Our journey here was very easy and quick by comparison to the Ukrainian children and their teachers’ experience. Curfews affect travel in Ukraine, the group left at 4.30am, had to go through security checks and immigration leaving Ukraine AND the same again entering Poland. But finally they are here and so are we.
The children are staying again at the family run Hotel Regionalny. It’s fabulous here and they are so kind. The hotel is located in the town Pełczyn just off the route Lublin – Chelm. It’s about 50 miles from the Ukrainian border. No snow on the ground this year, but it’s bitterly cold with snow flurries.
And it was wonderful to be reunited with our blanket collection. All here. All accounted for! You are all with us. We can’t wait to give them out now.
And the cat is still here!! You remember it photo bombing one of our films last year.
We have all just had dinner and now it’s time for games and craft. It’s fantastic seeing these children safe and warm and enjoying activities. Lots of chatting and laughing. Can’t get much better.
See you in the morning! Busy day tomorrow. And part of it involves our blankets!
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.
Please note that our Snugs project now has the same palette. Thank you
Apple
Aspen
Aster
Bluebell
Boysenberry
Candy Floss
Citron
Claret
Cloud blue
Cornish blue
Denim
Duck egg
Fondant
Fuchsia purple
Grass green
Kelly Green
Lapis
Lavender
Lipstick
Lobelia
Magenta
Meadow
Parchment
Petrol
Pistachio
Plum
Pomegranate
Proper purple
Saffron
Sage
Sherbet
Spearmint
Spice
Storm blue
Tomato
Turquoise
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.
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.
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!
So pleased to let you know that the blanket is now with Mowly’s daughter and family. It really was such a big team effort, made and sent with so much love, Just a few photos, was hampered greatly by the great British weather. Thank you so much everyone. Thinking of Mowly, and all who love and must miss her terribly.
Little Iris wanted to say thank you for the gorgeous blanket she was given on the children’s ward where we spent a good chunk of her first five weeks of life and also the special Christmas one she received as a gift on her first ever Christmas. They definitely brightened our time there and we still use our rainbow blanket every day. Thank you to the lovely talented people who made them! Xx”
We were delighted when the staff at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle contacted us a couple of years ago and asked for help. They asked if it were possible to make some very special Little Hugs to use in the run up to Christmas for very sick children inhospital over this period. The pictures here are from previous projects, and we are delighted they would like us to make for the children again. This project will again help children and their families at very difficult times.
Hi, i just wanted to say a massive thank you as my son Milo received one of your amazing blankets whilst critical in hospital over Christmas… it made it feel like even though we couldnt be home as a family to celebrate xmas, we were able to wrap him up in christmas thank you to all involved xx
For the Woollies…
We are looking for six and twelve inch squares in the SSDK colours below. Christmas designs/themes/embellishments warmly welcomed. Fill your boots! Just this yarn in these colours please so we can match up squares and the blankets will be consistent for wash and wear.
Claret
Cream
Grass green
Green
Kelly green
Lipstick
For the Sewing Folk…
Christmas cwtches could also be made in these sort of colours in cotton Christmassy prints, lightweight quilts. These must be machine washable and tumble dry possible only please.
For both yarn and fabric
Size wise we are aiming to send a mix of sizes from baby sized (24 inch squares) up to single bed sized.
Please no posting before September 2023, then whole blankets/quilts and separate squares please to Teddington.
October 7th. Last posting for whole Cwtches and Cwtch squares.
We know this is super early, but we also know our lovely crafters like to plan and that crafting takes such a long time. We are delighted though to be launching our Christmas Craft Sale 2024, we hope you will join us. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and will help us raise much needed funds to continue our woolly work. With your love and support we hope it is a huge success! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!
The charity we shall support too this Christmas will be Parkinson’s UK.
Parkinson is a cruel disease. It is a progressive neurological condition. It affects people in different ways and to different degrees, but main symptoms include tremor, slowness of movement and muscle stiffness. It affects balance and can cause nerve pain.
This wonderful charity help support those living with it, those caring for others and young onset diagnosis, Their support includes how to improve every day life, work, legal, driving, relationships and family life.
As the largest European charitable funder of Parkinson’s research, Parkinson’s UK has invested over £100 million in vital research that has delivered groundbreaking discoveries, new medications and better care.
They say
By funding the right research into the most promising treatments, we get closer to a cure every day. Until then, we’re here for everyone affected by Parkinson’s. We’ll find a cure. Together.
We plan to send a donation of at least £500 to them after the sale. the reminder will go into our own charitable projects.
So every penny we can raise will go to help others, we hope you will support us, either by crafting, buying or even maybe both! Thank you so so much.
Last posting for crafts please – November 1st. This is to Teddington. THANK YOU!
November 18th – 25th. The event itself will take place as usual all online through a Facebook event page and an Auction site attached to this website.
So let the Crafting Stage begin!
We are aiming to make and sell small/lightweight Christmas craft items. We are open to larger items too obviously, that is just a guide. Some suggestions for you, but we are very open to others too…
Stocking fillers, although obviously Father Christmas is REAL, this is just to help.
Christmas tree decorations. Always very popular, as are totally bonkers quirky things, yes we are thinking gin wreaths, woolly slugs and sock pigs, who knew??!
Stockings
Cute cuddly things / Besties
Small gifts – Little bags, purses, brooches, hair accessories, key rings, gift bags, tags,
Clothing items such as gloves, hats, scarves, – if making clothing PLEASE inc the ball band or let us know so we can pass this info on to those who buy. xxx
Bunting – everyone LOVES bunting. This could be sewn, knitted, crocheted etc.
Pocket friends, no bigger than palm size. Would suggest cute.
Book marks
Covered tape measures
Sewing type needle cases
Wreaths
Coasters
Cards
Lavender bags
Pencil/ hook cases
Hair accessories
Brooches
Keyring/bag tags
Pin cushions
face scrubbies
Covered notebooks
Animal headbands
Lovely lovely things!
Woolly, fabric, embroidered, beaded, ALL crafty crafts welcome!!
Just a few examples of the treasure sent last Christmas…
We realise this is a very sensitive project and it may bring up difficult feelings for some of you.
