beads | The Little Room of Rachell

The other day I met a friend for lunch and a walk in Salcey Forest, where I spotted these gorgeous primroses growing at the foot of a tree.

She had to head back up the M1 after lunch and so I paid a return visit to Wakefield Country Courtyard. Another friend took me there a few years ago but the photos I took then were all dark and fuzzy. I enjoy having a wander again, but it’s small and so best visited if you happen to be in the direction of Towcester or the A5. I wouldn’t plan a day trip unless you want to combine it with a good yomp at Salcey Forest.

This blanket caught my eye in the ARTea Room and Gallery, I’m dithering about whether to add this kind of scallopy edge to my huge granny square blanket border. So far I’ve crocheted a few rows of treble clusters and I need to make a decision.

My brain was whirling and I wondered if I might make some pretty applique bags, purses and notebook covers as sewing practice and gifts for family and friends….

I need to try some applique after my first effort when my sewing machine was new.

A relaxing pit-stop with a copy of Country Living and a cream tea. Naughty but nice! On the windowsill to my right were wooden bowls, jewellery, toys and knick knacks for sale. There’s a lovely selection of art and craft things all around the cafe.

I photographed the links at the end of the article on guerilla gardening to remind me to look up the sites, maybe you’d like to look as well?

The Bead Scene and Vintage Stitch are in adjoining rooms in one of the buildings and apparently both offer workshops. There are such lovely haberdashery and crafty items for sale. I loved the colourful displays, lightness of this room and found the owner very friendly.

The dresser, the baskets, the ribbon, the fabrics….

SWOON.

Ah, this is the same brand of yarn I used to crochet my knitting needle roll a few days ago.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little wander around some of Wakefield Country Courtyard. I love seeing others’ crafty trips out, please link to yours below if you’ve been anywhere nice lately.

Last month a friend booked us both on a jewellery workshop with Stones of Isis in South London. She’d seen a Groupon offer for a beginners class for 3 hours at £22 each, it’s very good value and if that deal is still available I’d recommend you book if you can. We went to The Old Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey (spell check wants to change this to ‘spider monkey’ ha ha!) on Saturday. Gok Wan uses a studio there to photograph his collections apparently – there’s a random fact for you.

I’ve never made any jewellery before, unless threading painted pasta on string counts?
You can see how my attempts improved, though there’s still a long way to go.

~~So, in a nutshell this is what the equipment’s called and how you make a rosary bracelet~~ Oops, I realise I can’t name the equipment with confidence at all! I need to check the pdf that’s promised to all who attended the workshop.

It’s fun, time flies and you realise how very slow you’ve been when you’re racing to complete the earrings by the end of the workshop. A slight downside is that your thumb and finger of your other hand throb by the end of the session, your dominant hand is holding the pliers and fares much better. I expect you toughen up after more sessions, or adjust your technique and this isn’t an issue as there’s no condition, as far as I know, called jeweller’s thumb…

This is the work of the graphic designer who sat opposite, we both loved her colour choices, repeating pattern and neat work. She insisted she’s never made any jewellery before and we veered between envy at her talent and thinking she couldn’t be new to it at all because it looks so good. Her pearlyish beads on the floating bracelet inspired me to add two to the end of mine.

Sandwiches, tea, biscuits and cake were provided but to be honest I think we were mostly all too busy to stop and eat much.

Here are my finished items. As Bola and Mary, the teachers and owners, said you can spend a fortune in Accessorize on similar bracelets. I don’t wear necklaces but have a huge bowl of bracelets so making my own really appeals but I’ll probably need to arrange a follow-up crafting session with my friend Sarah who creates the most lovely jewellery, for a bit of a refresher.

Next we crossed the river and went to north London to Islington. There’s no way you can really go there without a little visit to Loop. After my recent thoughts about Noro wool feeling too scratchy we discovered they make an absolutely gorgeous variegated cotton. I was soooo tempted to buy some but first need to finish my Rowan and Planet Penny cotton.

I have a giftcard to spend at John Lewis sometime, plus I’m busy using my Black Sheep Wools haul so didn’t buy anything. It was hard not to buy a ball of each colour combo of that Noro cotton, but I stuffed my hands in my pockets.

Lush yarn isn’t it? I believe you can just tell looking at these photos. Some is £20 and upwards for a skein, so I’d definitely need to feel more confident about my knitting before I bought enough for a garment.