Busy all day finishing things

Today was one of those days where I finished lots of things that had been started. Sometimes I feel that though I've been working really hard, there's not a lot to show - but then all of a sudden, it all comes together and... wow!

I knew I'd been a busy bee over the holidays, but today I packed up the 2kg black Wensleydale, washed out the 4 hanks of grey chunky and 4 hanks of fine grey Wensleydale (don't know the weight yet because its still damp, but it must be getting on for 1.75kg), and washed out the Carloway mix that I'd carded and spun. Must have been tired last night because I'd hanked up the second one before I realised it was still a single (ie hadn't been plied with anything). However, it looked pretty stable, so I've washed it and it looks gorgeous. Soft and wonderful and not at all twisty. In the thirty odd years I've been commercially handspinning, the only single I've ever produced has been the chunky Wensleydale so it just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks!

When I looked in the bottom of the fridge this morning I found an old honeydew melon lurking in the shadows. It was half of a "buy one get one free" offer and had just got left till it had a nasty black spot. The hens were at the door looking hopeful, so I cut it in half and put it out for them.

They loved it, but what I didn't expect was one of last years' bottle fed lambs to join in......

These are only a few of our hens - actually there are three cockerels in the picture. The white one at the front is cross Light Sussex, the black one on the left is a cross silkie with a brown araucana, and the little ginger nut is our naked neck cockerel. The other forty hens must have been in the byre trying to to decide who was going to lay todays' egg!