Trip to the bead shop

Today I went to my Local Bead Shop (LBS?), The Bead Shop Edinburgh.

I don't bead, but I somehow went away with more than just necklace clasps.Lovely, aren't they? I thought they looked fibrous.

It's a nice and friendly store.
They also have wholesale discounts, if you buy enough of one item.

I couldn't help taking pictures of the beads. There were all these colors and shapes saying hey, look at me!


Maybe I should take up beading ...

Dabbling Wednesday

I don't often crochet, I don't often work with wire, and I don't often work with beads, so today I did all three!

I used a simple pattern Nezumi World, and read some helpful tips on working with wire over at seafore.com.

I used a 28 gauge wire and a 3.5 metal crochet hook.

I strung 35 beads, but only ended up using 22

Left a long tail as I was going to have to attach it to a clasp later.

Here I am using the tail from the the slip knot to tie around the spring clasp.
I tweaked the bead placement so they hung at one side instead of in the middle.
It was surprisingly easy. The only tip I have is that it's difficult to undo stitches, so make sure the loop on the needle is a good size before you start the yo process.