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Photos above from our 2024 visit. Before we start again for this year, we must thank the wonderful Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline.  Making the blankets is a big team effort for us (and we are truly grateful, thank you) but then transporting them by road to the Ukrainian border area of Poland and then into Ukraine itself is also a huge enterprise. We do obviously pay a £££ contribution for this, but the delivery job itself is not to be underestimated. Especially the dangers of driving in Ukraine. These folk are amazing and so generous in spirit. We are eternally grateful because without them, our project would not exist. Thank you CCLL!

We are delighted to have been invited back to help deliver the 2024 collection, it truly was a very precious time last year. Meeting the children and their teachers, hearing the resilience, watching their joy and having time just to be. Seeing their utter joy at the blankets! Thank you again to the CCLL for having us back. This year we are going to be running some woolly workshops, taking pompom making! More on this soon.

We have taken this upcoming project as an opportunity for a reset. Please do not start until you have read this page and have made a note about colour, size and dates! Thank you!

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia as we all know is incredibly devastating, some of our Chernob families have been able to leave, others have to stay, but the CCLL continue to be astonishing in their efforts to support families. Even those who managed to flee now have incredible stuggles as funding ceases and finding accommodation or meeting basic needs are a challenge. The situation is tougher than last year, bleaker, colder.

We can’t fix this, but we can do our part as best we can. Having spoken with the CCLL this week, we can now confirm our project will run in 2025.

Check out our Christmas in Poland blog. Looking back to last year, mid December 45 Ukrainian children were driven to Lubin in Poland by our friends at the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline for a respite break with Christmas treats and Father Frost! We can only imagine how much this was needed. We have included a few pics from their trip. So delighted to see our name on their fireplace. These children already have very little, still with the threats from the legacy of Chernobyl, now with war looming all around and the impact that has on every part of daily life. Each child was given one of our blankets. This is overwhelming. In addition, children and their mums already refugeed in Lublin came for a Christmas party. What the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline have done here is extraordinary, so glad these children and families have a warm blanket full of love from us. So glad we can do this. These kids are now all going back into Ukraine with the uncertainty, dangers and chaos. Or continuing with their refugee status. But they’re all taking love and woolly warmth from us. It doesn’t fix anything but it’s a tangible sign of love and care.  This means the world. Thank you!

 Crafting information for 2025. Please read this to ensure what you are making is what we are asking for.

We have a new streamlined palette, we have done the same to Snugs and in fact they are now the same. You will appreciate putting kits together from hundreds of crafters is challenging, and this will definitely help. We know there are new SSDK colours but this isn’t the time to experiment and add something new, we can revisit them at another time. Please stick to the 2025 palette. Squares not in these colours will be redirected to other projects. Please also stick to this palette if making a whole blanket. It is much easier at the giving stage if there its some similarity, We believe there is still a lot of choice. Hope you understand where we are coming on this, thank you so much for your support.

Squares. We need twelve inch squares in the Stylecraft Special DK palette as in photo,  if 12 is too much, 6 inch squares are fine too, just this yarn in these colours please, inc for embellishments so the blankets come together and are consistent for wash and wear. Knit and crochet equally welcome, beginner or expert, as simple or complex as you like, single colour, multi colour. Design of square up to you, but not too lacy, they need to be hardy. Please use a 4mm hook or needles. If sizing is a challenge with your pattern/tension, we prefer them just under sized rather than over!

SO IMPORTANT! Please ensure you knot off every end/colour change very very securely, leave approx a 6 inch tail end and use a needle to sew in. These blankets have to be super sturdy as there is no way back to fix them if squares collapse.

Whole blankets We know some crafters love to make their own whole blankets and this is wonderful, we are truly grateful, thank you Please still use our 2025 SSDK palette. Finished blanket size remains the same at 48inches by 60 inches.

Size matters! This year we seem to have quite a few undersized blankets arrive, Chernob blankets MUST be 48 inches by 60 inches. If a blanket arrives and it is too small it will be redirected to Little Hugs. Equally please don’t go much over size, if it comes to taking two blankets of the right size vs one kingsize, we will take two, because that is two children supported, rather then one.  Again thank you for your support on this, size really is important.

LAST POSTING FOR SQUARES  IS MARCH 1st 2025!

LAST POSTING FOR WHOLE BLANKETS IS JUNE 1ST 2025

PLEASE DO NOT POST FOR THIS PROJECT UNTIL JANUARY 2025.

THANK YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

Posting is earlier to alleviate pressures on other projects.

1. Apple
2. Aspen
3. Aster
4. Bluebell
5. Boysenberry
6. Candy Floss
7. Citron
8. Claret
9. Cloud blue
10. Cornish blue
11. Denim
12. Duck egg
13. Fondant
14. Fuchsia purple
15. Grass green
16. Kelly Green
17. Lapis
18. Lavender
19. Lipstick
20. Lobelia
21. Magenta
22. Meadow
23. Parchment
24. Petrol
25. Pistachio
26. Plum
27. Pomegranate
28. Proper purple
29. Saffron
30. Sage
31. Sherbet
32. Spearmint
33. Spice
34. Storm blue
35. Tomato
36. Turquoise
37. Violet

Donating funds As always we like to be inclusive and would love to send yarn to folks who otherwise would not be able to craft. In addition, we already know there will be the high cost of transporting them to the children again and would be incredibly grateful to anyone who would like to donate funds for this project.

Our Paypal is admin@woollyhugs.com

Bank transfer

• We are a Cooperative account in the name of Woolly Hugs
• Account number: 65579631
• Sort code: 089299

Please do inc your name so we can thank you properly.
Any funds raised from our Spring/Easter sale in 2025 will be used to help pay our delivery contribution.

LAST POSTING FOR SQUARES  IS MARCH 1st 2025!

LAST POSTING FOR WHOLE BLANKETS IS JUNE 1ST 2025

THANK YOU.

Thank you wonderful people.

Photos below from our 2023 visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We realise this is a very sensitive project and it may bring up difficult feelings for some of you.

We are looking to make some cotton and fleece quilts for the hospice as an ongoing project. Becki from Haven House has written below for us, it is better she explains the project.

 

A very sad but vital part of our work at Haven House is the care of babies, children and young people at end of life and post bereavement.

Sometimes we do not meet the families until after their child has passed away and they come to us to spend precious time with their child before the funeral.We also work with families in their own homes and being able to keep their child with them is a choice every parent should be able to make.To facilitate this, we use cooling blankets and cuddle cots. I am sure you understand what they are for, so I won’t go into detail.

As useful as they are, they are a clinical and ugly piece of equipment, and we need your help to make them look more friendly and comfortable. To this end we would like some of your beautiful quilts to lay on top of the pads. The sizes of the pads are

• Small cooling pad   ( 154mm x 290mm )
  Large cooling pad    (400mm x 550mm )

It would be helpful to have the quilts slightly bigger than the pad, by giving them a border of 10cm all round.

We would like them to be fleece backed to make them less slippery and to help with absorbing any water from the cooling systems.

Thinking about the designs: lots of pattern, avoiding very light or very dark colours. Child friendly and they can be gender specific or gender neutral to appeal to the biggest range of families. Some are quite traditional, and others just want to celebrate their girly girls and boyish boys.

It is likely that some families will want to keep the quilts, and we would very much like to let them.

It is difficult to predict how many we will need each year. Sadly, we supported several families in the last 12 months but in previous years we may only see 1-2 families in these circumstances.

My plan is to have a ‘home kit’ ready for our outreach nurses. This will contain bedding, quilts and blankets as well as the clinical equipment our team need to care for the child.

I want every family to have access to the best care at this time, I cannot provide the medical expertise, but I know, with your help, I can ensure the environment is as kind and comfortable as possible.

Love  B x

 

With your love and support we believe we can help these families in such bleak times.

To sum up then, we are looking for lightweight quilts, cotton topper, some batting in the middle (light to medium weight) with fleece backing. We know we have many crafters who sew beautifully, and this is such a simple project really. Sizes as above.

While we’d like to get some quilts in both sizes to the hospice soon, this is an ongoing project, and we will add it to the others. So this des not need to be a rush.

Thank you so much everyone, we really appreciate you all.

 

 

Tickets will be available via this link here, from 7pm on July 1st 2024!

The Great Woolly Hugs’ Christmas Hugathon in Manchester takes place on Saturday 30th December between 11.00am and 3.30pm, at the stunning Victorian Grade 2 listed Stretford Public Hall, Manchester. We are in the ground floor Old Library.

All info about this event is on the Eventbrite page. Please come! THANK YOU!