How Many Times of Stabbing Yourself With a Needle is Too Many?- Learning Project #2

I need to start by saying that I stabbed myself no less than twenty times this week while I was working on my beading, and my poor fingers are hurting. But I digress… 

The first official week of my learning project worked out better than I expected. I was able to grab the beading kit from the school, so thankfully I didn’t have to spend a bunch of money upfront on supplies for a hobby that I didn’t know if I would like for sure (which honestly, I think my husband really appreciated). The beading kit is from Skills Canada Saskatchewan and inside it had: 

• Felt to bead on
• Needles and Thread
• Beads (Black, White, Red, Yellow, Green and Blue) 
• Hardware for beading products (Popsocket, key ring and earrings) 

This is the same kit that I used last time that I beaded, so I was feeling fairly confident when I opened the kit because I knew what I would find. 

Contents of the kit

I decided to start with just one colour to start because I figured that this week, I would start by just learning some of the basics. I used this video from Skills Canada Saskatchewan as my main piece of learning this week:

This video went over the basics of what was in the kit, what each thing was for, and then taught some basic skills for beading. I have sewn and done embroidery before, so this wasn’t something completely new to me. I did struggle with threading the needle because the eye of the needle they gave me was so small that I couldn’t get the thread into it. So I decided to go into my personal sewing supplies that I have at school to grab a different needle and a threading tool. Once I did this, I found that I had much more success. 

The video started with beading in a circle, so I decided to start there as well. I was able to confidently get the first bead in position, and the first row around that bead honestly was okay as well. I struggled to understand how to secure the beads a bit, but once I rewatched the video, I was able to understand what to do. The second row is really where things got messy and I felt like I started to get frustrated. The first row I was able to do all in one go, but the second I needed to do in sections. This left me frustrated because I felt like the beads were not laying in a nice curve and it got a bit lopsided. I found it a bit frustrating that I was learning online and that I wasn’t able to ask for help from the person teaching me, because I tend to be a very hands on learner. 

The line looks great, but the circle is lopsided

Once I found that I was starting to get upset, I decided that it would be an okay time to try do a straight line instead because I figured a straight line would be easier. I felt more confident in the straight line. 

Overall, after learning from this video, I did feel slightly like I needed more information and help, which leads me to believe that I might need to go scouting for more videos, articles and online sources to help me understand better in future weeks. I haven’t totally decided to throw out the hobby so I think that it is a good sign. Hopefully, week two will help me to gain even more confidence.