Author: Ed – admin

Always thinking of beautiful Billie.

The Billie’s Blanket Project

Since the beginning, the aim of the Little Hugs has been to provide little blankets that give comfort to babies and small children who are seriously ill in hospital. This project is an extension of that and was launched in 2013 as a tribute to beautiful Billie who died at 14 from leukaemia. In her name, we send little blankets to children who really need a woolly hug and to feel loved and looked after.

We work with the wonderful organisations World Child Cancer and the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline and are arranging for Little Hugs to be sent to children suffering from cancer in low and middle income countries. In these countries their overall chance of survival can be under 10% compared to around 80% in high income countries such as ours. The first collection of Billie’s Blankets went in April 2013 to Malawi, most recently to Vietnam and Belarus.

These children need all the love and comfort possible. So please, in memory of a sparkling young girl who always thought of others, we’d love you to help us help them. As ever, thank you so much for your support.All crafting info is below.

Next delivery will be to the Minsk Children’s Cancer Hospital. Last posting for this please Monday 1st June 2020.

We’d love your help, this is how :

• You can help by either making a whole blanket, Minimum size: 24 inches by 24 inches. If you would like to make a blanket that is bigger, that would be lovely. The children are aged 0 to 14 so we will need bigger blankets too. Suggested yarn: Stylecraft Special DK, a soft, non-scratchy acrylic yarn. If you would like to make a whole blanket, you could use a different weight and make of acrylic yarn. The essential thing is that it needs to be soft against sensitive and delicate skin and that it can be washed and dried quickly and easily. Or……
• Colours: Your choice. Although for practical reasons, we advise avoiding white and cream.
• Things to avoid: Any embellishments that could scratch delicate skin or could be swallowed.If you would like to take part in this project but feel you can’t due to the costs involved, please message us and we’ll try to help with materials.If you would like to contribute towards materials, you can either donate via Paypal here on our Woolly Hugs website or if you do not have Paypal, please message us.

From Word Child Cancer
Your blankets are beautiful and I’m sure they provide great comfort to the children who you make them for. I’m sure the children would love them. Unfortunately
most of the children we see at our projects are not able to survive their cancer due to the poor conditions, lack of knowledge and the high cost of medicine in the worlds poorest countries. In these cases we encourage palliative care for the children through our twinning partners who provide training for local project staff on the importance of this care, especially in pain relief. Psychosocial care is also very important and an area we focus on through supporting parent groups and play therapists. I think your blankets would fit in well with this area.’

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Our Angel Hug project began with a request from the Royal Brompton hospital in London, to make blankets for babies who very sadly did not survive and to help comfort the families. At an intensely bleak and dark time there is still something very positive that we can do for the baby and their family. Our blankets are always handmade with love and compassion and so are perfect. We can help care for the whole family at this time by making the baby comfortable and snuggled up whilst sending love and a hug to the parents. We send to Glasgow maternity hospitals, offer Angel Hugs to all bereaved families now, and can help support SANDS.

We know that we have many crafters and donors who have first hand experience of such devastating loss. We understand that this is a very difficult request, but if you can join with us, and are able to help, then we would love to have you on board. From speaking to some of you, we know how incredibly important blankets like these are to those who receive them.

Angel Hugs is an ongoing project. Here’s how to join in. Many thanks for your help.

To our lovely crafters

• Angel Hugs are to be all white and can be knitted or crocheted in any wool suitable for a baby blanket, so 4ply, DK, just as long as it feels soft and cosy. The design is up to you, but it should be kept simple. Angel Hugs can also be sewn using pure cotton and good quality fleece, again white please and in a simple design.
• Minimum size : 24 inches square, going up to a maximum of approx. 30 inches square.
• At the bottom of this page is a copy of the SANDS knitted pattern if this helps you. 
• If making a whole Angel Hug feels too much, but you would still like to support this, we would be pleased to accept simple knitted and crocheted 6 inch squares, which we will hook together. If choosing this option, please use Stylecraft Special DK in white.
• If you would like to take part in this project but feel you can’t due to the costs involved, please message us and we’ll try to help you with materials.
• We would be very grateful for support from anyone who would like to donate funds to help with this. You can either donate via Paypal admin@woollyhugs.com but please add a message so we know who to thank and which project it is for. If you don’t have Paypal, please message us as we have other ways that you can donate. We are so grateful to all our donors, without you, these projects could not function.

It is a very sad request we are making, and yet there is something very positive here too, and we know the Blanketeers have big hearts. Sometimes thank you doesn’t seem enough, but thank you once again.

The SANDS pattern

Please note this is only a suggestion.

If you are intending to make a blanket with the lace edging, then please knit the basic blanket no larger than a 20 inch square.

Easy Baby Blanket with Lace Option This lace border makes the easy blanket very special but we are happy for you to knit to the basic pattern. (You can use any white wool and needles to suit, to give a soft drape). The basic pattern knit to approx a 24” square. It will always come square.

BASIC BLANKET 200gm of Double Knit Wool and 4mm needles.

Cast on 1 stitch Next row:- Make the one stitch into two stitches.

Next row:- Knit 1, into the next stitch make another, 3 stitches on needle.

Continue to knit, ALWAYS knit the first stitch and into the 2 nd stitch make another. Only increase this way at the BEGINNING of a row. Continue until you have almost come to the end of the 100gm ball. Knit 1 row plain.

Next row:- Knit 1, Knit 2 together, Knit to end of row.

Continue this way, always knit the 1 st stitch then decrease into the next stitch by knitting 2 together until 1 stitch remains.

You should now have a neat square.

LACE EDGING

Using Double Knit and size 8 (UK) needles Cast on 8 stitches

Row 1 (Wrong side) Slip 1, Knit 1, (Yarn fwd knit 2 tog) twice, Yarn fwd, Knit 2 (9 sts)

Rows 2, 3, and 6. Slip 1 Knit to the end.

Row 3. Slip 1, knit 2 (yarn fwd knit 1 tog) twice. Yarn fwd Knit 1 (10 sts)

Row 5. Slip 1, knt 3 (yarn fwd knit 2 tog) twice. Yarn fwd Knit 2 (11 sts)

Row 7. Slip 1, knit 4 (yarn fwd kni t 2 tog) twice. Yarn fwd Knit 2 (12 sts)

Row 8. Slip 1, Knit 11 sts Row 9. Cast off 4 sts. Knit to the end (8 sts)

Row 10. Slip 1, knit to the end (8 sts)

These 10 rows form the pattern.

Continue in pattern until it is long enough to fit all around. Sew o nto the blanket. Thank you so much.

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