SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Sock it to 'em kiddo!

(As my wonderful acidic old Gran used to say.)

And boy did those kids sock it to 'em.

Saturday was not just hot it was hotter than hot in a blast furnace, then we gathered together LOTS of over excited children in a sports hall with a tin roof.

Man that was some kind of thermo nuclear melt down hot.

I think Kirsty, my glamourous assistant, and I lost quite a few pounds each on Saturday.

However the children were as ever fantastic, creating a mad range of spotty, stripy, highly coloured critters.

There were a lot of new faces this time,

and it being a family workshop lots of new adults too, mainly Mum's but with the odd Turkish Auntie thrown in for good measure.

Despite the heat every one worked really hard,

one Mum stayed on after the first class had finished and half way through the next class just to finish her daughters critter.

She claimed that if they left with it unfinished then it would never get finished.

She did write on her feedback form under what would have made the class better,

"a G and T and a daughter who can sew".

Then in the second class there was a random table of boys,

or should that be a table of random boys?

Most of them came unaccompanied and were quite frankly hilarious,

but some of the most independent minded and inventive ones there.

The boys always gain a special place in Nora's heart and as ever my little mate Leon didn't let me down, he is only 6 but has such an eye for colour, and always makes the most amazing creations.

I mean come on, who wouldn't want this?

My only regret about these classes is that because they were so much larger than usual (15 per class as opposed to 6) I couldn't interact with the children as much as I usually do, on the other hand it was great to have the capable and unflustered presence of my glamourous assistant circling the room, giving advice, threading needles and knotting threads.

I have always flown solo in my workshops before so having someone there to take 50% of the heat, literally, is a definite bonus.

There are lots more pictures of the day on flicker, just click on the link to the right to see them.

Don't forget to enter into the great sock critter's giveaway of 2010.

Just leave a comment at the end of this post before 2 pm on Sunday naming the two critters from the poster and the ones that make me and the Flaming Hippie laugh the most will be able to give a home to them.

full details are on the previous post.

Good luck

Nora xx