Reunited and reused

Odessa is finished.... I returned from my trip to Athens on Friday and completed Odessa on Saturday morning. I think my body clock was still running to +2GMT as I woke up at 7.30 and finished off the hat before breakfast. I am a bit disappointed with the tension across the decreasing rows - the pattern isn't consistent across the crown and there are visable gaps when the hat is stretched. Despite this niggle it does look pretty good on, especially if I wear it on the slant in a kind of flapper style. I will certainly have another go at knitting one before the winter, but in a deeper colour... order on its way for those 4mm addi turbos.



Today I visited the eco-design fair at Union Chapel in Islington. Here I met Annie Sherbourne who incorporates environmentally friendly materials into her textile work and business and has developed a new yarn for sale called eco-annie, a pure new wool made from recycled London textiles. Don't you just love the label. Annie mentioned that she had written a piece for Knitchicks. Here I found out that Annie has been awarded a grant by the Mayor of London to find creative ways to work with waste products, to add value and stimulate new markets for recycled products; bring on Eco-Annie. By providing the yarn in a natural colour Annie hopes to encourage knitters to dye eco-annie, using natural dyes of course. I must admit it was the first thing I thought of! Annie has worked with a spinner to combine recycled london textiles with 50% virgin wool to give the yarn its strength and basic good quality. Annie said that I am her very first sale for this product :-)

Annie has a shop at 126 Columbia Road, E2 open on Sunday mornings, the same time as the flower market. There are some beautiful yarns on Annie's website so hope to get down there soon.