Sunshine after the rain

Yesterday's rain was very welcome for the garden and my ducks were in heaven - they've excavated a bill-depth hole about 6" round in the grass after lots of ecstatic dabbling. The hens all looked dreadful, especially Emily who is moulting and therefore bald in places. Maud took refuge in the newly-tidied boot room:

Wet hen

I suppose I'm so used to seeing the ducks' feathers cope so effortlessly with water it's a bit of a shock to see a chicken standing there like a wet mop. Bedraggled doesn't even come near it.

Anyway, just as the previous day had been glorious, today brought a freshly laundered feel to the garden and I wanted to get going on the sunflower I'd started at Nicky's yesterday. We'd had a very productive Guild meeting and Fimo-ed our crochet hooks and some buttons; here are mine:

We'd also tried out our hand spindles which after many not-quite-what-we're-after YouTube handspinning videos, we cobbled together some yarn, which I am really excited about. It's not very easy to see on the spindle but here's how I've done so far:

Note the home-made granola in jar and home-grown
squashes in background...

I can't wait to get on and do some more as although it's pretty uneven....ok incredibly lumpy in places - it's MINE!! I made raw sheep's fleece into yarn! It won't be any good for anything terribly refined and my crochet hooks shrank back in horror at the thought of having to wrestle with it but I would be sooooo proud to knit something. I can sense the collected heartsink from my family and friends as they contemplate the potential Christmas presents made from this wool but rest assured, anything I make will be far to precious to give away :-)

Meanwhile, back at the sunflower: I really must reference the book I've been using for all these wonderful flowers and veg - it's 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet  by Lesley Stanfield and getting the link for that I found she has another book! Yes please!! Anyway I finished it...

...but felt it was a bit flat so I made a back:

It's really good now as it looks like a proper seed head . The Fimo-ed hooks are so easy to use and I thought I'd make a honey bee with the bumble bee pattern only use brown instead of black and a 3.5mm hook. I was really pleased with the result:

How cute!

Do you like the sting??

I'm going to make some more and sell them on my stall.