Well, here we go, a blog!  I must apologise now because I have never written a blog post before in my life, but, no time like the present to give it a go...so please bear with me and please ignore the SPAG (I am reliably told by my children this means Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar).

I thought I would start off by telling you more about me.  One of the first thing people comment on is my unusual name, my name is Irish and is prounouced Dimpna.  I love having an unusual name, but I do get called quite a range of different names so I do answer to pretty much anything.

I was born in Lancashire and my parents moved to Shetland when I was 3 years old.  I have a sister and a brother and we had a fabulous childhood in Shetland. My parents and sister and brother and their families live in Shetland. Shetland is a really quite unique place, it is a mosaic of over a hundred islands,  inhabited by around 22,000 people and an abundance of wildlife. The land is shaped by the sea and ranges from dramatic, sculpted cliffs to the most fabulous sandy beaches.  It was an amazing place to grow up, we had the choice of two beaches just a stone's throw from my parent's house.  Everyone knows everyone and everyone is there to help and support each other. 

Shetland is renown for it's Shetland wool and stunning Fairisle knitting.  When we were visiting my parents this August, we were lucky enought to visit several of the local agricultural shows.  The knitwear on show was fabulous, the talent and skill just cannot be under estimated.  I love that I was imersed is this culture from being such a young child, learning fairisle knitting at school and being taught by my Mum to sew.  This kick-started a lifelong love of crafts.

I left Shetland go to University, this was certainly quite a culture shock, having been brought up on a small Island where I knew everyone.  I met my husband, Marc, not long after leaving University, we live in Lancashire and have 4 children.  Our eldest Harry is 18 and is looking at which University he would like to go to next year, we have Jacob who is 15, Grace is 13 and Leon is 9.  Life is busy, but it is fun.  

After working for a long time as a Statistician, a Financial Systems Manager and then an IT Manager, I have come full circle back to my love of crafts.  I set my lovely shop DymphnaJane up in 2019.  I started off quite small, really hand picking the products I stock, it's really very important to me that everything is of good quality from trusted brands and this continues now.  Also I don't want to loose that personal touch, I want to know my customers, to learn from them, the talent is amazing, and I want to give a really good friendly service.  I think this has come from growing up in such a small community that I really value people and want to give them the service they deserve.  I love my shop, it fits so perfectly around my children, and, everyday, I am surounded by beautiful threads, crochet hooks, knitting needles, everything you could possibly need for sewing, knitting, crochet and so much more.

Well, I have done it...my very first ever blog post...hopefully, you are still with me!  I would love to share projects with you, hear about and see your projects,  introduce new goodies to you and just generally have a chat.  What would you like to hear about?  Is there anything you would like to know more about? Please feel free to comment below.

Dymphna