So, 30th April 2016 was a day to remember. For so many reasons, not all of them brilliant...

...firstly, the brilliant. YARN SHOP DAY. Oh my gosh what an amazing day. I didn't think anything could top last years crazy day, but this was amazing. So many people, and oh the weather! We were sunning ourselves out in the car park (yes, we are that glamourous), and we even sunned ourselves WHILST IT SNOWED. Crazy weather.

Here were the first arrivals firmly camped out...clearly something was hilarious if the look on Jenny's face is anything to go by...

Hilarity...

 We ran out of room so started spilling sideways out of the gazebo...

Camping...

Gazebo...

Friends old and new came, including those we don't often get to see...

Bouncing babies...

There was a LOT of prosecco flowing. And so much food. Let's not forget the cheesy roast potatoes provided by Mick at the Springwood Grill. They were EPIC. And amazing cakes brought by Jen again!

Cake!

And so much knitting and crocheting! Michelle crocheted for the whole day without stopping!

Michelle and her hat!

And look at the yarn bombing!

Yarn bombing...

 Steph even started yarn bombing herself!

Steph...

 It really brightened up the railings!

Looking good...

 

We all became quite tipsy, and *some* of us became quite mischevious whenever any men turned up, chanting 'man, man, man'...and then when Miss Kathryn's son (so called, as she is the Sconchlet's keyworker, and the name has sort of stuck) turned up, who turns out to be rather tall, well, I may have asked for a photo to mark how much of midget I am...

So tall!

The poor boy...

Not everyone became a loon when tipsy. Some ladies had more decorum, and we rely on those to keep the shop from disintegrating into chaos...Pauline for example, who oozed class...

Pauline!

Some were less well behaved. Like Bev...

Bev!

 

Team Sconch were having a ball, if not feeling quite exhausted...

Team Sconch...

No idea where Mr Sconch was at this point. He secretly enjoys himself far too much at these things, and we kept finding him surrounded by women, selling like a trooper...!

 

And we even managed a workshop *cough*. Even if it ws slightly, shall we say, lacking in planning...! But it was great fun. We made Fimo stitch markers. I seem to have lost the photo of them all lined up (they were amazing), but you can see us busy making...

Workshop...

And a few of the finished ones...

Ta-dah!

 

We didn't have the Sconchlet with us, as she had Chicken Pox (or so we thought). She was at home with the inlaws which was such a shame as she had been looking forward to the shop party all week.

I also had a monumental sore throat. We had been in a bit of a panic Friday night about this, and had spent an hour on the phone to the 111 service, as if I had such a bad sore throat, maybe the Sconchlet didn't have Chicken Pox after all, as I certainly didn't... and I needed to know, as if it was something contagious, I obviously needed to know straight away, because I couldn't go infecting everyone. However, 2 million questions later, and she definitely had Chicken Pox, and I probably just had a virus. I was told not to share any cups with people, and I'd be fine.

So I made sure I didn't have anything to do with food prep or drinks, and warned people I had a bit of a lurgy. But the throat pain continued to get worse. And by lunchtime I had what felt like extreme pins and needles in my feet.

By the time I got home and had a bath, I ended up on the bathroom floor screaming in pain and sobbing my heart out on the bed after Mr Sconch literally carried me into the bedroom.

Turns out it wasn't pins and needles as such, but an extreme reaction to what is in fact Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. My feet are coated in tiny blisters. All ready to pop. Ouch doesn't cover it. I can't walk. I can now hardly hold anything as by lunchtime today it had spread to my hands. The rash is now everywhere. Sores, blisters and pins and needles. So no, the Sconchlet didn't have Chicken Pox, but Hand, Foot and Mouth. Which was what I had already suggested to the doctors on Friday but had been dismissed...

She is fine. Recovering nicely having had a mild dose. Me on the other hand... no work for a week. And Sconchlet is still contagous so no nursery for a week. So that'll be fun.

So if you came to Yarn Shop Day, and suddenly get a sore throat, or start to look a bit manky, go see your GP... In the meantime, I'll be on my sofa crying in pain. And feeling quite guilty for potentially being responsible for a Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in Braintree.

 

At least Yarn Shop Day was a success...

Sam x