By Cathy Wright

Do you compost? I bet you do, but I would put money on it that you don't like all those little worms that hide under the lid. And what about recycling? We all have a go don't we, but what do you do with plastic lids? Do they go in with the bottles? What about your wool, do you know where it comes from - is it ethical? Is it organic? It is something that I myself as a spinner and Jinny as a knitter know little about, but things are starting to change. We all need educating, so I have had a chat with a woman who is on a mission to do just that. Julia Hopson from Cornish Organic Wool has kindly given us an interview about how her Soil Association registered wool company came about.

Julia, who learned to knit as a child, lives in Cornwall with husband and business partner Matt and their children. She owns a wool shop, Knit Wits in Penzance and she told me how the operation began.

"When we moved to Cornwall I got a job one day a week in the local wool shop; after a few years the shop came on the market and Matt was 'between jobs!' so we bought the shop. Amazingly, in the very early days we had 2 customers come in and ask for organic wool (both of whom said, 'I know this is a bizarre request, but .....!'). Friends of ours have an organic farm with sheep (Bosigran Farm, Zennor - our oldest supplier) so I phoned them up and asked them what they did with their wool. As it happened, they had had a batch spun with the aim of knitting it into children's ganseys and selling it with Liz's, expanding, eco-nappy business. But, by the time they'd added on the cost of knitting up the ganseys, they were rather expensive so the 5 kg sack of wool was in a barn. We bought it and sold the lot that summer and the rest, as they say, is history!!"

So what is the difference between organic and non organic wool? Well, all the farms that Julia and Matt use to supply their wool are registered with either the Soil Association or Organic Farmers and Growers (OF&G) and this ensures that the animal welfare is paramount and that the sheep are only treated with organically approved substances. It's something that Julia is passionate about.

"We believe that Cornish Organic is the absolute gold standard for organic wool - every skein traceable back to the farm of origin is unique and with the smallest eco footprint it is possible to get."

For someone who is eager to follow in your footsteps but wondering about the logistics of it, did you have to support yourselves in other ways while your business was finding its feet?

"We've totally supported ourselves through the shop. It's been tough and our accountant can't quite believe how little we live off but we're managing! We bought a good digital camera so all the photos were taken by Matt and all the models are friends/godchildren of ours!! We did get match-funded grants to help pay for web-site production and our first show at the NEC."

So, for knitonthenet readers who have their own shops and would be interested in stocking your wool, what advice would you give?

"We're obviously really keen to spread the word about organic and are now supplying other retailers, which is really good. All retailers are supplied with posters of the farms their wool came from and a document (see our FAQ's section on the web-site) about why people should be buying organic. At this stage, it's really an education thing - educating people about organic and the benefits and also the difference between our 'pure' organic and other (less pure?) organic fibres. As a rule we always say, that if it isn't accredited with an organisation such as the Soil Association then it's possibly not organic! The Soil Association (with whom we work very closely, of course) spends an increasing amount of its time working with Trading Standards to sort out companies who are claiming 'organic' (for marketing purposes) when their products aren't accredited."

So why not give knitting with organic wool a try. It's available in any shade as long as it's white at the moment, but even that is about to change with the use of eco dyes in the New Year. The wool is available to buy from Matt and Julia or if you are a retailer yourself, they would be keen to discuss supply with you. It's an area that is of real interest to people at the moment, and as we knitters are an eco friendly bunch, it's bound to keep growing and growing.