What's in a name?

An impromptu dye session this afternoon and some recent comments sparked the topic for today's post.

I will admit, one of my favourite parts of dying yarn is naming the colourways.

I've always liked naming things. As a child I named a lot of our pets (no one else in the family would name a cat Kobiashi Thunderdaemon Satancat, Emperor Tiberius Felinicus or Rockster Weewiggles - though my niece did want to name her baby sister Sally Swimpants, so someone in the family understands my madness.)

Occasionally I'd get vetoed. For some reason no one liked the name Charles so...... he got named Russell.

When I go fishing with Dad, I have a tendency to name the fish we catch (but he says it's not right to name dinner) - the biggest fish I've ever caught is a 24-inch pike named Fred.

The very first angel fish Dave bought me were called Spot and Fluffy, and then he got me some gouramis named Jake and Elwood. When Spot and Fluffy died (probably of embarrassment) I got Othello and Desdemona.

My car is named Betty, and I talk to her like she's a real person (lately it's been "C'mon baby, you're a good girl, don't stall on me now)... but I digress.... we were talking about yarn names.

I think the yarn name is just as important as the colour itself. As Zoom mentioned in a previous comment, she is often influenced by the colour's name. I'll admit, often I am too. I have nail polish that I bought only because it was called "Baby" and all I could think was "Nobody puts Baby in the corner!" and I had to have it.

Some dyers limit themselves to a theme - Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga line is all bugs, Numma Numma is all food. Our yarn names are all over the place - I don't believe in limitations. People who know us well should be able to tell which one of us named it. Mom has a tendency to name colours after flowers or songs...
...such as Blue Jean Baby or...
...Sunflower

I have a bit of a penchant for the fantastic, so my names tend toward the mythical...
...such as Mermaid's Treasure. (Incidentally it seems I have a bit of a mermaid problem.. there has been Mermaid's Treasure, Mermaid's Tale, Mermaid's Lagoon and Mermaid's Fancy.... and Mermaid's Delight is drying right now.)

I'm not sure how it works for Mom, but sometimes I get a name before I even start dying, and decide to make something that works with it......that's how Aurora came to be.

Most of the time, something comes out of the dye pot and I name it instantly... the names just come to me, I can't explain how or why.

When mom's dying without me, I name things when I come to inspect (though sometimes she already has them named)......the minute I saw this one, I knew it had to be Pickle.

But sometimes... just as with Russell.... I still get vetoed......I wanted to call this one Troll Bogeys... we compromised with Grendel. (And it's still one of my favourites!)