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Woolly hugs

Woolly Hugs is a charity established by a group of Mumsnet users. They knit / crochet handmade blankets and other items for families experiencing difficult times.

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

497 replies

KnottyAndPistey · 17/10/2017 17:05

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 Gin

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

Thanks
Zombie and Woolly Hugs. ALL very welcome to join us, come and find out about her legacy of Candy’s Hugs.
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MadisonAvenue · 22/10/2017 09:52

book lovely to hear that he's doing well! It'll be lovely when he goes back in the lead up to Christmas, such a fantastic time of year in infant schools!

Drop that looks lovely! The colours are fab!

I'll be posting these this week (with another one or two time permitting).

Zombie and Woolly Hugs. ALL very welcome to join us, come and find out about her legacy of Candy’s Hugs.
RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 22/10/2017 21:16

Evening all Halloween Smile just checking in to the shiny new thread!

I'm in the middle of packing for a sneaky half term trip, alas not Italy - Center Parcs (no bumsex jokes allowed Halloween Wink ) and I've snuck in a little travel pack of crochet for Candy's hugs. I've been a little remiss recently as I've been doing other projects but I've caught up now (and finally finished that bloody unicorn that I started back in July - me and stuffed toys are probably not going to be a thing Halloween Grin ) so I can hopefully have a nice run of vibrant riot squares for a while Halloween Smile

WitchDancer · 23/10/2017 09:34

Morning. Just catching up after being away with 40 children camping over the weekend. Needless to say I didn't get time to crotchet!

In other news my Aunt has liver cancer and is going downhills super fast. There's nothing I can do as they live rather a long way away. Bit of a blow to say the least as I saw her for the first time in 40 years last year. 😔

Today is a day for unpacking, sewing on badges, and tidying. Oh and at some point doing a bit of paperwork. Once that's done I've some Woolly Hugs to make!

MadisonAvenue · 23/10/2017 11:02

Morning Witch, so sorry to hear about your Aunt 🙁
Sounds like quite a weekend you've had! Was it something like Guides or Scouts?

bookbook · 23/10/2017 11:17

Morning!
DropZone - that is lovely! - And yes, I think it would look lovely with a granny edge, I think a shell or picot might look wrong .
Madison yes, he is just at the right age :) Those squares are great - I particularly love the ones with flowers on :)
Raptor - I feel the pain - I am about to start stuffing a toy for virtually the first time - I'm not really looking forward to it tbh !
Witch - oh gosh, after all the trials and tribulations you have already had, that is not good news - so sorry to hear about your Aunt. But by goodness, you need a medal - 40 children camping takes some bravery , and stamina . Definitely deserve some time to de stess with some crochet.
I am doing all sorts of bits - I have done a couple of 12" Manchester squares, and am in the middle of a 12" Candys ( apart from toy stuffing as well Grin ) - hoping to get everything ready, along with CTK's squares to post off at the end of the week. Where does the time go?

KnottyAndPistey · 23/10/2017 12:31

Oh witch - bless her, you too, so sorry to hear about your aunt xxx

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KnottyAndPistey · 23/10/2017 12:35

We are just starting to get the albums ready for our Christmas craft sale, it's our biggest fundraiser and helps keep all our rejects afloat and make sure anyone who wants to join in can.

Please do join us, it is all online, all joins and shares very gratefully received, and there are beautiful things to be had. Two thirds of any money will be going to Meningitis Now, we were inspired by CTK, bless her heart.

Thank you, please come Xmas Smile

[[www.facebook.com/events/1667565709971671
Tis over here.....]]

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KnottyAndPistey · 23/10/2017 12:35

rejects!!

PROJECTS

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bookbook · 23/10/2017 12:59
Grin
WitchDancer · 23/10/2017 13:07

Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

Camping was Beavers, Cubs and Scouts all together. I'm really not feeling it today.....

MadisonAvenue · 23/10/2017 13:19

Big age range there then. My husband assisted on a few camps while our boys were Scouts and he said how tiring it was. I managed to stay out of that side of it and was just the secretary, husband was the treasurer. We only went along to the AGM to see what was what and to look keen but we were the only parents who'd turned up so got voted into those roles 😂

MadisonAvenue · 23/10/2017 13:20

Forgot to ask, did you camp out during the storm??!

WitchDancer · 23/10/2017 13:43

It is hard work but I think they all enjoyed themselves. The scouts were in a lodge and the rest were indoor camping thank goodness! It was only mildly windy with a couple of light rain showers so it didn't affect any of the outdoors activities

MadisonAvenue · 23/10/2017 17:40

Thank goodness for indoor camping!
Having seen first hand the hours and days that those closely involved in Scouting etc put in, I'm in awe. My two are past that stage now but loved it, they were at a Sea Scouts group (yeah, in the landlocked Midlands haha).

WitchDancer · 23/10/2017 23:16

Hah Madison - we're in the Midlands too!

bookbook · 24/10/2017 15:17

Afternoon!
I have sent off a parcel of rejects project stuff this afternoon :)
Witch - definitely a medal. I only ever helped out at Brownies/Guides -
mostly as a chauffeur , and that was exhausting ( though why parents thought it okay to just chuck the children out at pick up and expect them to be delivered home without any thought or thanks is still beyond me ....)
I finished a 12" Candy's in Pomegranate and Lime , so the bag of stuff waiting to be sent is empty . Not for long though
So do I do hats for Chernobyl/Candys/Manchester/Kinship - mmmmm ponders .

Zombie and Woolly Hugs. ALL very welcome to join us, come and find out about her legacy of Candy’s Hugs.
NormansNipple · 24/10/2017 15:34

Just checking in. Loving all the colours and squares and frogs!

Sorry to hear all the bad news Flowers

I just got back from holiday, I've made a few little things for the Christmas craft sale but not managed to finish much else. I'm a bad Norman Grin

MadisonAvenue · 24/10/2017 15:48

I didn't realise you were a neighbour Witch! We're just to the north of Birmingham.

That's really lovely book I've just used up a ball of Lime and never though to team it with the new ball of Pomegranate that I have, they look beautiful together don't they! I'll know in future.

I've got the same dilemma. What to do next. I parcelled up my CTK and Candy squares at lunchtime, I'll post those tomorrow, so now I'm wondering what to start on next.

MadisonAvenue · 24/10/2017 15:49

Hello Norman!

bookbook · 24/10/2017 22:57

Hello Norm - - just as long as the holiday refreshed you ready for a winter of crotchet Grin
Thanks Madison - I was also a bit surprised at how well they go together ! I was using up my lime too , but then ran out, and had to finish with pomegranate to make it up to the right size , but it works better this way - and I was having to add rounds of trebles anyway :)

diamantegal · 24/10/2017 23:43

book and Madison, isn't it just so hard to choose at the moment - there's so much going on! I love your square though book - what's the pattern?

Plus I'm partway through a rainbow C2C blanket for my not so baby sister who will be having DN2 (niece or nephew, we don't know which) in a month or two. Although I'm not sure about that one as I made up my own rainbow by choosing colours that seemed to blend, and now my rainbow has 11 stripes. Hey ho.

And welcome back Norman! Are you planning more full blanket extravaganzas for Chernobyl this year? I remember being so impressed at how much you managed!

bookbook · 25/10/2017 08:44

well, I attempted a crotchet hat last night. Wanted to practise and see if I could make something wearable! I have some nice odds and ends of wool in my stash, so thought they might be useful for Chernobyl and refugees
diamante - pattern below. I will be honest- I don't know if I read it badly, but I had to fudge one of the rows, as I just couldn't get the stitch count right . And I had to add some rows to bring it up to 12" www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/popcorn-parade---12-square

MadisonAvenue · 25/10/2017 11:48

book I've started a hat this morning. We'll see how it goes. I found a free pattern on the Hobbycraft site so I'm trying that one.

KnottyAndPistey · 26/10/2017 08:29

Morning loves!

Any recommended free patterns for hats - please do message us with them, folk always ask and we only have a few!

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MadisonAvenue · 26/10/2017 10:05

Good morning! If this one I'm working on works out okay I'll let you know! I've never made one before so it's trial and error, but so far so good!