my protractor for the correct interlocking angles.....)

"Just wanted to say again thank you so much for my mum's blanket (a Candy's Hug). It gave her such comfort in her final days, and she told me to keep it after so it could comfort me too. My kids love being wrapped up in it because my mum told them it was a hug from her to them, so if they're sad or missing her they can get their own big hug.

The work you do is incredible, and there aren't words for how much your kindness and generosity lifted our family at the worst time. I spent the night she died wrapped in the blanket, and it was such a comfort. Thank you xxx"

So much love to R and her family, so glad the blanket continues to bring comfort. Thank you lovely crafters and donors, what you do is extraordinary xxx

It was this message that made me start making a hug for my Dad - so that my Mother would have something after he'd gone. Unfortunately the end came for him much sooner than we thought and I hadn't made very much. He died in Zimbabwe and his Hospice nurse told us that some of her patients were so poor they had no pyjamas, mattresses or bedding. They lay on the bare floor. So what started off as his hug will be finished off for Billie's Blankets. So it ends up in Africa as it was meant to. Making these squares for the various projects has brought me such comfort. It is such an honour to be part of this.

Did I kill the thread? Sorry.

Could anyone suggest a 12" round to square pattern? Thanks.

Hi, Okki. I have been on CTK's thread, temporarily!

I need opinions! I have shrimp in SSDK, and dh thinks I should team it up with grass green which is similarly bright. I have got to the point where I have to make a decision, do I use grass green with it, or something els (not plum, I've done that already in a different square). Aaagh, I'm finding shrimp quite a hard colour to work with!

What about sherbet or magenta?

Though which colour would you be using more of? I really like grass green but do find other colours can become a bit lost against it sometimes.

I'm here, just not been doing Candys -( Just been finishing a Manchester square) and busy with other things for WH .
Jux - I've done shrimp with lavender also petrol ( or empire - much the same) , meadow . Sherbet would work too as Okki suggests

Okki
I have done this 12" circle to square ( well, I had to add a few rounds of treble , but hey! )
)www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/squaring-the-big-circle

link fail HERE

I'm here, in the middle of kinship at the mo as I fancied a colour change and love the vintage palette.

This is a Shrimp/Lilac/Magenta combo. Not sure how well the colours are showing up though.

Thanks for the link book.

Thanks for the suggestions, Okki and book, I have some of those and will be brave with the grass green!

Nice pattern, book. Did you do the same colour change places or did you do your own thing?

DropZone, it's a lovely set of colours isn't it? I'm lucky enough that among the massive basket of wool my friend gave, there is the pale rose and the parchment, so I can enjoy doing some squares for kinship, too.

Ooh Okki, those colours do work. They're lovely squares!

Thanks Jux. I'm making a blanket for DD for Christmas. It's slow going as I'm doing it in secret

Jux - I did it for some Manchester squares when the call came . I did two in the same two colours , just starting the colours the other way round. Here is a picture of all the squares I did for that , and they are the blue/pale duck egg ones.

book they're lovely, it works really well doesn't it?