Slowly does it

As usual with me, I am carried away by my wildly exceeding expectations (of myself, of others, of things), and after "mastering" the square stitch I thought that there wasn't much to this bead weaving malarkey.

But no, I was wrong. I attempted to work on brick stitch with some bugle beads, but could not get past row 2. I found it very difficult to get the ladder row correct.

Then I had several guests come and stay with me, which meant having less free time (I don't have much to begin with) and also putting away the beads, to avoid some sort of cartoon-style mishap (I keep having nightmares of me on all fours collecting endless single beads of my wooden floor).

But I was still itching to try. So after looking at the books I ordered and a magazine, I made a (slightly confusing) shopping list and headed for the heaven that is Beadworks, in London's Covent Garden. One of the projects I wanted to try, a reversed spiral beaded necklace, of which more later, called for size 15 beads, but I was surprised to discover Beadworks only go to size 11 (which are already quite small) so I adapted my ingredients list.

Again due to my high expectations, I opted NOT to do the necklace using beads of different colours and sizes, but rather the more difficult option of beads of different sizes but of the same colour. Not that this has so far been a massive hindrance because I have not been able to even get past the first size of bead working... spiral beading is a b***h! Does anyone have any tips for this? When I begin, already in the second row, the whole thing becomes a tangled mess and I can't tell top from tail. All the instructions I've seen so far for spiral beading seem to miss some crucial steps. First: do I need to use some sort of circular support in the middle (say like a biro case or a little tube)? Second: when doing the first circle, do I need to tie/knot it? How does it stay like that? Does it all have to be tight or loose? If it's tight, how can you tell what's what? Any pointers in this direction would be helpful.

Dejected, but not defeated, I returned to the brick stitch. I figured that I need to really master the basics and become more comfortable with everything. After a few aborted tries, I sort of managed to stitch a little star:

which doesn't really look like a star... ah well.

But, emboldened, I "created" my own design using the very useful Beadworker's Toolbook, I attempted a sun. Here is the result:

It's not half bad, is it?

What I am the least happy with is the quality of the ladder row and the first 2-3 rows... I can't seem to get the first few beads to sit straight. Anyone has any tips for that?

I also made a couple of counting mistakes and that, but I don't think it's too crap. I found it fun to do, and relaxing, fulfilling. Matter of fact, I slept better after beading... coincidence?

BB