Angel hug

Again, a quote from the WoollyHugs team:

'We have been very moved by a request from the Octavia Appeal at the Brompton Hospital. The Brompton Hospital is a specialist heart and lung centre in London complete with the second largest paediatric intensive care unit in the country. This unit takes the sickest babies and children from all over, some transferred immediately after birth, others have become too sick to be cared for at other major hospitals and most are already on life support when they arrive. These babies and children are incredibly sick, and very sadly not all survive. The Octavia Appeal have approached us and asked if we are able to make blankets for these babies who have very sadly passed away.'

I'll be honest - my first thought was 'I can't do that' - because, basically, I don't want to spend much time thinking about what they were actually for. I thought it would upset me too much (selfish, I know). But what changed my mind was seeing the pictures of the beautiful blankets that others had started to make. I felt I wanted to be a part of that. 

So this is my blanket:

If you look closely, you can see the slight mistake section with character.

But, overall, not a bad effort I feel.

And - [preen] - the actual, real, one-and-only Debbie Bliss herself of yarn fame 'liked' it on Facebook.
<squeeeeeeee>

Yes way.

The pattern designer has asked for any mentions of it online to be linked back to this pattern here. 

Again, I can only hope it brings some tiny shred of comfort.

Remembrance poppies

Like lots of people, every year I buy a poppy. And each and every year, at some point I look down and find that it's fallen off, and perhaps not every year - but most - I jab myself in the finger trying to get the pin into my coat and/or getting the pin out if just the poppy has fallen off.

This happened last year, as usual. And then a FB friend posted a picture of her crocheted poppy, and I thought 'I could do that'.

And I could.

Apparently the leaf is meant to point to 11 o'clock, as shown. 

So, now, every year I can wear this instead as long as I can remember where I put it and simply donate. 

I've attached it to a safety pin, so although the chances of it falling off are reduced, the chances of me jabbing myself in the finger are still pretty high.

Still, one thing at a time.

This year I'll do some more for the rest of the family. 

Another day, another blanket - Lemontruffles

Inevitably, there is a need for another blanket. In Pistey's words:

Lemontruffles' husband died this week on New Year's Day after living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Such devastating news. Our hearts go out to her. In her own words, he was the love of her life. 

Just sharing some of her words about him
He was Welsh and loved the countryside of North Wales especially. He loved walking. He loved going to the pub and having the biggest laugh he could. He had a fantastic sense of humour and he loved having fun. He was warm hearted, he had a spirit of pure generosity - though with a 'sticking point' stubborn streak! - he was no angel. He was very adventurous about life. He was a proper hippy in the 60s and 70s. He had an amazing memory for all sorts of things, and a very wide ranging and strange knowledge of very odd things. Such an interesting man. A man with endless and deep humanity towards all the people he met. He was very well loved. He had a deep maturity and wisdom about other people.

Oh, and music! Not male voice choirs! Rock and blues from the 60s and 70s, and the manic street preachers. He had great taste. Also photographs. He was always photographing things, all sorts of random things, all sorts of bits of nature, and landscapes. He loved his camera.

Suggestions for motifs
* Any motifs of the natural world - trees, leaves, flowers, birds (esp crows )
* Can anyone find a Welsh dragon design or a harp? We'd love to find these for her.
* Anything to reflect he was a Welshman.
* Music, photography related

The original thread is here

I don't know Lemontruffles - not in real life, nor do I 'know' her by Mumsnet. But I know that the blankets help people, and I wanted to help. 

So, I revisited an old classic, and this is what I made:

 Oak leaf pattern

 This is taken from one of the Angel blanket patterns; I just reduced it to fit the 6" brief.







I hope they bring some comfort.