celebknities

Lots of very lovely Irish celebrities lent their support to The Big Knit by designing us some little woolly hats which our experts then knitted up. We are proud to be able showcase these special little hats here (and in alphabetical order).

TV presenter and fashionista Caroline Morahan's kisses hat

 

Actress Holly White's purrrfect hat

 

2FM's Jenny Huston's polka dot and plaits number

   

TV3 XPOSÉ's Karen Koster's 'Snow Angel'

 

No Frontiers presenter and author Kathryn Thomas' lightning hat

 

Radio legend Larry Gogan's happy hat

 

Style guru Lisa Fitzpatrick's 'Live with passion' hat

 

Best-selling author Marian Keyes' frilly flower hat

 

Megan Coleman (daughter of RTE's parenting expert, David Coleman) designed us the cheeriest coloured waves hat

 

The Blizzard's Niall Breslin's ska hat

 

Artist Rasher's skull hat

 

A big, huge, infinity sized thanks to each of our first Big Knit hat designers from innocent x.

the wall of thanks

We wanted to do something in the office that would remind us of all the great people who joined in with the first ever Big Knit. So we created our wall of thanks. Right behind our kitchen couch is a charming little alcoved wall which is now covered with the names of every single person who sent us a hat*.

 

innocent hats by Orlaith M

Unfortunately, the supersonic flash on the office camera doesn't really show the true technicolor spectacle that is our wall of thanks but trust us, it's very bright, very cheery and very, very thankful.

Thank you again to everyone, we couldn't have reached our target of 20,000 little woolly hats without you and if you happen to be reunited with a little woolly hat you knit please let Big Knit Jules know as she's a sucker for happy endings. You can reach her at bigknitireland@innocentdrinks.ie.

* There's some blank space underneath which represents those hats which were sent in anonymously but were cherished nonetheless.

spotted (and striped) woolly hats

Here are just some of the 20,000 Big Knit hats which have made it onto shelves (and making new cuddly friends) in Topaz in Midleton, Cork.

All our little woolly hats are looking for good homes so if you're passing a Topaz do pop in. For every hat wearing smoothie sold, innocent and Topaz will donate €1 to Age Action which will help keep older people warm this winter and give you a nice fuzzy feeling in your tummy. Plus, you'll also be getting two of your five daily portions of fruit in as well so it's a good deal all round really.

we did it

It's been all go this week at FruitTowers as we counted our little socks off to see if we could reach our target of 20,000 woolly hats.

At 9.28am Greenwich Mean Time this morning, when we totalled up all of our unpacking, we can reveal with absolute accuracy that we cruised beyond our target of 20,000 little woolly hats (we’re at 20,048 and still counting).

 

 

Sophie and Etain with hat number 20,000

 

Now, if we were American, this would likely be cause for some serious high fives, a few chest bumps and plenty of butt slaps. But we're not American. We're Irish. And we didn't quite know how to celebrate. Plus, it was early in the morning, a bit chilly and some of us were still quite groggy. So, we just had some smoothies and a nice breakfast together.

We are so happy here, 20,000 hats in the short amount of time we had really is a staggering amount. And we're so, so grateful for your incredible knitting efforts. So, for anyone who has knitted a hat, wherever you may be, please stand up now and take a bow. You've been amazing. And we love you all (or if there's more than one of you, why not try a little chest bump action?).

We'd also like to say that although we often showcase some creative hats we've received here on our blog, please don't think that we're not just as impressed by all the other hats. We know that each and every one is a labour of love, and every single one of them is admired individually by the team.

At the end of the day, every single hat we receive means €1 for Age Action, and that's the main thing.

There's still a few little bundles to be unpacked here in the office, so we'd best get back to it. Think we'll all be quite sad, when there's none left to unpack. It's been like Christmas every day these past few weeks...

And don't forget, the hats will be on shelf in Topaz stores around the country from 5th November, and they might get snapped up quickly, so get yourself down there pronto to avoid disappointment. And in doing so you'll be helping us raise €20,000 to help keep older people in Ireland warm this winter.

Again, thank you. 

Big Knit Jules and all the gang at innocent x

a special mention

A big thanks, a special mention and a nice bundle of smoothies go to Mary Walsh from Dublin. From the very start of the campaign Mary has been spreading the word about the Big Knit around city centre communities, cheering us up with her visits to Fruit Towers, collecting hats from people who can't get to a post office and crocheting us lots and lots of little woolly hats.

 

Ali, Mary and Kirsty with our hat checker bottles and some of Mary's lovely little hats.

Lots of love and thanks to Mary from all of us x

youngest knitting club

We received the most wonderful card and selection of hats from our youngest knitting club yet. Kate G, Aoife, Eimear, Sarah C and Kate Mc, who are all between 10 and 11 years old, started their knitting club two years ago and get together to knit and chat every Saturday morning. The girls kindly spent one of their club meetings knitting us gorgeous little woolly hats to help keep older people warm this winter.

 

A lovely card and just a few of the great hats sent to us by the Knitting Club

Thanks so much girls!

piece of cake

A nice lady called Vera sent our friends in London a pattern for cupcake hats. Our Etain likes a bit more icing on her fairy cakes so she amended the pattern just a smidge. The result? Little cakes that even Delia would be proud of.

 

Cupcake pattern

1. Cast on 28 stitches in the baking case colour (using your double knitting yarn needles as for beginners hat) leaving a 20cm piece of wool at the beginning for sewing up later.

2. Knit 2 rows

3.Starting with Knit row and working in stocking stitch (1 row Knit 1 row Purl) work 7 seven rows.

4 Next row Knit (this would have been a purl row before)

5. Change to your icing colour - go on go mad. and do 5 more rows in stocking stitch.

6. Next row Purl 2tog all across to last stitch K1

7 next row Knit 2tog all across to last end (7 st)

Now you have finished cut the yarn to about 20 cm. Thread this through a sewing needle and run it through the loops removing the needle. Tighten the yarn and sew the cake up the side seam (Tip - use this long end to sew the icing, use the long thread you left at the beginning for the case)

Mount the cake on a bottle and add a button, beads or anything else that looks nice.

Now all you've got to do is make yourself a nice cup of tea.

CSI Fruit Towers

Criminals. Don't they ever learn?

 

Crime never pays.

 

Cops and robbers hats by Deirdre; drawings by Big Knit Jules (aged 28).

lookalikey

This hat's resemblance to a certain character in Coronation Street is remarkable...

 

Uncanny, eh?

Thanks to Lola for designing and knitting 'The Bet'.

his 'n' hers

Love. Rumoured to make the world go round, sometimes makes you crazy and definitely gives you butterflies in your tummy. We think there's a lot of love behind two hats that we received today from Age Action. In fact, even the boys got a little bit mushy when we discovered this cute pair.

 

We're dedicating these heartwarming hats to our Peter and his wife Caroline (the loved up couple in the background photo) as they are expecting their second baby any moment now, literally.

Congratulations in advance :)

Love from all the gang x