Zombie and Woolly Hugs. ALL very welcome to join us, come and find out about her legacy of Candy’s Hugs.

[KnottyAndPistey]

Surely the best corner of the Mumsnet, all are welcome here and if seen this for the first time, join us, you'll be glad you did. 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.

A bit of background
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

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

We have several previous threads now, have a look at the Woolly Hugs topic.

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.

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 dates are October 28th and then January 28th. 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.

We start this new thread having sent out 46 Candy's Hugs to wonderful women, extraordinary, thank you.

Thank you so much xx

I just want to go arghhhhhhhhhh!
I have a lovely pattern, with totally useless instructions . I have slung it down in disgust after frogging back too many times

Stitch - Chernobyl is a joy , such a big range of colours, and such a lovely cause .

Happy 2018 all!

I finally finished DDs blanket on Christmas Eve, joining and bordering that in the week leading up whilst trying to keep it out of sight was no easy task. She loves it though so all worthwhile.

I'm on a kinship hug at the moment, but I keep running out of yarn! Had to buy grape today to finish two rounds on a 12", only to get home and realise the red I've been using isn't raspberry (Which I've got loads of) but pomegranate! So back to the shop tomorrow .... got distracted by mushroom which goes so well with the vintage colours but of course isn't in the palette so I had to leave it behind.

Aiming to finish that by next posting date so I can crack on with Chernobyl. I managed enough squares for half a blanket last year but I'm going to try a whole one this year.

And a glass raised to Zombie, may she rest in peace, for it's her legacy project that inspired me to buy a crochet hook and a ball of yarn and give it a go.

Congratulations Stitchit!

Stitchit that's lovely news! I hope all goes well, and that your crochet time isn't so badly affected this time!

Stitchit I first picked up a crochet hook about 11 months ago, during a similar period of insomnia. I can recommend that as a way of getting a lot of knitting and/or crochet done! I’ve never got nausea / sickness too badly, but my sleep is so much better than this time last year. Back to work next week (using up my leave by going back part time though) which will be detrimental to my crochet efforts (boo).

Drop I also did 10 squares last year (though at least one ended up in a Candy’s hug - I sent them with instructions to use wherever needed). I’m aiming for a whole blanket this year, and I’ve done 6 squares so far, with 3 on the go (one in each of my crochet stations).

Drop - thats lovely !
Stitch - hope it all goes well, and a bit easier this time :)
Thanks for the offer of help. I am going to look at the pattern with fresh eyes this morning and see. I may well come back and take up the offer!
DD and I are planning to make enough squares for a blanket this year. ( we managed to make enough last year between us ) and would love to actually construct it too . She is back at work full time this year though , but has started while on the Christmas break - I have done one , she has done 3 !( But I am trying to finish off constructing a Candys at the same time)
We will be having a quick start this year on them by looks of everyone - I was still knitting then, and the speed of crochet got me hooked, literally :)
Spin commiserations on having to go back ..it's hard when you enjoy being at home

Morning loves!

Stitchit DH is a SAHP, so we’re pretty fortunate that NHS maternity pay has allowed me to take 6 months off. (We both went part time when DD was born - neither of us were in secure jobs - and it quickly became apparent who was more suited to SAHing!)

By crochet station I mean hook and ball(s) of wool. Dining room, living room and next to DS’s cot - though that last one is a bit optimistic!

stitch congratulations! Wishing you a happy and healthy nine months

spin hope going back to work isn't too bad for you. Dare I ask what a crochet station is?

book what colours are you using got chernobs? Such a lovely range it's hard to choose

Drop , there were so many, that DD and I had a planning meeting!
We did it with an app on DDs phone. We chose a generic picture that we liked , then the app sorted out all the main colour components, and we went from there, its not a picture, just the colour tones. We have 4 'main' colours - Bluebell/Lapis/Pomegranate/Plum then 3 'accent' colours saffron/blush/meadow and joining colour is teal . Then we have decided on so many plain squares, and so many 'pretties' . Lets hope it looks as we imagined it!
Stitch - I cracked it! well- once I realised 'corner' meant 8 points , not 4
I did buy loads in the Deramores sale before Christmas , as it was £1.48 a ball, so I also have some of the other colours . If I can keep going, I will carry on after these with some more. :)
I have two crochet stations- main one is a heap around my armchair , the other is the spare bedroom where my Candys construction is . I have a nice rocking chair and a radio up there :)

Crochet station

book wow, what was the app, sounds amazing!

spin 🤣 ahh, I do have one after all!

Hi Drop - it seems its called ColourSnap , we used a stock image off pinterest, and matched the colours to the SSDK range - you can get it for android too by looks :)
HERE

K&P have been mentioned in dispatches ! Well done, and well deserved ( threads of the year in Site Stuff )

I've just started my first woolly hugs square! I've only recently learnt to knit, and after finishing a chunky knit scarf (far from perfect but made with love!) I'm feeling brave enough to attempt a square. I'm starting with a simple garter stitch square. I guessed at how many stitches to cast on, and it's only about 5 1/2 inches wide after a couple of rows. I'll knit a bit more tomorrow and see how it looks - is it ok to be slightly under 6 inches? Is there a minimum? I'm guessing squares can stretch a bit in construction but presumably there's a limit!

vulva-shaped buns wearing mascara and red lipstick

OK... ...

I got all the Candy’s colours a while back except Empire which was sold out. So I had to do another order, which I had to make up to £25...

I think re permanence of crochet stations, I get a free pass because they are technically feeding stations. That’s what I tell DH anyway.

My Deramores order came on Tuesday - sorry if I pinched any of your Stylecraft colours Stitchit! The FREE15 code gives you Free Delivery over £15, so it is worth buying 11/12 balls now.

I am now about 60-70% of the way through a rainbow stripe Chernobyl blanket. I started it just before Christmas. I decided to pick something relatively mindless to accompany the Christmas telly, but I'm back at work today so it will take me a lot longer to do the rest.

Erm ... I'm embarrassed by how many balls of Stylecraft I now have. I didn't think I would have time to do a whole Chernobyl blanket last year but ended up sending in 15 x 12" squares, so I reckoned I would start early this year. I have also bought some Stylecraft Aran to do "Hugs for Heads" for the Chernobyl appeal. I spent the best part of an afternoon trying to find the crafting info for that and failed, so I just ordered a couple of balls and have my fingers crossed it is OK.