wanderings in the east end

My new camera arrived, so I went out for a wander around Brick Lane in London’s East End.  Sadly much of the area has been well and truly ‘cleaned up’ (*cough* Spitalfields) but thankfully there’s lots of interesting stuff at the Old Truman Brewery.  On Sundays the brewery site hosts two great markets, Sunday Up Market and Backyard Market – make sure you go to both.  Inside you’ll find lots of young creative types selling their wares, and this is probably the closest I’ve found in London to some of my very favourite markets back in Melbourne.  Somehow I managed to come away without buying anything, which certainly never happens in Melbs.

I was quite surprised that I didn’t find any knitterly goodies for sale (definitely a gap in the market there), but I did happen to meet two lovely men who design some gorgeous cross stitch kits.  Many are inspired by street art (think Banksy in cross stitch) but here’s a favourite for the 80s kids:

I don’t know a thing about cross-stitch, but it seems to be enjoying something of a resurgence in line with other crafty pursuits.  They’re looking to set up some cross-stitch evenings in local London drinking establishments, so get in touch with Random Monkey Design if you’re interested.