Sweep was born here in 2012 she was one of the first Soay cross first lambs born here. Her mum was called Sue and Sue’s mum was our original Shetland ewe Sooty. They are named after famous childrens TV characters. Sweep is a very small dainty sheep with the most wonderful spotted markings. She has always been very clever and friendly for food and tends to surf on the other larger sheep to grab sheep food from my hand. She has always been very nervous of being stroked although in recent years she has gotten more confident. Sweep has had 3 lambs in the past called Pansy, Jester and Clover who now live in other pet homes. I always hoped she would have more lambs in the future but as she is getting older this seems unlikely to happen now. As Sweep is only small so is her fleece which also has a short staple typical of the Shetland and Soay breeds. In 2019 I used 3 of Sweep’s fleeces to weave a very large pegloom rug. This rug was extra special as it was effectively 3 years in the making when you think it took Sweep 3 years to grow all that wool. There wasn’t quite enough of Sweep’s fleeces to finish it though so some of Patch’s wool was used too. Sweep’s rug found a new home in England and its sale helped buy in the winter hay that year.
