Looking forward

Well, it is absolutely belting down with rain outside this morning. One of my cats, Tico, is sitting with me on the desk, glaring out into the rain-sodden garden and, I suspect, holding me entirely responsible for the weather. I wish I was as omnipotent as she thinks I am - the rain is causing me some worry at the moment.

As you know, we have got Open Farm Sunday coming up - this very Sunday, in fact. I'm getting plenty of things ready for our stall, and am obviously quite concerned about getting everything done, because I don't have a great deal of brain bandwidth for anything else right now! Lorraine is absolutely confident that it won't rain on Open Farm Sunday, and I am choosing to believe her - maybe she has the power over the weather which I don't have!

But it's not all work. I'm shortly going to be attending - as a visitor, definitely not a stallholder! - an event called Woolfest (yay!!) which I have to say is a very cool event indeed (and if you can possibly get up to Cockermouth in Cumbria for it, you should!) It is a festival of all things woolly and sheepy, with animals, stalls, demonstrations and workshops, all held in the auction mart at Cockermouth. My stepmum, Maggie, and I are completely beside ourselves with excitement about this event, which is coming up on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th June. I've got lots of shopping to do; it's a great place to find all sorts of wonderful hand made things, and I absolutely cannot wait for it.

The thing is with Woolfest, because it's inside, it is a much more interesting event if the weather is cold. This is because if the weather is chilly, all sorts of amazing hand-knits are got out by their clever creators, and worn with pride. It's an education in itself, wandering around the place and seeing the most amazing garments being sported...

Hendra Vean Ffyniant

I'd just like to let you know that a very special animal died today.

This handsome creature is Hendra Vean Ffyniant, or Ffyn for short - a registered, pedigree Cotswold ram. He was 8 years old, and lived in Devon with Fiona and her Cotswolds (who are all related to my sheep - the other half of the flock, really). Ffyn was the first ram we ever had - he is Alfie's dad, as well as being the dad of lots of our other Cotswolds. He sired lambs for us for 4 years. Ffyn was incredibly good natured and friendly - rams can be aggressive, but Ffyn was always affectionate and kind.


He had been unwell on and off recently with crystals in his urine, but had recovered enough to attend the Devon County Show, where he did take a rosette or two, but mainly impressed everyone with his good looks and friendly nature. He even enjoyed several kisses on the nose by besotted children looking round the sheep tent!


Fiona found him in the field shelter this morning, looking as though he was asleep. He had died very peacefully, with no signs of distress or pain - it seems that he just went to sleep and didn't wake up. We are all very grateful for this.


Ffyn's death really feels like the end of an era for us. We had him for so long, he was always good natured and lovely, and we are all very sad to lose him. We do have many of his offspring to remind us of him, though. We'll never forget him.

Rain, gardens and more grass!

Not much to report, I'm afraid, and no pictures either - I do carry my camera around with me, but often forget that it is there. The weather has broken today, so we have had a fair bit of rain; this has made the grass grow like crazy, so we have taken the opportunity to move the sheep onto a new bit of pasture, and allow their old bit to recover. At the farm, it's very like a three-dimensional game of chess, getting all the animals moving round the land so that they all have grass to eat, and the grass itself has a chance to rest and recuperate before being grazed again. I am hoping that we haven't checkmated anyone by putting the sheep where they are.

We have gardened for most of the afternoon, and have done a lot of planting; our long border (which isn't 'long' in the large stately home garden sense, but runs half the length of our garden) has now got loads more perennials in it, and is looking rather good. The plants do look a bit startled and lonely, though - I'm hoping they will spread out to take up all the available space. We will see.

Tomorrow, I will HAVE to do some dyeing. I fear that I'm falling into the trap of procrastination with this!

The machines fight back

My plans for spending the day happily dyeing wool were slightly derailed, due to a vertical learning curve in the IT department. Obviously, if I'm going to be selling stuff, I will need to create labels for said stuff. Now, I'm no IT geek, but my 'normal' job does place me firmly on the fringes of the IT world, and I'm not scared - but I've been wrestling with Adobe Illustrator all day, and that's been quite an interesting experience. The thing with Illustrator is that I wasn't really sure what it does. It's on this PC, but I knew nothing much about it. Today I discovered that it's a great tool for creating all those artwork and design things which I need to create... I also discovered how very hard it is to work out how to use a piece of software if you are utterly unfamiliar with the job it is supposed to do. If you have a word processor, and you move over to another sort of word processor, you can at least have in your head an idea about what word processors in general do, and what you should expect this one in particular to be capable of.

Anyway, in a very commendable positive thinking way, I have chosen to look upon this titanic struggle as a learning challenge - and indeed, I have created a few things that don't look like I drew them with some crayons which are very blunt. Now if only I could get them to print on the correct bit of the page...

Lots to do

My usual routine of getting up and working for a while on my computer before going to my actual day job (and no, I'm not going to tell you who I work for, they'd probably sue me if I mention their name!) has been resurrected. Foz has gone to the farm to feed Ruby Lamb and give Invalid Alfie his homeopathic remedy, and I have managed to check my emails, and generally do some admin stuff. My next major project is Open Farm Sunday, at Vowley Farm, where we keep our animals. I am giving a hand spinning demo, and having a stall, which will be the Grand Launch of my business, finally. Of course, I have a lot to do in the meantime! Alfie's injury has meant that my head is full of how to deal with him. I'm realising that having a nearly full time job, plus horses who also need attention (I haven't ridden for some time!) and the fledgling business including flock of sheep means that, although I have the physical time to do everything, finding the brainpower to deal with it all is a challenge.

But that's OK. Other things are also getting done, amazingly. I am speaking to friends on the phone, and I am keeping the garden work going (half the garden is fine, half is a wilderness waiting to be carved out) and we are eating home cooked food rather than rubbish. I am not quite sure how this is all happening, but I am grateful!

More soon, including (I hope) pictures of some of the wool products which I'm plodding away on. I've got a Grand Day of Dyeing tomorrow, and am hoping to dye some uncombed Cotswold fleece - it takes the dye wonderfully well, and just looks lusciously gorgeous when all piled up in a basket. Hopefully my customers will find it irresistible - I know I do.

Alfie strikes again...

I don't think I've said very much here about Alfie yet. For those who know me, this is quite an unusual state of affairs, because Alfie is often very much on my mind. He is a 2 year old Cotswold wether (a castrated male sheep), who is probably my favourite of the flock, but he is very high maintenance. He was the last offspring of Foz's favourite ewe Maisie, who was very ill when he was born and died when he was a week old. Alfie himself was very unwell, and it seemed unlikely that he would pull through, but thanks to the dedicated nursing of my friend Fiona, he did survive, albeit in a slightly wonky and strange way! I got him when he was 4 months old or so, and became so fond of him that I couldn't send him to the abattoir - so he has stayed, making himself very useful in the ways only he can. He will walk on a halter, come when called, go into the trailer practically before the ramp is completely down, and is always cheerful and friendly. He loves meeting people, so is always a star attraction on Open Farm Sunday (coming up on 1st June... watch this space!)

So far, so cute. However, life with Alfie has a down-side, and it is that he is very accident prone. If anyone in the flock gets fly strike, it is Alfie. If someone hurdles the electric fence and falls into the fast-running ditch, necessitating Foz to go in over his wellies in order to effect a rescue, it is Alfie. The escaper who can blunder through the electric fence and be found happily grazing on the other side... well, that's Alfie too. Here is a photo of Alfie taken today:

No, he's not a goat - they have just been sheared - and actually, he's scratching himself. See anything else unusual? Natty legwear, huh?


Alfie has managed to sprain a tendon. This, I am told, is an unusual injury for a sheep. He is absolutely hopping lame, but otherwise completely unaffected. I'm not sure how he did it (I suspect a scrap with last year's ram lamb, who is looking increasingly tasty and will be got rid of next month) but he is completely out of action. Our homeopathic vet has recommended we shovel large amounts of arnica down Alfie's throat, and Alf has managed to work out that if he drops the carrot which the pill is balanced on (thus losing the pill in the grass, from whence it will never be retrieved), then dives for the carrot and eats it from the ground before we can get to it, then he will get another piece. He is having his bandage changed twice a day, and ensures that he always wanders in amongst the thistles for this to be done. He cannot be separated from the flock, otherwise he has a complete meltdown, but he does have his house, of which he is very fond:

I cannot believe he has done this. He could be lame for up to 4 weeks. Edward, our lovely vet, said to me 'don't worry, Alfie will be around to plague us for the next few years', so I'm glad to know it's not a life-threatening injury, but I have to say, I was hoping for a quieter sheep time of things. Sigh.

Letting go

Look! A jumper!




As promised, here's the latest thing I have been working on. I am excessively pleased with this garment. It fits me extremely well, the colours are a delight, the way they merge from one to another is very subtle and lovely. It suits me very well indeed.

However, there is a problem. It's not for me. It will be used to take photos for my knitting kits, then I will sell it. I can see that this is not going to be easy! It's the difference between the idea of knitting for myself and my friends, and knitting for sale. I've realised that I tend to hold an idea in my mind of the person for whom this garment is being made, so that as well as it being made to their measurements, there is a sort of intention, throughout the making process, that the thing is actually for them. It's sort of knitted in with the wool. I wonder who will end up owning this jumper? It will certainly have a life away from mine. Will it go to someone I know? Or will someone on the Internet, maybe in a different country, buy it and wear it? Will they cherish it, will they pass it on after a season? Will it eventually pass into the hands of someone who doesn't know the story behind it? I wonder. Or even - well, this would be weird - will I see someone wearing it, one day, and recognise it? I hope I can restrain myself from rushing up to them and going 'see! See??! I made that!!!'

In other news, Molly's lamb is now called Lily. Here she is:


When this photo was taken, she hadn't even got to her feet yet, but I got a very strong sense that she knew exactly where she was, knew exactly what she was doing, and intended to have it all her own way. Newborn lambs often look majorly confused just after they have been unceremoniously turfed out of the womb, but not this one. I predict a interesting relationship ahead!