Woolly Hugs. Chernobyl 2018 is HERE!!!

[KnottyAndPistey]

We are delighted to be launching our Chernobyl Project 2018!

For the last four years we have been making warm, comforting Little Hugs for Belarusian teenagers and children visiting the UK for recuperative holidays during the summer with the fabulous charity the Chernobyl Children’s Project and Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline.

Each year these marvellous charities bring children who live in the most contaminated area near the Chernobyl reactor over to the UK. In summer, when the dust causes radiation levels to rise, it becomes even more important for as many children as possible to leave their contaminated homeland for a few weeks of fresh air and clean food. The rates of childhood cancer are incredibly high the most common cancers being thyroid and leukaemia. Coming to the UK for a four week break increases their immunity against the awful disease when they return home. Often these children are in remission. Sadly though there is a high chance of these children falling ill again. They all suffer living in such difficult conditions combined with chronic poverty.

We have spoken to all the groups we sent to last year, some are still confirming their funding etc and not all host every year, but already confirmed are…

Isle of Wight
Peterborough/Helpston
Bristol
Gloucester/Leeds
And we are chuffed to be introducing the Ayrshire group this year too!

There are other groups we can contact, but will just wait to hear from last year first. So this year we look like we are aiming for approx 115 blankets but this may change. It is a good place to start with!

The last posting date for squares and blankets made by individuals for our Chernobyl 2018 project will be Saturday 7th April, to the Teddington address, message if you need it!

No later please as we have to get on and sort very soon after. Thank you.

Please do join us, here’s how..

• Yarn is Stylecraft Special DK – ONLY this please, inc for any embellishments.
• Squares to be 12 inch ideally, or 6 inch if that is too much.
• Knit and crochet equally welcome. Beginner or more experienced crafters also equally welcomed.
• Please use a 4mm hook or needles. No blocking please, and please ensure you are knotting off very thoroughly when colour changing or finishing, leave a 6cm end and use a needle to sew it in.
• We are asking folk to avoid using a magic ring (crochet) to start as find that these don’t seem to always stand up to the pressures of wash and wear.
• Squares to be single colour, multi colour, textured, whatever you like, they will be wonderful, thank you.
• If you’d like to make a whole blanket, please use these colours too, makes thing easier at the giving stage! Whole blankets need to be 48 inches by 60 inches with some kind of border please.

Supporting with funds
If anyone would like to donate funds to support this, we would be so grateful. Our paypal is [email protected] . Cheques and cash are very welcome too, just PM for the address. We are grateful for every single penny.

The Palette
Aspen
Aster
Bluebell
Blush
Boysenberry
Bright pink
Burgundy
Candy floss
Citron
Claret
Cloud blue
Cypress
Denim
Duck egg
Emperor
Empire
Fondant
Fuchsia pink
Grape
Grass green
Kelly green
Lapis
Lavender
Lime
Lincoln
Lipstick
Lobelia
Magenta
Meadow
Mustard
Pale Rose
Parchment
Petrol
Pistachio
Plum
Pomegranate
Raspberry
Saffron
Sage
Sherbert
Shrimp
Spice
Storm blue
Teal
Tomato
Turquoise
Violet

To find out what about things we are collecting read more here....

Hugs for Heads
After the success of Fife last year, we thought how lovely it would be to send all children a cosy hat to take home with their blanket this year, so introduced Hugs for Heads, if you would like to knit or crochet a child’s hat size age 8 to adult (most are teens) in machine washable yarn, we would love to receive it for them. The pattern is up to you., we do have yarn available, please message us. Last posting the same as squares.

What a big ask! Good grief!
But the fabulous Woolly Hug crew never fail to amaze, last year was an astonishing team effort, we know that together we can do this.

On behalf of these children and their families, a huge THANK YOU.
Actually, thank you doesn’t really come close. xxx

(pic is the Isle of Wight group last year)

Well, progress of sorts. Took a while to get going but that's because knitting needles are apparently much more fun to play with than a crochet hook (although he's tried both!).

But have managed a few rows of garter stitch - it's very loose but that's fine - all good practice!

Just dropping in to read all the posts .
Been a bit frantic here , so I am still awaiting DD's last square before I can start making up our blanket . ( To be fair - her house has been plague ridden - first her DH really poorly, then DGS not so poorly with chicken pox ) . So crochet has been a bit hit and miss .
TQ - that is a bonny square
diamante - thats an amazing square, and the knitting is lovely and even ( better by far than my first crochet attempts after years knitting)
Spin - I love our Wilkos- though they closed the easy to get to one, and moved it to a shopping centre I don't go past very often now , sadly.

Love these squares!
I'm just boxing mine up to send.

Hope good health is soon restored in your daughter's house book

I miss our local Wilko. They threatened to close a few years ago when the centre owners increased their rent but stayed when the increase was cancelled. The same happened again but the owners pushed the increase through and they closed last year, the ridiculous things is that the owners have, for the last year, been getting no rent at all on the large unit that Wilko occupied! Our nearest one now is 10 miles away.

They threatened to close a few years ago when the centre owners increased their rent but stayed when the increase was cancelled. The same happened again but the owners pushed the increase through and they closed last year, the ridiculous things is that the owners have, for the last year, been getting no rent at all on the large unit that Wilko occupied! Our nearest one now is 10 miles away.

This has happened to our entire bloody town centre because the council simply couldn't see that 100% of is more than 0% of . They've built a new extension to the main shopping drag, all angles and glass, and no fucker is taking up the units because town is deserted and the rent is too high. Even some of the headliners have dropped out. So there's a supermarket (which previously wasn't in the town at all) and a cinema (ditto) and nothing else. They're losing tens of thousands a day in lost income/interest payments on the build. ARGH.

Bath is full of high-end retail, which is lovely, but no use if you want £2 knitting needles from Wilkos. I have got mail order from them before.

It's why I shop in the slightly further away but more deprived town, where Wilkos nestles in with an independent pound shop, Peacocks, Farm Foods, The Works, Home Bargains, Superdrug, etc and a handful of charity shops. Precinct always bustling.

The naicer town still has a wool shop but it doesn't stock anything useful for WH so no point going in unless you want to pay £1 for a single square of felt for a child's craft project.

That's happened in our small town too, shops closed due to exorbitant rent hikes so no rent coming in, so further hikes for those few that remain....... We've jusr gained an M&S at the petrol station -great you say, but most people who live here can't afford to shop there so it really is just for the tourists going on to Cornwall.

Hope your dd's household are rallying, book.

Saw this and thought of WH DH is being trained up for peskies duty.

We don’t have a car and we live within easy walking distance of the city centre. Otherwise we’d probably do the same, MrsH.

Our local town centre is poor. It's full of nail salons, barbers, estate agents and opticians. We do have two Poundlands though. There isn't even a wool shop, just a stall on the market which doesn't really sell anything decent. I'm getting my hair cut on Saturday though in another nearby town which has a really excellent wool shop though

It's quite exciting though that work has now started on a designer outlet mall, 80 shops I think in the first phase and it means that our rail services will improve too, and it's right on the edge of the town centre so is easily walkable. I bloody love outlet malls when we go to the US so to have one just a short walk from home might be dangerous!

We have a cheap yarn shop in town and stall out of town along with the wool shop in the suburbs so it seems we are quite lucky.

Anyway, I have been putting my sunglasses on to crochet. Not done so much this year. Only on number 5.

We have quite a few places to buy wool but the only place that sells stylecraft is a lovely little boutiquey yarn shop which is very dangerous to my bank account!!

We have one dedicated yarn shop and one lovely fancy yarn section of a gallery. I went to the dedicated place and spent £40 today . Is there an "Ashamed of my craft hoard" thread anywhere

you just have to join everyone else on here in denying its a problem Sally .
I have just got tickets for 'Spring Into Wool" in Leeds in April . I suspect the bank account may take a battering!
I'm sort of lucky here in a small market town - we have two 'cheap stuff' shops that sell cheap wool , needles etc then about 12 miles away another bigger market town which has a Boyes , which sells some Stylecraft, at a good price. The big town 15 miles the other way has a proper yarn shop, but I don't go very often as its a holiday hot spot and full of tourists!
DGS is now scabbed over, so thank you Jux - yes back to normal service before the next thing! Just one more square from DD and I can get going ..I have actually made another 3 squares for the next one ( fingers crossed - if we don't do enough, I can send them in as is)

Our wool shop has just closed down

Jux is Warwick uni still in the frame? You know where Wool Warehouse is, right...?

Just popping in to see how all my favourite MNers are doing 😊

There are some pretty squares!

I’m sorry I’ve not been around (though many may be grateful 🤣) and sadly I’ve not managed any squares yet, I had a lot done this time last year. Too much on and really exhausted with ‘tired eyes’ (related to another health condition) so finding crochet hard going. I’ll try to do better over the next couple of weeks, not long before the final posting date now and not a cat in hells chance of getting a whole blanket done.

I live in a small village - there’s never been ‘proper’ shops here (like WH Smith or clothes shops) but it used to have a couple of greengrocers, a gift shop, etc but no more and all the shops that do close get replaced by Indian takeaways, kebab places or real estate agents. The local town is actually quite good, but has the most awful carpark so we don’t go often and the other two big towns near by aren’t what they used to be but kind of ok. The saddest is our nearby Market Town, it used to be pretty with a good mix of nice and useful shops but is going downhill with sort of pop up discount shops (like Poundland but not). Same as everyone else - Council rates. Clearly the offer big discounts to temporary users. Our Woolshop is still there and I do go there, but they’re a lot more expensive than woolwarehouse and because the rest of the town isn’t great and full of road works, street repairs etc it’s a hassle. But I do TRY to support them or we will lose them too :( Unfortunately they don’t stock WHwool other than Stylecraft.

bookbook sorry to hear about DD’s house of illness! My ‘Favourites’ in Ravelry is ridiculously full. Even if I knit/crochet 24/7 until I drop dead I’ll never use a fraction of what’s in there 😣.

I've caught up a bit, 14 squares completed although 5 of those still need to be de-peskied. Fingers crossed I have enough yarn to finish the blanket.

I live in a big village with a quaint high street with various posh homeware shops but not much use for day to day shopping. Nearest town has a fabric shop which stocks some SSDK - around 20 colours but never the ones I want to use!

Spin, her heart's set on Exeter, but Warwick's still a possibility; it'll come down to cost of accom, as both offers are the same. I did not know Wool Warehouse was there! I wonder if that's enough to persuade her on my behalf......

Having (inadvertently) started the high street debate, for completeness I feel I should add my bit. Work town centre has a little wool shop, but it's so pricey, it's better to do an order on line and pay postage. Whereas home town centre is home to a big John Lewis so great for general browsing but rubbish for Stylecraft. So Wool Warehouse do well out of me!

Anyway, for those of you bemoaning the lack of Wilkos, it was a false economy anyway. Couldn't get on with metal needles as everything kept slipping off, so have invested in some bamboo needles from Amazon. Progress is slow, but it is progress.

And hello to Chipping. I love how you pop in to cheer everyone on! Sorry life is tricky right now - if anything, that's the attraction of crochet/knitting for me - really helps me unwind and I'll be forever grateful to Zombie for inspiring me to pick up a hook. It's a lot better than wine (although right now I have both!) 🍷

Here is my first ever granny square. It's not the greatest but it's a start. Thank you for the advice earlier in the thread and for the beginners thread.

Pssh and pshaw - it's square which is a lot more than could have been said about my first efforts. Welcome to the hookers!

That's really good Vintage, especially given that it's your first square!

I've had so many attempts and gone wrong all over the place so many times, but something seemed to just click last night. I've been trying for over a year and it's down to all you lovelies that I finally got it.

Well done Vintage that's lovely - amazing in fact for a first square!