The Woolly Beader: Yarn Shop Review

We love a good yarn shop, I mean who doesn't? We are really lucky to have one such shop in Okehampton. This is my (Hannah's) local shop and I would like to tell you all about it!

The Woolly Beader can be found in Red Lion Yard, Okehampton, my local town down here in Devon. If you are local to the area you may know the shop as Rockin' Beads. It has however recently been re-branded and with some amazing generosity, through a Crowd Funding project, the shop now has some beautiful new signage.

The shop is owned by Donna Tombs and her husband Gary Yeoman. Both are very friendly and welcoming and with their extensive knowledge of yarn and jewellery making, are more than happy to help.

Donna is a super talented crafter and makes her own lamp work glass beads. Upstairs in the shop Donna has a little studio where she makes all of her beads. If you are interested in learning this craft you can book one to one lessons. All of the beads are beautiful, which I can say with confidence as I own several!

Hand made lamp work glass beads, made by Donna

Lamp work studio

Dartmoor Sheep bead

Lamp work glass disc bracelet

Alongside the lamp work beads there is an Aladdin's cave of treasures. All sorts of beads, big, small, acrylic, glass, paper, shell and everything else in between. Plus all the findings and tools, really anything you need to make jewellery. If you would like to learn how to make jewellery then Donna teaches lessons on how to use different tools, findings and techniques.

Upstairs is also the location of our Craft Group, which I try to get to as much as possible. Lots of like minded people getting together for a couple of hours to knit, crochet, sew, eat cake and biscuits, drink tea and coffee and have a good ol' natter. It's a great place to make some lovely new friends. There are several groups each week, Thursday morning, 10-12, Friday morning, 10-12 and Saturday afternoon 2-4. So, if you live nearby or are passing through and you love to craft, why not drop in and say "Hello!"
We have recently taken part in different events, including World Wide Knit in Public Day and Yarn Shop Day. As Donna is a Bergere de France super stockist, she hosts events to promote the companies' new season collections.

This chair was decorated by our lovely Craft group, we each contributed by knitting or crocheting the different squares.

If you fancy the idea of knitting and crochet but don't know how or if you fancy a little reminder then Donna also teaches these crafts. You can book a lesson and learn a new skill or have a refresher.

So if you're thinking of starting one of these new (and addictive) hobbies or coming to join our group then you are going to need some yarn and what a selection there is!

The Woolly Beader is an official Bergere De France super stockist and they have a huge range of this beautiful yarn, patterns and accessories.

Bergere de France Coton Fifty

Bergere de France Reflet

Bergere de France Ecoton

Bergere de France Baltic, Barisienne, Bigarelle, Blizzard, Cocoon, Cyclone, Estivale, Goomy, Ideal, Magic+, Paradou, Plume, Recyclaine, Sport

They also stock yarns by;
King Cole, Wendy, Erika Knight, Dartmoor Yarn Company, Rico, Euro Baby, Ella Rae, Designer Yarns, Debbie Bliss, Patons and West Yorkshire Spinners.

From top left to right,

Rico crochet essentials cotton, Euro Baby DK,

Rico essentials cotton, Patons washed cotton DK, Rico cotton aran,

Rico essentials cotton, King Cole Giza, Bergere de France Sonora,

Sirdar Divine, Rico essential cotton, King Cole Opium Fashion yarn,

Euro Baby DK, Poppets Lyric DK

Rico Essential Cotton

Erika Knight

Sock Yarn, Wendy Roam, Red Heart Sport Sock, Rowan Fine Art 4ply, West Yorkshire Spinner Signature

Wendy Ramsdale British Wool DK

Designer Yarn DK

Ella Rae Cosy Alpaca

Erika Knight British Blue Wool

Wendy Aspire

Ella Rae Cosy Soft Prints

As well as fulfilling your yarny needs, you can also buy plenty of different accessories, including knitting and crochet patterns and books, buttons, knitting needles, crochet hooks, wool needles, stitch markers, yarn holders, yarn winders and more.

If that wasn't enough there is also an excellent array of kits to buy too, cross stitch kits from DMC, jewellery kits of Donna's own design plus her own designs of knitting and crochet kits. There are also knitting and crochet kits from other companies such as Bergere de France, Wendy, Erica Knight, and us!

Chameleon Crafter's have one crochet kit in stock at the moment, hopefully people will like them and then there will be more! At the moment you can buy our Pablo the Chameleon kit in store.

Phew! I think that's everything but if I've missed anything or you want to know a bit more then head over to their website, just click here or check out their Facebook page by clicking here

I think you will agree it's definitely worth a visit!

Hook happy,
Hannah and Cara