The Big Twit (and no...that's not a typo!)

First and foremost, we’re ecstatic to announce that we have successfully reached our target for the Big Knit - 12,500 little hats have now been shipped to innocent smoothies! This is a remarkable achievement, and we couldn’t have done it without our incredible knitting community across the Isle of Wight.

That’s not all! We’ve received thousands of additional hats beyond our target. Due to our agreement with Innocent, we can only send a certain number of extra hats while receiving 30p for each one. This is where the incredible local business owner, Gordy from Gordy’s Wood, comes into play.

You might know Gordy for his beautifully handcrafted snowmen, which are not just a Christmas favourite but are becoming popular year-round. Each snowman is adorned with handmade knitted hats from local knitters, and for every £5 snowman sold, Gordy donates £1 to a local, Island charity. Seeing the success of the Big Knit and innocent’s donations, Gordy stepped up, pledging to support us by donating £1 for each snowman sold, whilst we help him gather more knitted hats.

This week alone, we've already received 1,700 hats - that's over target. Gordy collected these on Tuesday (17th June, 2025), and every snowman he sells with our hats means an additional £1 donation to Age UK Isle of Wight. Excitingly, we expect hundreds, if not thousands, more hats to come in over the next two weeks, and thanks to Gordy’s our fundraising efforts can continue and these hats can continue supporting our local charity.

And the best part? Our knitters can continue crafting hats all year round, unlike the Big Knit campaign, which is seasonal.

Now, Gordy is working on a name for this new knitting project. He had a playful suggestion: “The BIG TWIT”—and it definitely has a fun ring to it! As we dive deeper into this project, we’ll share more updates.

Additionally, we’ve adopted our very first snowman who will be traveling across the Island with our team, helping us share our journey. We’d love your suggestions for a name for our little snowman! Please email fundraising@ageukiw.org.uk if you have any ideas!

Keep those hats coming all year long! We’ll be passing them on to Gordy’s Wood, located at Arreton Barns, right next to the Dairyman’s Daughter. 

Gordy will continue to fundraise for other local charities, so if you’ve donated hats for a different cause, rest assured he’s got it all organised.