Dispatches from Orkney: December by Isla

Hello and the warmest of December greetings to you all.  

It has been quite a month for me.  I should have been sitting writing to you from England where I had plans of spending lots of quality time with friends and family before Christmas. Instead I am sitting on my own sofa in front of the fire watching Christmas movies recovering from Covid.  Not quite what I had in mind for the first couple of weeks of December but it can’t he helped.  I have a few more days of self isolation to go. Of course I am gutted not to have been able to see everyone but I am very thankful that I found out I was positive the day before I was due to leave.  I am also thankful that compared to so many I have not been too ill. 

I haven’t been alone though during my illness and this seems the right point to introduce you to meet Bonnie.  Bonnie is an eight year old rescue black Labrador cross.  My old dog Fizz, who sadly passed away a year ago, was also a rescue dog so I knew that any future four legged addition to my life had to be a dog in need.  I don’t know much about Bonnie’s past apart from her previous owner was unable to keep her any longer.  She is a very soppy thing and being part Labrador every time there is a noise from the kitchen she is straight there!  Bonnie was from northern Scotland so very much used to the wet and windy weather we get a little bit further north in Orkney at this time of year!   

Bonnie has settled in brilliantly to life with me in Orkney despite us being limited in our adventures this last couple of weeks. We are still getting to know each other but she loves nothing more than laying on the sofa napping while I knit away on my Christmas gift knitting.  She does have a habit of getting a little too close which hampers things a bit.  

Which leads my nicely on to what I have been working on!  Despite feeling a bit rubbish I have been able to finish this little chap, the Tsutsu Bear.  He has been the fiddliest thing I have knitted in a very long time but the pattern was really well written and has lots of helpful tips along the way.   I am delighted with how he has turned out and I am going to be sad to part with him.  

I hope the next few weeks are as peaceful and joyful as they can be for you.  See you next year!

Isla