Lots going on for the Big Knit

I have now made 50 hats for the Irish Big Knit. If I hadn't had so much fun writing patterns for the crochet ones, I prob would have more done. To me that's giving €50 to charity, and considering these recessionary times, I'm happy enough with that. I'll have a few more made by the deadline date, but I strongly recommend if you haven't already made a few hats for this great Project, please do. Judging by the 2009 Budget, the complete lack of disregard that Fianna Fail have for all of us, the oldies will need all the help they can get this winter. I did say at the start this was just about me and my textiles but sometimes its hard not to let the current situation go by without saying WHY THE HELL DID YOU VOTE THEM IN AGAIN!!!

Anyway rant, over back to the Big Knit. Sitting with the boyfriend, him laughing at the latest few hats (or so he says, but I'm beginning to get suspicious about the laughter, is it really the hats or is it me?). I thought about who buys Innocent Smoothies. I know they are very very good for you but they're not the cheapest, so you'd want to be really needing those few extra vitamins for that price. Its not just girls is it? So, I got to thinking about the fellas, what fellas buy them? So, you are a healthy male, you earn a few bob, in days gone by you would have been a stockbroker or carpenter, but now they're all out of work its hard to know. There is some luxuries people will not be giving up, money or no money, and I thing Innocent Smoothies are one of those. I'm not here to advertise Innocent, (except on the day the hats are for sale, but getting back to what I was trying to say about several sentences previous before I went off on a tangent), I thought those healthy blokes, who buy the Smoothies on a regular basis, they are going to walk into their local Topez (plug, plug) shop on the day the Big Knit Sale starts, and be confronted by a row of fluffy, colourful, cute hats. Now, take a carpenter for example, hes fit as f..anything, and he's all manly in his work clothes, trusty hammer by his side. He is NOT going to buy some cute fluffy hat. The girls will be humming and hawing over which is the cutest to buy, and the guys, that guy, will be humming and hawing over what one NOT to buy. He is not going to walk up to the counter with a fluffy, cute hat on his smoothie. Is he? So, in the interest of manly men out there, I decided to create some manly hats. Now living with a MAN UTD nut, I, unfortunately know a little bit about football. (Yes I understand the offside rule, and occasionally curse the Ref before he does......). It doesn't matter if its cute and fluffy, if its manly football colours. So asking his advice I went about making a football team. He said most teams are either blue/white or red/white. I would have done some GAA colours except I don't know where the hats are going, and we couldn't have Tyrone colours in Kerry now could we.... I had planned on doing a full football team, but got tired after red hat number 5, so decided to make it a 5-aside football team. Before posting them up to Fruit Towers in Dublin, me and the Toddler had a bit of fun playing with the hats.



I posted a pic in the Big Knit Flickr group. The next thing I knew I was being ordered by Innocent Smoothies to post those hats to Dublin ASAP. Why? So, the menfolk in the office could have a game. Now, I'm all up for a bit of fun, but did you see what they were doing with my hats? Hey, those hats are for keeping old people warm this winter, not for you young pups to be messing in the office, time-wasting, when you should be working... If you don't know what I mean, just look here at them roughing up my cute little hats....



Heres my Topez Hat