Rinansay Weavings

05/06/2026

its been a -when you jump out of bed and are too busy to put a brush through your hair- kind of day

04/06/2026

Ewe may have noticed a few changes: i have finally changed the page name to my business name. Woolly Wally is still a big part of my crafting journey and will now relate to the wee sheep character i make and not the whole business. I am still using it as my Instagram handle and for my email address.
The Annual Orkney Arts and Crafts Exhibition is upon us tomorrow so as usual I have "hidden" everything in my online shop as my brain is a bowl of noodles and i forgot to record what i sent in (and what i additionally sent into the new Shop on the high street)
But as some of ewe may know much of the stuff i make is one of a kind, however i am always happy to reproduce anything if someone requests it, so do make contact if you see something you like!
I will add new stuff to the Shop as i finish them over the next few weeks :)
Here is a wee pic of another new thing for me- Creative Orkney have taken on the display cabinets in the old Tourist Office in Kirkwall- and we have been given the opportunity to have something on display inside along with info signposting visitors to us, so if you are in Orkney, see if you can spot the Woolly Wally contribution!

28/05/2026

YAY! its that time of year again- hows it come round so quick?! see ewe all there!

Mark your calendars folks, the great Summer Exhibition starts next week!
60 crafters from our own green isles coming together in one place for you to browse at your leisure.
Whether it's a gift, a souvenir or just a treat for yourself, we do have something for everyone! 💌🎁

18/05/2026

First workshop of the year, with the lovely Wendy who decided she would like to needlefelt herself a wallhanging of an island scene. Great work Wendy! (i think she has found herself another hobby 😉🐑✌)

14/05/2026

happy 3rd baaah-thday to my Opal, and sadness that I didnt manage to get her brother Jasper to this point, he was too beautiful and too intelligent for this world to keep him here #. Watching Eurovision semi finals just now takes me back to the night they were born, and we lost their mother, and Jaspers lookalike Pearl. 😢

10/05/2026

Oh Hercules...
Found as a wee scraggy starving weanling 10 years ago he has grown into the nicest, gentlest lad ever. I think he is a bit of a poster boy for the island- having featured on advertising for the Sheep Festival and i bet has been the subject matter in many a tourists photograph over the years.
I brought him home for good (having to castrate him at 7 years old) as he was not doing so well living on the shore and lost his 2 front teeth one winter.
For the past few months he has been struggling with eating and i put it down to his remaining incisors being overgrown and wobbly. Im waiting for the vet to visit the island so they can come extract his remaining incisors under local anaestetic.
But yesterday i was hand feeding him, as i have been doing, and he was being picky as always then stopped and looked for the all the world like he had got some food stuck.
He champed and nashed his jaw and finally pushed some grass out the side of his mouth, followed by this!
Poor boy was having molar problems and judging by the sharp points on the grinding edge i imagine that was what was making eating so uncomfortable. Sheep have massive molars- he only has a wee head and this one tooth is an inch wide.
He tucked in (well comparatively) to some feed after losing his tooth, and i am hopeful he may regain some weight if he can get his appetite back now.

04/05/2026

im having some time to pretend its 1990 (ie the internet is being unpredictable on and off and i am on a Nokia 3310 as the android decided it didnt like water - funny that) so i havent been able to stock my shop yet but am working on it, and i am only contactable by "normal" phone means!!!
Its actually rather nice.....

27/04/2026

I dont like saying i told ewe so but.....
that blur in the background is the NR lighthouse, about 200m away

26/04/2026

when you are on your own, doing your thing.....and get that feeling you are being watched....