Age UK Lancashire is upping its knitting game with a new selection of exciting miniature hat designs for the Big Knit campaign.

The Big Knit, now in its 16th year, is working with Age UK Lancashire and inviting everyone – whether a purling pro, crochet connoisseur or a knitting newbie – to pop along to any Age UK Lancashire centre or shop in Lancashire and pick up the new hat patterns and join in the campaign.

Taking hats to a whole new level, the new designs include a dinosaur, lion, unicorn and duck. As well as the new designs, there are plenty more knitting patterns, whatever your ability, including classic beginner bobble hats, crochet options and other fun characters – knitters can even create and design their own.

The campaign is aiming to hit an impressive target of 1.6 million hats to adorn innocent smoothie bottles later this year. For each be-hatted smoothie sold*, Age UK receives 25p, and that money helps the Charity support older people who are facing later life alone.

Teri Stephenson, Chief Officer of Age UK Lancashire told QLocal: "We love the new hat designs and can’t wait to see how the knitters of Lancashire use them to create their own little hats.

"Every year we love seeing all the different designs come in from stripy bobble hats to grizzly bears. We need everyone to join us and knit as many miniature hats as possible by 31st July to help us hit our 4500 target. It’s such a fun campaign to get behind and it does so much to help older people in our area.”

The money raised will make a big difference to the lives of older people by helping to fund Age UK Lancashire’s service. These services give local older people the chance to come along and make friends, learn new skills and most importantly have fun.

Sim Viney, innocent drinks, added: “The Big Knit gets such an incredible amount of support from Lancashire and we are hugely grateful for this. Through the Big Knit campaign, we want to do everything we can to make a difference to the lives of older people, and every single hat knitted for us will help us to do this!”

To pick up the latest hat patterns, pop into any Age UK Lancashire shop or centre or visit http://www.ageuk.org.uk/lancashire/g.../the-big-knit/ or www.thebigknit.co.uk/knitting-pattern.

For more information on The Big Knit contact Age UK Lancashire on: 0300 303 1234. Please send completed hats to Age UK Lancashire, Suite 22, Railway House, Railway Road, Chorley, PR6 0HW or drop off at your local Age UK Lancashire shop or centre. The deadline for hats to be received is 31st July.