Last year I fell in love with Glen Gallery Crafts when I visited them and so have been looking forward to returning ever since. Yesterday I flew into Belfast and, unlike last year when it rained every second I was here, the rain seems to be holding off and I can see some fun beading and yarn shopping on my horizon...

Todays class was Faux Bead Crochet and it was a pleasure to see everyone beading away and lots of people even went home wearing their new creations and planning others.

I have written often about my love for classes (where else can you learn something new without the distractions of home and surrounded by like-minded people and things you will want to buy?) and trying to urge you to go to a class if you can, and today was a great example of one of the things you can learn when you least expect it that make these interactions so worthwhile.

As the day progressed a student said she found it hard to find the end of her thread and another student piped up that you can take out one end of the holder on Gutemann thread for just this purpose!

In all my years of using these threads I never knew that, and it soon became apparent that no-one else in the class did either. Who knows how much future scrabbling around and annoyance has been saved from that one comment?

Glen Gallery Crafts is a real treasure trove and I wish it were nearer me. They have more yarn than I have ever seen in any speciality yarn stores, or large craft stores, plus probably hundreds of tools, notions and knick-knacks that I've never seen elsewhere but that will make life easier and make whatever hobby you have more enjoyable.

Even though I brought lots of beading projects with me to do I couldn't resist succumbing to the call of the yarn and buying some Noro and instructions to crochet a scarf.