The naming of things is a difficult matter

Naming any living creature is tricky. Even naming inanimate objects isn't easy (we always name our cars... What? What's wrong with that??) We are, however, having a terrible time thinking up a name for the latest lamb. We know her as The Princess, but that won't do for a real name. Our criteria are: it must be a Real Name (not something like Lady or... well, or Princess), it must sound well with the flock prefix, which is Burleigh, in front of it, and you must be able to yell it across the field without feeling like a prize twit. So far, we have Lulu and Alex from last year, and this year's named lambs are Yan Lamb (you know the Cumbrian sheep-counting dialect thang, Yan Tan Tethera?), Tansy, and Ruby. This new one... we're having problems with her. We spent an amusing time discussing names over dinner, but are no further on. Ella? Dido? Nope.

Anyway. Look! Wool!!We have, at present, what I think in business might be termed a cashflow crisis (using this terminology makes me feel much better than if I think of it as being broke until pay day!) so, in the entrepreneurial spirit I don't have much of and am determined to cultivate, I have started pushing forwards with the business again. My website has been revitalised, and within 48 hours of this happening, I had a phone call asking me to give a talk... I read recently that if you take one step forward, the Universe takes another one towards you, and after this, I really believe it!

I'm creating a jumper from the brown/blue/turquoise wool which is lurking on the right of that picture, coyly hiding behind the purple, and I've got to say, I think it's lovely. Photos in the next episode.

Out of the Lambing Zone...

Today is a day for picking up all the jobs which I have neglected since I went into the Lambing Zone; and setting up a blog is one of them. My intention is to blog about my craft activities, mostly knitting and spinning, and about the things I create from the wool of our beautiful sheep. An integral part of this is the creation of yet more sheep, and it is this that I have been supervising the last few weeks.

We have a very small flock of Cotswold sheep (there are only very few large flocks of Cotswold sheep!) who have been enthusiastically producing lambs, both alive and (alas) dead, for the last 3 weeks. The whole sleepless, stressful, scary time has been worth it because of these:

plus Princess Lamb (photos coming soon), born on Wednesday to our favourite ewe Molly, and who is being outrageously spoiled by her doting mum. To say that Molly is pleased with her lamb is an understatement. I was concerned about her yesterday, because she didn't seem to be eating very enthusiastically. She was tucking in until the lamb bleated or moved, then the unchewed food would drop from her mouth as she focussed with single-minded determination on the lamb. The solution was to put down a large pile of hay, pick the lamb up and put her right into the middle of it, so Molly could eat AROUND the lamb, thus keeping her nose on her baby if she so chose. I do not fear that the Princess will be neglected - on the contrary, I fear that she will become so unbearably spoiled as to be impossible.

Now we have lambs on the ground, I must give some more consideration to dealing with the end product - namely, their wool. I realised a while ago that I had to start thinking about selling the stuff, because I have so much of it that even I, demon knitter and spinner, cannot keep up. I have had a consignment beautifully spun up by the Natural Fibre Company, and I'm now experimenting with it. I am slightly freaked out by the amount of wool I have still to be spun... and of course the amount which is out there on the backs of the sheep, growing away even as I write. At least this year's lambs won't need shearing until 2009...