I suddenly realised that the deadline for sending in Innocent Smoothie Hats (17th October) was rapidly approaching and I hadn’t knitted a single one.

For those not in the know, this is for a charity promotion by Innocent Smoothies – the little hats go on the small bottles and 50p goes to Age Concern for every behatted smoothie sold. I had great fun making loads of these last year when I had more time. I blogged all about it here and here. This year, not so much time.

But my Mum is still one of the “Aged” so I felt I had to try to do a few.

I rummaged under the bed.

Damn. I’d sent all my yarn scraps to the charity shop….what could I knit hats with?

Then I found a baggie of Tapestry Wool that has been getting in my way for some time….

The wool came with 3 strands twisted together – that was too thick. I split off two strands and knit furiously. When I ran out, I held two of the single strands together and carried on. This made for some odd combinations but it was fun to try.

I played with some stitch patterns, enjoyed making little i-cord tops to them rather than bobbles, fairisle and even tried to make one on 4 DPNS  – don’t try that at home – WAY too fiddley!

I managed 11 hats but I needed a model.

Thug and Mewsley hid – there is a limit to their dedication.

Burt and Ernie (last year’s china cat-models) refused to be publicly humiliated again.

Ahhh….My two terracotta cats, “Dangle-paw” and “Licker” (you’ll see why they got those names) were eager to feature.

So here they are…Dangle-paw and Licker modelling the 2008 range of Innocent Smoothie hats!

The group shot…

Now some close ups…

Dangle-paw’s ear warmers…

His back collection…

The ones that didn’t show up on terracotta…

And Licker’s rather fine Ear-Muffs!!