dr who ya' gonna' call?

Help.

We have a bit of a situation here at fruit towers. Almut Sprigade sent us in an army of psychadelic dalek hats. As we're prone to do with the hats we particularly admire, we put them up on display on one of our picnic benches, so that people wandering past could revel in their technicoloured brilliance.

But there was something crafty about these daleks. Were they really just hats? Or were they actual daleks? Could it be that their multicoloured exterior was simply there to fool us, deflecting attention away from their plans for global domination? First Sainsbury's, then the world. Mwah hah hah. We weren't sure. So we set up a secret camera to record them.

Here we can see them on day one, looking calm - meek even - but eerily still.

 

Two days later and the little blighters seemed to have moved closer to the camera.

   

By the time day three popped round, it was undeniable - the daleks were on the move.

 

Led by the purple one and what looks to be Elmo from Sesame Street, they moved quickly, destroying everything in their wake. We found our hidden camera yesterday amidst a pile of smashed smoothie bottles, its outer casing cracked, flash not working, a tear in its shattered lens.

And then nothing for days. No sign of the army of psychadelic daleks.

Until this afternoon. When a secondary camera caught this ominous scene. IT Sam trapped in the phone box with nowhere to run, the daleks bearing down on him. He doesn't stand a chance.

 

How can we compete against such reckless aggression? What will happen when the daleks reach the phone box? Will IT Sam live to tell the tale?

We'll keep you posted. In the mean time, if you have any suggestions as to how we can deal with this miniature, multicoloured, but very real threat, please let us know. The fate of fruit towers depends on you...

totally tropical

A big knit hat par excellence just found in our big knit pics flickr group. It's even got a little treasure chest if you look closely.

fairy nice

A wild shock of purple hair. A glittering pair of silver moon boots. Two pet toadstools. The biggest, blingest brooch you've ever seen - there's not really much to dislike about this fairytale woodland scene. And it's all happening on top of a little knitted hat. To pick a favourite from the incredible selection of hats that Edith Webb sent us was no easy task. There were pirates, witches, chickens, even Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. All of them stunning in their own right, and all perfectly knitted. We got so excited we had to display the entire collection on a table in fruit towers, for all to enjoy. But we liked the little fairies and their toadstools the best. The toadstools look big and red. The fairy looks very content. And there's something endearing about the way her little legs poke out from that hat. "Look at my new boots," she seems to be saying, "aren't they just wonderful?" They are indeed purple haired fairy. A fine choice of footwear. So nice in fact we're going to make you hat of the week. Well done.

the final countdown

Surely we couldn't reach 500,000 hats. Could we?

It's been all hands on deck this week at fruit towers as we counted our little socks off to see if we could reach our target of half a million hats. Having all hands on deck was pretty useless really. The only decking we have is outside, and all the hats were inside. And there's not much decking anyway, and rather a lot of hands in fruit towers, so it was pretty cramped. It's also been raining these last few days.

But we soon realised the error of our ways and got back inside to continue the count.

This picture of our expert hat unpacker Jake is for illustrative purposes only. We'd like to asssure you that our unpacking method was far more thorough and exact than this. Which is why, at 6.09pm Grenwich Mean Time yesterday evening, when we totalled up all of our unpacking, we can reveal with absolute accuracy that we cruised beyond our target of half a million hats (we're currently on 501, 423 - and still counting).

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 British. And we didn't quite know how to celebrate. So I climbed into a perspex box and got covered in hats. It seemed the sensible thing to do.

And made me rather happy.

In fact, we're all rather happy here at fruit towers. 501,423 hats 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 the more 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 we're in awe of them all.

At the end of the day, every single hat we receive means 50p for Age Concern, and that's the main thing.

There's still a few packages 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 people, the hats will be on shelf in Sainsbury's stores around the country from 5th November, and they do tend to be snapped up pretty quickly, so get yourself down there pronto to avoid disappointment. And in doing so you'll be helping us raise £250,000 for Age Concern to help keep older people warm this winter.

Again, thank you. 

hats of the world

Linda (who looks after the innocent foundation) has been busy knitting hats that represent some of the different countries that the foundation supports projects in.

Here's a little guide to which hat is which

From the left: A fetching pink and brown Zulu hat, a Guatemalan earflap number and a green striped hat from Ecuador.

Next up, another Ecuadorian number next to a yellow and green striped headpiece representing Central America and a little brown hat from Lesotho

Then there's this lovely purple and yellow turban from India, a green, purple and yellow beauty representing East Africa and the yellow conical hat from Vietnam.

And finally, the blue feathered turban from India. 

The feather was stolen from the favourite toy of Linda's cat, Cosmos. Which sort of makes it our favourite.

You can read a bit more about the projects the innocent foundation supports here.

Meanwhile, look out for these hats on a shelf near you in 17 days and counting...

the wooliest hat ever

It's a ram and it's covered in wool. But it's also a hat made of wool. It's really very layered indeed. Are those a honking set of mutton chops we see? Or are they horns? Is it cruel to call a ram's sideburns mutton chops? It probably is. How can we make it up to you fine ram - if we make you hat of the week will you stop staring at us so intensely with that big old left eye of yours? Probably not, but we're going to make you hat of the week anyway, on account of the fact you've been beautifully knitted. Tidy needlework Pat Rawcliffe - you sure know how to knit a good ram.

nearly there

Wow. What a week. Our poor postman's back has been feeling the strain as package upon package of knitted hats arrived daily at fruit towers.

The postman's back aside (sorry Dave - he calls the campaign The Big Nuisance by the way), it's great news for our attempt to reach our target of 500,000 hats. But if you've been keeping an eye on our hatometer today, and worrying that we've not hit our target, fear not. As you can see from the picture we've still got loads of hats to unpack, so we probably won't know what our final total figure is until next week.

Keep your eyes on this blog for more updates. And if you have any stray hats lying around at home, get them in to us quick smart.

Now then, back to those hats. 1, 2, 3, 4...

kat's hats autumn/winter 2008

Designer Kat.

Creator of many a charming picture and oracle of all pantone references, our Kat also likes to dabble in a bit of knitwear millinery.

Some of you might remember her 2006 debut collection (also known in fashionable hat circles as her Blue Period.)

The Autumn/Winter 2008 collection (pictureed below) has just been unveiled and this season's collection has taken inspiration from the colours of autumn and her previous work.

Homemade bobbles feature heavily as well as some new patterns mixed in with old classics.

Kat's exclusive collection will be available on our little bottles in a Sainsbury's near you from 5th November 2008.

Let us know if you manage get your hands on one.

pineapple hat

Here is the latest offering from our expert knitter Juliet. Makes me hungry just looking at it...

Abbreviations:

K - Knit

P - Purl

Tog - Together

St st - stocking stitch

St - stitches

You will need some yellow and green yarn. (Rowan Pure Wool DK is great for this).

NOTE: It is the wrong side of the knitting that looks most like a pineapple.

Pineapple body

Cast on 29 stitches in yellow.

Row1 - K1

Row 2 - (P3tog P1 K1 P1 into the same stitch) repeat to end of row P1.

Row 3 -  K1 (K3tog K1 P1 K1 into the same stitch) repeat to the end of the row.

Repeat rows 2 and 3, 6 more times and row 2 once more.

Row 17 - (K2tog) repeat until last st K1 (15st)

Row 18 - (P2tog) repeat until last st P1 (8st)

Row 19 - (K2tog) across all stitches (4st)

Fasten off by threading yarn through 4st and drawing tight.

Leaves

Cast on 30st in green and work 4 rows in st st beginning with a knit row. This is the stalk.

Row 1 - K5 and turn leaving remaining stitches on a stitch holder.

Row 2 - P5 and turn.

Row 3 - K2tog K1 K2tog (3st)

Row 4 - P3

Row 5 - K3

Row 6 - P3tog fasten off.

Re-attach yarn to the stalk and work the second leaf on the next 5st.  Continue working leaves as above until you have made 6 leaves. Sew in ends.

Making Up

Sew up pineapple and roll up the stalk and sew to the top of the pineapple, arranging the leaves at a jaunty angle.

ppppppick up a panda

It's nice to open a package of hats and find a Panda staring up at you. Not an actual Panda, of course. That could have been quite dangerous. And we'd never have managed to fit it onto one of our bottles. But a hat-sized Panda was lovely to see. So a big thank you to this week's hat of the week winner, Sandy Goss from Dunblane, for sending us this adorable little hat.