NB This event is sold out – if you would like to go on the waiting list, please email us, thank you!

The Great Woolly Hugs’ Hugathon in Central London takes place on Saturday 16th September 2023 between 11.00am and 3.30pm, at the stunning Friends House, Euston Road. Friends House is a Grade II listed building, completed in spring 1927, for which the architect, Hubert Lidbetter, won the RIBA bronze medal for “best building erected in London”. How lucky are we?!

Our Venue is fully accessible. Access to the ground floor is via a gentle and wheelchair-friendly ramp from the street pavement. We are on the first floor in the Hilda Clark 2&3 Boadroom and this is easily accessible by lift, just ask at Reception. There are accessible bathroom facilities.

Tickets will include a special London gift and event bag. We will also be running a rather fabulous Lucky Dip (£1 a go) and our legendary Gin Raffle (£1 a ticket) We will also be running a DeStash table. If you have crafting items to donate to our DeStash table please do bring, remember one person’s destash is another person’s treasure! So do bring along some cash, or we do have a card machine if that is easier, happy to tap for any amount! Whilst this is primarily a meet up we always need to raise funds! We have had to increase the price to £18 with a review at the end of the year. All venues are needing to charge more, so this increase was sadly inevitable and we can’t run events at a loss. Thank you for understanding!

And finally we will play a couple of games of our infamous Yarn Bingo game, you will not want to miss this!

Our Hugathons are a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow Woolly Huggers who share a love of crafting. They are friendly and inclusive. It is a great time for chatting with your fellow Woolly crew and sharing ideas. If Tortie behaves we will let him come too! We’ve included some testimonials from folk who have been to one before, which might be useful if this is your first time.

During the Hugathon we will attempt to get as many 6 inch squares made. In London we are focussing on our Snug project for Looked After children. . We will provide all SSDK, but please remember to bring your 4mm hooks/knitting needles, you will need them! If you have any squares already made for THIS project, please bring them, it may be that we can get some kits out for construction.

You will need to be pretty self sufficient for this venue. All we can offer is water and sadly the gorgeous cafe does not open at weekends. So please bring packed lunch, drinks etc. Literally over the road is Euston station with a Pret, Costa, M&S, so you copuld easily duck out and grab coffees etc.

Do join us, we’d love to meet you or see you again. And if you are worried about not knowing anyone, let us know and we can get you seated and chatting as quick as a flash.

The venue address… Friends House – 173-177 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ

Getting there…

• Friends House is located in central London, directly opposite Euston Station and a short walk from King’s Cross and St Pancras International stations. All major London terminals are easily reached via the Underground.

• The nearest London Underground station is Euston, which is served by the Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines. Euston Square Station is a five-minute walk away and is served by the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.

• Bus Routes 18, 30, 73, 205 and 390 stop outside Friends House.

• Bus Routes 59, 68, 91, 168 and 253 also stop nearby.

• There is no on-site parking available at Friends House. The local roads have metered parking bays and fall within TfL charging zones. TFL driving information is available on the TFL website: tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/. There are three disabled blue badge parking bays located in Endsleigh Gardens. Information about Camden Council parking is available on the Council’s website: www.camden.gov.uk/where-to-park.

From folk who have been to a Hugathon before…

Walking into a room of people you might have never met could be daunting … but at the Hugathon you are surrounded immediately with love, purpose and wool! What better way to spend a day? Alexsis

A warm woolly welcome to all. I travelled there alone, anxiously entered, not knowing a soul. Within a few mins I felt so welcomed and part of this wonderful group. A room full of like minded people, wool galore, cakes, tea, coffee, and probably gin Julie

A wonderful experience meeting friends and like minded people. Like sinking into a warm bath of friendship I’ve always known but never met before. Jen

Attending the Woolly Hugs Hugathon was an amazing experience, putting faces to the names you had made friends with online in the pursuit of a common goal to spread yarn love around the UK and the World. Paula

A fabulous day meeting ‘strangers’ I have known online for years. Sharing yarn, craft skills, cake and laughter. Returning home full of love for the wonderful Woolly Huggers! Jo

It was lovely to meet all the folk I have made virtual friends with online . It gave me a real sense of us working together helping to make something beautiful and worthwhile . It was also lovely for the chat , laughter and to admire the amazing craftmanship going on around me , and how everyone was happy to share their expertise Steph

The hugathon is where the WH virtual community crosses over into a face to face community, meeting others who you may have got to know online. It’s so lovely to be able to sit and work and natter together, comparing notes and making friends. It epitomises the spirit of WH, crafters working together to benefit others. Alison

I’ve only been to one but it was brilliant and had gin! Anna

The Great Woolly Hugs’ Hugathon in Edinburgh takes place on Saturday 4th March 2023, between 11.00am and 3.30pm, at St Columba’s by the Castle Church Hall in central Edinburgh, just off the Royal Mile, close to Edinburgh Castle. If you are coming, look out for the big blue door, it really does stand out! The full address is below.

Our Venue is fully accessible. Access to the venue is via a gentle and wheelchair-friendly ramp from the street pavement and there is a lift to the level of the hall and garden area downstairs. There are accessible bathroom facilities.

Tickets cost £15 each. On Sale from 7pm on January 1st 2023.

The Eventbrite link is here….

Our Hugathons are a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow Woolly Huggers who share a love of crafting.They are very friendly and inclusive. It is a great time for chatting with your fellow Woolly crew and sharing ideas. If Tortie behaves we will let him come too! We’ve included some testimonials from folk who have been to one before, which might be useful if this is your first time.

During the Hugathon we will attempt to get as many 6 inch squares made. In Edinburgh we are focussing on our Chernobyl Project 2023.   We will provide all SSDK, but please remember to bring your 4mm hooks/knitting needles, you will need them! If you have any squares already made for THIS project, please bring them, it may be that we can get some kits out for construction.

Link to the Chernobyl Project is here….

We will also be running a rather fabulous Lucky Dip (£1 a go) and our legendary Gin Raffle (£1 a ticket)  We will also be running a DeStash table. If you have crafting items to donate to our DeStash table please do bring, remember one person’s destash is another person’s treasure!

And finally we will play our Yarn Bingo game, you will not want to miss this!

We have use of the kitchen area, and will provide the wherewithal for making tea and coffee for a donation. Bring a packed lunch, snacks and drinks, we won’t judge if that is alcohol!

COVID – Covid is here to stay and we must all be mindful and work within the local guidance.

A few pics from 2022!

Do join us, we’d love to meet you or see you again. And if you are worried about not knowing anyone, let us know and we can get you seated and chatting as quick as a flash.

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 CLL 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.

We can’t fix this, but we can do our part as best we can. We can confirm our project will run in 2023, and are launching it as Chernobyl 100. We aim to acheive 100 blankets!

Looking at what has just happened. Early in December 2022, 100 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. 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. 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!

For many years we have been making warm, comforting blankets for Belarusian and Ukrainian teenagers and children visiting the UK for recuperative holidays during the summer with the fabulous charity the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline, Chernobyl Children’s Project and the Friends of Chernobyl’s Children. Devastatingly for the children and their families COVID and now war have put these trips on hold. But we can still get our blankets to the children! So much more than just a blanket, these Hugs send love, hope, friendship and warm comfort to the children and their families.

So in 2023 we hope to repeat this, and with your love and support we are very hopeful!

We need YOU!!

Here’s how you can help….

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! Please use SSDK. Finished blanket size remains the same at 48inches by 60 inches, and please work within the colour palette.

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 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 2023 will be used to support this project too. 

LAST POSTING FOR SQUARES AND WHOLE BLANKETS IS JUNE 14th 2023!  THANK YOU XXX

In 2019 we were able to visit children at home who the previous year had received our blankets when visiting Bristol. Such an honour to be able to do this.