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

Maybe a picture would help with diagnosis Stitchit?

Morning chums!!

Just taken down the tree, DH is putting away the lights as he is very particular [eyeroll]

But it all seems so gloomy, still tis beautifully vibrant in here

Actually good news.....

Since the tree has gone my WOOLLY CORNER WILL RETURN!!!

Stitchit do your stitches line up? Google an image of garter stitch to see what it’s supposed to look like. If so, then the extra stitches must be at the ends (when you turn). If not, then in the middle eg picking up a loop like book suggests.

Our tree’s coming down this afternoon , to make space for the buggy DH uses (I’m a sling person).

Whoop whoop, my Woolly corner is back 😁. I may have too much wool as I've struggled to get it all back where it was 😊

Stitchit - it looks like there's something going on with the start and finish of each row but I'm not sure quite what?

That's right, you treat them like any other stitch. I'm hoping a guru will turn up and pass their wisdom on it. Sorry I can't be if more help

Whatever you are doing, you’re doing neatly and consistently!

After completing each and every stitch, you should have the same total number of stitches. After the first completed stitch of each row, you should have one stitch on the new needle (right hand if you are right handed) and N-1 on the other one. So cast on N stitches on one needle, then knit each one, now you’ve got N all on the other needle. Swap hands, yarn at the back, and off you go again.

Are you accidentally yarning over when you turn your work over or something like that?

Evening !
woolly corners ( and my messy heap) all present and correct after Christmas mayhem - yay!
Stitch - sorry , been rather busy today. but good you have seen what the problem is . It may be an idea to just slip that first loose stitch knit wise when you start off the new row and then tighten your yarn ready for the next stitch - that will help tighten it up :) Its all good experience!

Slipping a stitch just means transferring it from one needle to the other without making a new stitch.

Slipping knitwise means put your needle in the back of the stitch (as if to knit), then skip the stitch from needle to needle.

(If you put the needle in the front (purlwise) it’ll end up the other way round on the new needle.)

ah, Spin got there first !
yes, just put your right hand needle into the stitch as if you are going to knit the stitch, but just transfer it from the left needle to the right, without using the yarn. Then tighten the yarn and start knitting in the next stitch :)

I can’t remember what it’s called, but you can make a nice texture by doing
R1: knit every stitch
R2: [k1, slip 1] repeat to end of row
repeat those two rows to desired size.

No purling required!

Fingers crossed Stitch - my first parcel from them took ages too - very annoying!

Whoop whoop for the wool. Boo hiss for the morning sickness.

poor thing Stitch -my DD used stem ginger biscuits, they seemed to work better than gingernuts.
Good to hear the yarn turned up safe and sound - I wonder if they are taking notice of feedback on the packaging .
On line tutorials are great aren't they - its always easier to watch something - and beable to wind back again and again :)

Nairn’s ginger oatcakes helped with my (mild) nausea.

I’m writing this post from the canteen at work! Will have to bring wool next week.