Greetings from Orkney!

Greetings from Orkney!

By Maggie Nichols

Hello,  I want to say a big thank you for giving me such a warm welcome.  I have loved reading your comments here on the blog and chatting to you on Instagram.  Many of you have visited Orkney in the past while so many of you have ancestors here.  Some of you have asked questions about life here and I hope to cover as many of these as I can as we go along in the future. 

One of the things I had  really wanted to show you was all the lovely daffodils that appear at this time of year.  Even the verges of the small narrow roads are awash with the bright cheery yellow of this spring flowering plant.  Sadly though, before I had chance to take some photographs, we had a week of gales, freezing temperatures and winterly showers.  They just didn’t stand a chance especially with the high amount of salt the gales had whipped up into the air.   Those that were in bloom or just about to flower are now looking very sorry for themselves and are brown and wilting.  

Daffodils on the isle of Orkney

  

Wilted daffodils in the snow

However, I noticed today, while enjoying a cup of tea up in Tam the Van (at a beautiful beach in the West Mainland) that those plants that were later flowering and so we're nicely tucked up and protected when the wintery storms hit are now bursting into flower.  I hope that means some of those along the verges will have survived too.  In Orkney the appearance of daffodils signify the end of the long dark days of winter, the prospect of summer and the many hours of day light that brings. 

In crafty news a lot has been happening.  I finished a jumper and have started to learn a few embroidery stitches however it’s very early days on the embroidery front. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen my happy jumper Finished Object (FO) photos!  I have posted all the information on my FO post but the design is Vinterskov by Karie Westermann.  Even in the summer it can be cool here so I know it will get lots of wear over the coming months.  I am off now to start my homework ready the 2nd half of my online embroidery workshop, wish me luck! 

Isla in her new sweater sitting happily on the rocks in Orkney.

Until next time take care

Isla


If you would like to see more of Orkney and what I am up to you can find me on Instagram as @islap1k1.  

 

If you missed Isla's first blog post here at The Woolly Thistle, you can find it here. 

15 Comments

  • so fun to hear about Orkney (on my list to visit) and where can I get a pattern of the hat you are wearing? . Soooo cute. Thank you

    Judy Clinton
  • Your story is so intriguing. I live on a small island in the Pacific NW, almost due east from Vancouver Island in British Columbia. There are so many reasons I feel grateful for my life and also happy for the Internet to keep me connected to the world. I wonder how the women that came before me survived. Most likely the endless projects to be addresses and….their needle arts. Knitting keeps me grounded. I like the window we get in how you fill your days. Thank you for sharing your world with us😊

    Leslie Faris
  • I’ve been to Scotland but never to Orkney, and I hope to correct this one day! Your knitwear is so lovely and the scenery helps. Somehow a beautiful sweater is not as spectacular in a Walmart parking lot…

    Melissa Nesbit Pagel
  • I love your blog and your jumpers. I long to go back to Orkney soon.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Cindy
  • Thank you so much for this. I’ve been enchanted with Orkney since I read a novel Orkney by Amy Sackville back in 2013. It’s a great atmospheric story about an older man and his young wife, but Orkney is also a character in the book. Thanks for giving us this view.

    Diane Briel
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