About me
I live off the northern tip of Scotland, in the beautiful Orkney Islands, with my husband, son, 2 cats and a rescue greyhound. My daughter has left home and lives on mainland Scotland.
You will find 2 passions of mine for sale on this website. I will tell you all little about each of them below.
ORKNEY ORGANICS
I started my business journey with Orkney Organics in 2017. For as many years as I can remember I have used natural and organic skincare. I have tried many brands and the differing ingredients and their combinations have always interested me.
My fascination about natural and organic ingredients, their sources and effectiveness led me to study the subject further to gain a deeper understanding (and a Diploma in Natural and Organic Skincare Formulation) which naturally led to me experimenting and making products for myself, family and friends. We have all been delighted with the results and I have my testers to thank for their constructive feedback which has enabled me to launch my own brand. I currently formulate and manufacture skin balms and cold pressed soap by hand in my island home.
I also have a very keen interest in the environment and, like many people, recycle as much as I can. I live in one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland where it is very easy to appreciate the beauty of the environment. This increases my desire to reduce my impact on the balance of nature.
As a producer I am keen to play an important part in reducing the use of plastic where possible and, although this means my aluminium packaging is more expensive than the alternative plastic option, I am of the opinion this is money well spent.
The main components of my packaging are either recyclable or preferably reusable after you finish using your product. I obtain my ingredients from reputable UK suppliers and none of my ingredients or final products are tested on animals. All my products are made in small batches, by hand.
I truly hope you enjoy using my products as much as I enjoy formulating and making them for you.
KNIT ORKNEY
This year, 2020, saw many changes, of which we had no, or minimal control. The Covid19 pandemic and the resulting 'stay at home' advice led me to return to one of my lifelong passions of needlecraft, knitting to be precise. This provided stress relief and a mindfulness space for me. I knitted many socks and started developing designs of my own.
For me knitting is about falling in love with the yarn and enjoying the knitting of the pattern, which I inevitable make some changes (some people may call this mistakes). I enjoy the feeling of the yarn running through my fingers and sliding rhythmically on my needles to the finale of producing an original, finished product. Personally, I usually seek out beautiful and unusual yarn. Therefore, I want to provide yarns from artisan dyers, ethical brands, fair trade producers and possible, some of my own hand dyed yarns might make an occasional appearance too. I will expand my range over time and I am current in negotiations with a few artisan yarn dyers.
Often when I found beautiful yarn, I was unable to find a pattern that I liked, or what I had in my mind, so, I started to write some of my own. The possibilities are obviously endless. By studying yarns, stitches and playing with mixing yarns I started to develop another interest, pattern design.
I hope you love the beautiful yarns, colours and patterns I choose to sell.
Well done for reading to the end, if there is anything I can help you with please get in touch.
Love from Orkney
Carol Evans