Sunset on the last night in Shetland, seen from Papil, Burra

I am back from Shetland after a magical time.

Shetland is my favourite place. I have found friends there and am always blown away by the warm welcome that visitors receive… especially at the Sunday Teas which, during Wool Week, are organised by the Shetland Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers (and Knitters).

I love the Sunday Teas in Shetland, at which folk gather in a village hall to enjoy home-baked goods! The cakes are amazing, the teapots are huge and never empty, and people bring flowers from their own gardens to decorate the tables

Shetland really is the spiritual home of wool and knitting; you could never run out of ideas with all the incredible Fair Isle and lace, and with all the amazing colours that shimmer in the sky and in the landscape.

Banna Minn beach, Burra

Cliffs on the headland further down from Banna Minn beach

Knitting created by comrades who attended the KNITSONIK workshop held at Jamieson & Smith on Friday during Wool Week; the knitting is all based on photos of rocks and jellyfish taken at Nesbister, Whiteness, in 2013

Ella Gordon in a beautiful Fair Isle yoke sweater – Ella and Kate’s talk about vintage knitwear was a highlight of Shetland Wool Week this year

Exhibition at the Shetland Textile Museum, 2014, curated by Ella Gordon

The weather, the sea and the land dominate the experience of being in Shetland and there is great comfort in the velvet quiet of the nights and in being able to see all the stars.

Deborah Gray on Banna Minn beach

And there is something just awesome about the constant presence of sheep.

sheep near Banna Minn beach, Papil, Burra

Ram lambs at The Flock Book

I will write more about the wool and knitting side of things over on the knitsonik website soon. But today I am thinking about how to bring some of the Shetland magic back here to my life in Reading.

We don’t have room for sheep here, alas, but we do have a tiny gang of ducks.

The naughty ducks

When I am trying to get them into bed (“we want to play on our pond, we don’t care that it’s midnight!”) I shall think of Jan Robertson.

Jan Robertson – the future of Shetland wool and sheep is in safe hands

Jan is training with Oliver Henry at the Shetland Woolbrokers as a sorter and grader of Shetland Wool and her stories about the animals on her croft are amazing. I would like to look after my ducks with the same humour and empathy that Jan shows for all living things.

Duck eggs

The landscape here is dominated not by hills and beaches but by bricks and roads which can provide their own inspiration…

rainbow spotted from the M4 motorway

Beautiful bricks of Reading

I have ordered a knitting belt and some long double-pointed needles too, which will remind me of my knitting buddies in Shetland, as do these lovely flowers from my garden. Thank you to all my friends in Shetland for making me feel so welcome in your amazing isles; you are welcome any time at my house for Sunday Teas x

Nicotiana flowers

There are lots of ways to keep the magic of Shetland alive here in Reading.

Heart-shaped stone found on Banna Minn beach

This is a good thing because although Shetland is my favourite place, Mark is my favourite person… and home is – as they say – where the heart is.

Mark

As the autumn presses on I am reorganising my studio to make podcasting and sound-editing easier; I continue to manage the distribution and despatch of the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook; my commission for The Museum of Oxford is racing along; and the ducks need a person to guard against the foxes and to put them into their house at night. This Autumn I want to tuck the friendships, the knitting, the flowers, the animals, the sunsets, the landscapes and the love I found in Shetland round it all.

I will be back soon, Shetland!