  We will be at the Stitch Festival next week, which is taking place at the Business Design Centre here in North London. The festival takes place over four days from Thursday next week through to Sunday. We will be there on Thursday and Friday as we are sponsoring the Knitting and Crochet Lounge.  We will have patterns and some items from the Emma Ball collaborative collection for sale over the 2 days we are there and Sarah, Gemma and I will be there to guide crocheters through a little crochet flower design that I've called Spring Blossom. If you're coming to the show I hope you will be able to drop by to stand G36 to make a flower that you can add to a Janie Crow wooden key ring. The project is free of charge if you complete a flower on the day and it would be really lovely to see some of you on the stand. If you want to get a reduced price on your ticket for the show you can use the code JCROW23 at checkout. This week has seen the release of another motif for the Spirit of Flora CAL and you can find more information about that a little lower down. I have been putting the fishing touches to some aspects of the design this week and have now decided on all the extra projects that will accompany the blanket layouts that we have shown you already. With the design side of the project almost over for me I have started work on a couple of new and exciting projects - one of which is a crochet techniques book and the other which will be a new CAL for Stylecraft that we are aiming to reveal to you in the late autumn. With a residential workshop on the horizon and a show next week, it has felt like I have bitten off a little more than I can chew a couple of times this week, but now that I have managed to make a bit of an inroad into both the new projects I am feeling a little calmer about my workload and have started to relax into them and enjoy the process. As one of the patrons of the UK Knitting and Crochet Guild I am passionate about the promotion of yarn crafts in this country and am very keen that as many of you as possible understand the value of the incredible historic collection of knit and crochet related artefacts that the guild own. The Guild have a collection open day this coming Tuesday the 21st March and a couple more over the next few months. The collection is housed in Britannia Mill, Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire and their open days are free to attend. You can find more information by following this link.  If any of you did happen to miss the Justin Bieber crochet blanket story this week, take a look at my Instagram feed for more info and images.  It's been really great this week to see your reaction to the new design for the Spirit of Flora CAL which is being published in Inside Crochet magazine. The motif this month is called Tudor Rose, which takes its name from the royal House of Tudor and is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England. The stylised rose was adopted by the Arts and Crafts Movement as a symbol of peace and unity.   William De Morgan liked to use the flower within his tile designs, often depicting them in larger and smaller scale with outer and inner petals around a central circle. There's a series of tiles that are blue Tudor roses on a cream background. There are also some tiles with red roses with leaves and thorny stems on a white background. This is the first piece that I designed for the Spirit of Flora crochet along and I really enjoyed making a flower that had layers of petals and leaves. I think it would be really lovely worked in lots of different colourways and hope that those of you joining in the CAL are already enjoying working through the pattern.  We have seen some really lovely versions of the CAL cropping up on social media and over in the dedicated Facebook Group, which now has almost more than 5500 members. You can find it by following this link.  We finally have Mystical Lanterns mugs in stock! We had no idea how many to order and so might have got our estimation way off, so if the stock sells out quickly please be assured we will get some more! You can find them here.  Our daughter, Summer, recently worked her way through the Fruit Garden 1000 piece jigsaw and took a time lapse video of her progress. You can find it on Instagram here. Don't forget that we now have lots of items from the collaborative range in stock, including stitch markers, note pads and small note-lets as well as the tin items, project pouches and purses.  Due to cancellations there are now 2 places left on the Arena Travel 'Knitting Traditions of Peru' trip with me as tutor in early September.  Peru has the longest continuous history of textile production in the world, going back almost 10,000 years. Invented long before pottery and just as humans started agriculture, Peruvian fibre manipulation began with simple spun fibres but by 500 AD this rudimentary craft had developed into complex techniques.  On our travels we’ll explore the processes involved in the production of textiles, including the most characteristic garment, the *chullo*, a knitted hat with an earflap and a calendar waistband that depicts the annual cycles of ritual and agricultural life, and we'll meet local artisans whose traditions have been passed down through the centuries.  I am really excited by the prospect of this incredible trip to Peru, a country that has a rich history of intricate knitting traditions. When we think of Peru we imagine bright colours of lush vegetation, foliage and flowers and the incredible surface pattern of costumes, jewellery and artwork, as well as the breathtaking scenery and archaeological sites. I am sure this will be a truly inspirational trip and I am really looking forward to all that we will see and experience on this journey of a lifetime. You can find more information by following this link.  There are also 2 places left on my Stitch Yourself Happy - Crochet & Yoga workshop in July. Numerous studies have shown that crafting is just as beneficial for your personal wellbeing and mental health as Pilates, yoga and mindfulness are for both physical and mental health. Over the course of this weekend I will be tutoring beaded crochet workshops and, if you come along, you will get to do some lovely relaxing yoga too! Beaded crochet is a beautifully effective technique that is much simpler than you imagine. There is no need to learn any new stitches, the beads are just added into your crochet at certain stages of the stitch to create a really lovely effect. Participants will need to know how to work crochet basic crochet stitches and how to read a crochet pattern.  I started collaborating with Mary Maxim in the US and Canada a few years ago. Working alongside them means that I can enable my designs to reach an audience that would otherwise find the postage costs of my kits prohibitive and has also meant that I get to play with some lovely yarns and experiment with new versions of existing designs.  The first design they stocked a yarn kit for were the original and light blue versions of Persian Tiles and a few months down the line I created the Sandalwood colourway, which has proved very popular.  Recently the team at Mary Maxim have created some more versions of the Persian Tiles pattern, which they have advertised under the name of Rose Garden. There are now 4 colour ways to choose from and you can find them here.  We had a really nice time at the Yorkshire Yarn Festival a few weeks ago. We had a big stand in the Great Hall upstairs at the pretty venue and were so pleased to have so many people pop along to say hello!  On the Friday evening I attended a Q&A session by knitwear designer Rachel of Unwind Knitwear who I urge you to take a look at as her work is just so lovely. On Saturday evening it was my turn to take the stand to talk about my background and my crochet work. It was so kind of organiser Sophie to allow me to talk at people for half an hour and especially great to hear how many people have come over to the 'dark side' as a result of seeing my designs.  The next festival will be held in November so if you fancy going, check out the website for more information. I think it will be a fabulous venue and show in the lead up to Christmas - perfect for yarny gift finding!  We had planned to introduce you to the lovely Gemma over on Instagram this week, but with the Justin Bieber blanket mayhem we have moved the post to next week. If you have ever wondered what the members of my fabulous team do for Janie Crow, or simply want to put a face to a name, then do head over to our Instagram feed to take a look!  This month marks 3 years since Andy and I became vegetarian - a decision we have never regretted and so I am really pleased that March is officially Veggie Month here in the UK. We cut out meat partly because we were in lockdown with our son, Charlie who was already vegetarian, but also because we were becoming more and more concerned about the global meat trade. Whatever your opinion on the way meat is farmed and processed, it is now recognised that eating less meat is good for you and the environment so I hope you have enjoyed seeing the vegetarian recipes we have been sharing within the newsletters over the last few years. You can find them all featured over on the blog.  I asked Andy which is his favourite recipe find of the last couple of years and he said it was Dishoom's Gunpowder potatoes. I agree! They are truly delicious and so easy to make that they have become a regular item in the Crowfoot kitchen. You can find the recipe here.  You may have seen the current trend for fashion houses to promote the idea of visible mending and mending in general. The fashion company TOAST have been running lots of workshops along this theme. I attended one of them that was about mending knitwear, which was really interesting and they've also had some events surrounding visible mending and sewing techniques. TOAST now have a range of reinvented clothes that they have called Renewed - you can find it by following this link.  Zara have also jumped on the bandwagon of mending with their new range called Pre-Owned. It's something that of course our grandparents did without even thinking about it, but hopefully more and more of us are going to start to thinking about mending our clothes before passing them along the line to others.   We have had a myriad of weather here in North London over the last couple of weeks with a sprinkling of snow last Tuesday followed by lots of rain and wind, but the bright patches are starting to appear and I have noticed it is much lighter in my garden studio through to the early evening. I am really excited by the prospect of the official start of spring here in the UK on Monday. We have a busy weekend ahead as it is Charlie's birthday on Monday too, so I am panning a bit of cake making (Lemon Drizzle is his favourite) and we have family coming for lunch on Sunday. I would love to know what you have planned for the weekend and especially what you currently have on your hook. Don't forget to tag us into any images of your projects that you share on social media. Sending virtual yarny hugs to you all Janie x  It has been a busy couple of weeks here at Janie Crow and this weekend finds us at The Yorkshire Yarn Festival where we will be exhibiting our wares for the weekend. We are so excited to be out and in show mode again. Whilst the weather has been bright but still chilly here in North London I have been trying to get out and about a bit for some local walks. It has been good to finally see the daffodils and crocuses making an appearance and bringing some spring time cheer. The hyacinths on the window sill in my kitchen and my incredibly prolific amaryllis (which currently has 6 flowers in bloom) have definitely kept my spirits up alongside a few bunches of daffodils!  Flowers are such a healing power don't you think? Maybe that's why they always end up making an appearance in my designs, even when I am trying not to create them in crochet! I have been putting the finishing touches to some of the motifs and projects that will be part of the Spirit of Flora CAL and, as we head into March, we are looking forward to some new projects that will be out in the wild soon. I have a few things to tell you about this week and hope that you have the time and inclination to catch up with our news..   Three motif patterns that make up part of the Spirit of Flora CAL project have now been released via Inside Crochet Magazine with the fourth pattern, Tudor Rose, coming soon. It has been fabulous seeing versions of the motifs cropping up on social media and especially great to see those that have been made using alternative colours. Last week I was lucky enough to attend another photo shoot with the magazine team where we shot images of the my alternative blanket layout.  This version is a little more random than the one already shown in the magazine and it has a fancier edging that features a flower motif inspired by William De Morgan's more 'Arabesque' style tile designs. You can see by the image that I have also made a matching cushion using a motif that will feature in the magazine in the late summer/early autumn. You can find a little video from the shoot on my Instagram feed by following this link. Over Christmas I worked on creating a new colourway of my Mystical Lanterns pattern. Annabelle at Stylecraft has also come up with a new colourway so we will be releasing a yarn shade substitution document, which will also show the layout for a shawl project, over the next couple of months. At the moment we are hoping this will be ready for May. Whilst on the subject of new colourways, I am really excited to reveal that my good friend Lucia of Lucia's Fig Tree has also been working on some new versions of my designs too. I am looking forward to showing you her version of Indigo Dreams, which we are tentatively calling Rainbow Dreams, soon.  The Glad Tidings Wrap was designed as the Advent project for Jimmy Beans Wool in December 2021. The original design used 16 mini skeins of yarn, with a new shade added to the design each day in the lead up to Christmas. The design is a great stash-buster if you have lots of little bits of left over 4-ply yarn, or you could use a curated collection of mini skeins.  The wrap is made by working a central crochet band which is added to daily. In the Jimmy Beans version the colours used on each side of the central band pretty much matched each other in terms of colour and we have made a version using Scheepjes Whirl, which does the same. You could create a quite different effect by using random shades or treating the wrap like a 'temperature' project where you assign colours to different temperatures and select your yarn according to the warmth of the weather that day. The pattern has been amended so that it is not in a crochet along style. You can purchase the paper brochure pattern (in UK or US terms) by following this link, or you can find download versions on Etsy and Ravelry.  If you have been patiently waiting for Persian Tiles Sandalwood kits to come back into stock then you might be pleased to hear that we have them in stock now! Follow this link for more information  We will be taking over the Knit & Crochet Lounge at the Stitch Festival at the Business Design Festival here in London in March. You can find more information by following this link and you can get a discount on tickets by entering the code JCROW23 at checkout. It would be great if you could come along and join us on the stand where we will be making little crochet flowers that you could add to a free Janie Crow key ring!    We now have project bags, pencil cases, pouches and greetings cards from the Emma Ball range in stock. You can find the Janie Crow and Emma Ball collection by following this link.  You can check out our YouTube video where Emma and I talk about the collection here and I have also posted our live chat on our Instagram Feed.  As I said already, Andy and I are exhibiting at Yorkshire Yarn Festival this weekend. The show organiser, Sophie from Botanical Yarns, has lined up some really fabulous fellow exhibitors and I will feature as the guest at the Saturday evening craft night event where I will be doing a short presentation and Q&A session.  Tickets are still available for both days, although tickets are now in short supply for Saturday. You can purchase them in advance by following this link. Tickets for workshops and my Q&A session on Saturday night are also still available. You can find more information by following this link.  Hi, Gemma here. Last Friday I was lucky enough to visit the Unravel Yarn Festival in Farnham, Surrey, together with my good friend Courtney. Interestingly Farnham, around 36 miles southwest of London, has the status of a World Craft Town, something I wasn't aware of until I read the informative show guide that was included in the reasonable ticket price of £12. Timed tickets were available in advance giving entry throughout the morning, with some tickets available on the door too, for a couple of pounds more than the advance price.  These two look like trouble! That's me on the right, we might look it but we're not actually related The show is hosted by Farnham Maltings, an Arts & Cultural organisation, who you can find out more about here. Farnham itself is a really lovely market town, with a surprising number of independent shops to explore (when there isn't the urgent business of attending a yarn show of course). On arrival we were greeted with the art installation 'Seed of Hope' by Diana Burch, representing the connections between people and nature. All of the connecting cells were bound by hundreds of local people and drop in sessions were running across the weekend for visitors to get involved with binding the laurel cuttings with recycled wool.  Once inside the building there were two floors to explore, with 75 exhibitors in total spread throughout several interconnecting spaces. It felt quite crowded at times but not too uncomfortably so, although I expect it might have been busier on the Saturday and Sunday. There were beautiful yarns on display as far as the eye could see. We spotted the Glad Tidings Wrap that Sarah Hazell worked up adorning the Knitting Shed's stall and it's even prettier in the flesh than in the photo.    The primary focus of this show is hand-dyed yarn, with the majority of stalls offering a highly tempting array of the most beautiful colours you can imagine. There were rainbow bright colours on some stalls alongside more muted, sultry colours, some of which you can see here on the Urban Purl's stall.  Courtney and I found that two hours was enough time to visit and browse all the stalls we were interested in and, although refreshments were available in the venue, we decided to head back into the town centre to find somewhere for lunch (and to compare our purchases of course).  Courtney's haul  Mine - I just have to learn to knit & crochet faster now! We both enjoyed the show as the range of stalls and the manageable size of the show was fabulous, so we will be getting next year's date in the diary as soon as it's announced!  Gemma works a really long day teaching crochet on Wednesdays and always has to leave food prepared for her family. This week's offering was a roasted vegetable and lentil lasagne, from the Delicious Magazine website. Lasagne is always great for the winter as it's so warming and satisfying. If you fancy having a go at the recipe click on the image below.   We found this fascinating article from the Guardian newspaper about crochet patterns created through Artificial Intelligence. We're not sure designers need to feel threatened quite yet - which is a bit of a relief if we are honest!  A Guinness World Record was broken in Derby last Friday, with 960 people crocheting simultaneously at the Derby Arena. The previous record was 604 people and was set in Australia in 2017. You can read all about it here or click on the image below.    I have felt more inspired this week than I have for a while so I have packed my crochet hook and some yarn to take away to Yorkshire with me. I have finally started work on a new CAL design and so, as we have a long drive ahead of us, I hope that means plenty of hooky time for me! I hope that you have some nice plans for the next few days and that life treats you kindly whatever you have planned... Janie x   A speedy email to let you know that the Glad Tidings Wrap pattern is now available. The Glad Tidings Wrap was designed as the Advent project for Jimmy Beans Wool in December 2021.The original design used 16 mini skeins of yarn, with a new shade added to the design each day in the lead up to Christmas. The design is a great stash-buster if you have lots of little bits of left over 4-ply yarn, or you could use a curated collection of mini skeins.    The wrap is made by working a central crochet band which is added to daily. In the Jimmy Beans version the colours used on each side of the central band pretty much matched each other in terms of colour and we have made a version using Scheepjes Whirl, which does the same. You could create a quite different effect by using random shades or treating the wrap like a 'temperature' project where you assign colours to different temperatures and select your yarn according to the warmth of the weather that day. However you choose to approach making the wrap, I hope you will enjoy creating this project. This project was originally designed for Jimmy Beans in the US and was released in December 2021. When the pattern reverted to me in 2022 we ran the project as our own Advent CAL. The pattern has now been amended so that it is not in a crochet along style. You can purchase the paper brochure pattern (in UK or US terms) by following this link, or you can find download versions on Etsy and Ravelry.       Thank you to everyone who purchased a copy of one of the Mystical Lanterns patterns last weekend. We were totally overwhelmed by the response to our effort to raise funds for the people of Turkey and Syria, so massively affected by the recent earthquake.  We have totted up and donated all profit from the sales of both paper and download patterns and I am so pleased to say that we were able to make the most incredible donation of £3750 to the Disasters Emergency Committee. We are totally blown away by how much we managed to raise and are so grateful to all of you who bought a pattern. Thank you so much.  I have started to think about a new CAL design and have picked out some yarn shades from a few of the Stylecraft ranges and will begin to whittle down the palette as I start the design process over the next couple of weeks. I have also made a new mood board on Pinterest, one of the aspects of starting a new design that I really love!  It is at this stage that I can get a bit daunted by the task ahead of me. Designing a CAL is a huge process for me, so I am trying to think of it in bitesize pieces so that I don't get overwhelmed and then feel stagnated by seeing the end project in my head too soon. I like to have a rough idea of what the project is going to look like, but it is never set in stone at this stage. It is aways exciting to be on the brink of something new - especially in the stage before all the maths and calculations take over!  We have a 'new' pattern release next week in the shape of the Glad Tidings wrap, which was previously released as a download only crochet along project on the lead up to Christmas. The pattern will be available in full (rather than split up in parts as it was for the CAL) from Tuesday next week. You will be able to choose from a download version via Etsy or Ravelry or a paper copy. The wrap is made using 4ply and is another great way of using up bits and bobs of left over yarns from your stash. You can find lots of lovely versions using the hashtags #gladtidingswrap on Instagram.  image @insidecrochetmagazine Another couple of patterns to look forward to over the forthcoming months are the Gertrude and Muriel cushion covers, which were previously published in Inside Crochet Magazine. Emma is currently working on the step-by-step images and the final word check of the patterns, so we hope they will be out in the wild in the spring.  Emma has been busy filming the last few videos to accompany the Sunshine and Showers crochet project. The video for Part 10 is now available to view on our YouTube channel which you can find here.  Emma has come across these lovely Yarn Tags from Laurette Crafts. How lovely they look all wound with the yarn colours from Emma’s Mystical Lanterns project. They are such a good idea and the little ring means you can take them off, reorder them, reuse them and all sorts. Emma says they are Just gorgeous!  Emma was waxing lyrical about them this week and then spotted them on another wonderful post on Instagram from @nanaseamakes too! Do have a look at their website as there are all sorts of lovely useful things on there which we definitely need and you might too!   Today (Friday 17th February) is world 'Random Acts of Kindness Day' and it is just so so easy to get involved! Being kind and helping someone else - or even just being really nice to yourself is one of the best ways to feed your soul and make you feel great. Head over to The Random Acts of Kindness website for a load of ideas for what you could do to make someone's day!   It has been fabulous seeing the most recent motif from my Spirit of Flora CAL, Merton Abbey, being made out in the wild. We have seen some really lovely versions of it on social media and over in the dedicated Facebook Group, which now has almost more than 4500 members. You can find it by following this link.  The official images of the CAL were photographed at Emery Walker's House in Hammersmith, London. The house is a wonderful example of decor from the era of the Arts and Crafts Movement and it was a joy to visit.  The house features quite a few exclusive wallpaper designs by William Morris, which we fell in love with when we were there, so we were really excited discover that some of the wallpapers are now being reproduced in collaboration with Morris & Co. Take a look at Emma's lovely Instagram post from today for more information.  Some fabulous new items have been added to the Emma Ball & Janie Crow Collection over the last couple of weeks including notebooks, yarn cards (which I am totally smitten by), chopping boards, fridge magnets and even jigsaws.   We have stitch markers, note pads and small note-lets as well as the tin items for you to choose from. More items from the collection, such as tote bags, project pouches and mugs (shown in the image below) will come into stock in the early spring.  You can check out our YouTube video where Emma and I talk about the collection here and I have also posted our live chat from a few months ago on our Instagram Feed.  We will be exhibiting at the Yorkshire Yarn Festival in a fortnight's time and I hope that you might be able to come along to the show too! Tickets are still available for the 4th & 5th of March and you can purchase them in advance by following this link. If you would like to come to the show we have 6 pairs of free tickets to giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning them, all you need to do is reply to this email and tell me why you deserve the tickets for you and a friend. If you are successful in your application, we will send you the details of how to claim your tickets. Please only email if you are able to go to the show, which will be held at Sandburn Hall.  The show organiser, Sophie from Botanical Yarns, has lined up some really fabulous fellow exhibitors and I will feature as the guest at the Saturday evening craft night event where I will be doing a short presentation and Q&A session. Tickets for workshops are also still available and you can find more information by following this link and clicking on the menu.  We have been featuring short biographies of members of the Janie Crow team on Instagram over the last few weeks. I kicked things off with a quick post about me and that has since been followed by one about Andy and another one about Emma. Sarah and Gemma's biogs will be posted over the next couple of weeks.   If you have ever wondered what the members of my fabulous team do for Janie Crow, or simply want to put a face to a name, then do head over to our Instagram feed to take a look!   I have had quite a lot of time away from my desk this week and have been making the most of the brighter weather by getting out and about a little more. On Tuesday I visited the Cezanne exhibition at Tate Modern and yesterday I went into town to have a mooch around the Battersea Power Station development. With various other trips this week I will have travelled into London on 4 occasions, which is really unusual for me, despite living on the outskirts of the city. Travelling into town has been a really good way of feeding my soul and I feel blessed to have been able to get out and about.  This weekend will be a busy one because we will be heading up to Birmingham tomorrow as I will be on the Stylecraft stand at the Stitches trade show at the NEC on Sunday and Monday. We are going to combine the trip with a lovely catch up with our fabulous JC team member Sarah and her husband Paul, so I am really looking forward to the next couple of days. Next week is looking busy and I am also looking forward to a photoshoot at a location on the Columbia Road on Thursday. I will try to post a few images from that on social media so you can see what we are up to and maybe give you a few sneaky peeks of some Spirit of Flora pieces. I hope that you are also looking forward to your weekend. Don't forget that you can get in touch by hitting reply (especially if you want to win those pairs of free tickets for the Yorkshire Yarn Festival) and you can catch up with us via our Instagram and Facebook platforms. If you want to share your 'out in the wild' project images, please use the hashtags #janiecrow or #janiecrowpattern so that we can see what you are up to. Yarny hugs! Janie x  PLEASE HELP US TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF TURKEY AND SYRIA The devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria this week has taken at least 20,000 lives and has left 17 million people in the affected area, many of them injured, cold, hungry and misplaced. The people affected by this tragedy need urgent aid to survive, especially as they are experiencing freezing weather conditions. The Disasters Emergency Fund have launched an appeal to provide items that are desperately needed, such as blankets, shelter, food and access to clean water.  We know many people across the world are having a hard time financially and it can be difficult to find the funds to give to an appeal like this, so we have decided to donate all profits from sales of our Mystical Lanterns pattern - from yesterday, today and tomorrow - to the DEC. Contributing in this way means that those of you who purchase the pattern can make a donation to the appeal and get a pattern in return.  You can purchase a paper pattern via our website or you can download one via Etsy, Ravelry or Love Crafts. You can choose any of the three Mystical Lanterns patterns - we have them for a blanket, a shawl and a scarf. This pattern is incredibly popular at the moment, possibly because of the Emma Ball collection which features the motif, so we are hoping that this will be the pattern that will raise a good amount for the charity. It is a great stash busting project and you can see many examples of it out in the wild on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Thank you so much for your support.   I hope that life is treating you all well and that you are progressing into 2023 in health and happiness. I have been more than a bit foggy brained this week as I recover from the jet lag created by our return from India. I have been so looking forward to starting on some new projects so my lack of concentration has been frustrating. Hopefully next week I will be back to my normal and will finally get going on some new design work. I know I am incredibly fortunate to have been able to travel and I have some amazing memories to make up for the short attention span, so all is good here at Janie Crow! I have a few things to tell you about this week and hope that you have the time and inclination to catch up with our news...   The team here at Janie Crow have done an incredible job holding the fort while Andy and I have been away in India with Knit For Peace. We have an ongoing issue with Royal Mail in regards to sending things abroad, but on the whole everything has been working tickety boo in our absence, so I am beyond grateful to have such fabulous people supporting me!  Emma and Gemma have been doing a great job on our social media platforms, so do check out what they have been up to on Instagram and Facebook over the last couple of weeks. This week Emma has created some especially lovely posts on Instagram including one about the costumes within Netfilx's Wednesday, which prompted me to dig out the pattern for my Mexican Diamonds scarf and add it to the website as a free download. You can find it by following this link. Emma also shared links to a couple of crochet collars/capelets that I designed a few years ago that are very much in keeping with the Wednesday vibe.  If you are looking for a crochet project kit we now have a good stock of quite a few of my designs, including The Blue House, Climbing Rose Wrap, Frida's Flowers and Primavera, The Fruit Garden Parchment and Caramel, Indigo and Crimson Dreams, Mexican Diamonds, Mystical Lanterns (which is seeing a real boom as the moment), Persian Tiles Eastern Jewels and Light Blue. Click on the images below to find more information about these projects.         You can find patterns for all my designs on the website as paper copies or as downloads via Etsy and Ravelry. We are looking forward to exhibiting at our first show of the year, the Yorkshire Yarn Festival (more information lower down this email), at the beginning of March and have a few other shows lining up now, so I thought it would be a good time to let you know that we will be taking over the Knit & Crochet Lounge at the Stitch Festival at the Business Design Festival here in London in March. You can find more information by following this link and you can get a discount on tickets by entering the code JCROW23 at checkout. It would be great if you could come along and join us on the stand where we will be making little crochet flowers that you could add to a free Janie Crow key ring!  The lovely Sarah Hazell, who carefully looks after all our pattern queries, has been rekindling her love of stitching in the weeks since Christmas and so I caught up with her this week to find out what she has been up to. Sarah has found a couple of great free workshops being run by TOAST which you can find more information about here and she also had a bit more to say about the pleasure she is beginning to find in stitching again after a bit of a break. Here is what she had to say: If you are anything like me then you may find January a difficult month to navigate. There is a huge pressure to ‘improve’ ourselves in all sorts of ways. I often think it is entirely the wrong time of year to start changing – the weather is grim and our immune systems are low, and yet this year I have found myself taking on not one, but three stitch challenges!  I have stitched quite a lot in the past, but had lost my mojo. However, I kept coming across beautiful images on Instagram by Karen Turner and her #dailystitchjournal, and thought it was high time I gave myself a little window each day to place a few stitches without the pressure of it having to be something. Karen’s ethos is very much based on selecting whatever thread you feel like using each day and using your intuition to make marks and patterns. It sounds quite daunting, but having a grid to work from really helps. I find that the size and shape of each day on the grid helps me to think about how and what I want to stitch. Some days are more intuitive than others for me but I’m getting there! If you have ever been to Yarndale, then it is likely that you will have come across the fabulous stitchery of Anne Brooke. Anne is a textile artist and teacher who also alongside other workshops, sets a yearly challenge which this year is #52stitcheshannemade. I want to learn more about how stitches can be altered so decided to join in. Once subscribed you receive a video each week from Anne, demonstrating a stitch and suggesting creative ways to interpret and explore the it. Some people are making a book of stitches, others are working on panels. I am using a piece of furnishing fabric from Ikea that is divided into painterly squares. I am being very strict and limiting myself to a ‘seashore’ palette, otherwise I will get totally overwhelmed!  I was really happy running these two projects side by side until I saw what Suraya Hussain is up to with her friend Tina Francis. If you have not come across their work before, please take a look at their boundless creativity. Suraya and Tina are not only good friends but share a passion for the power of stitch and how it can be used to measure time. Tina spent time in 2022 working on projects in the community that looked at time and memory and Suraya has been working on wraps and blankets to record daily temperatures to raise awareness of climate change. They have now joined together and are encouraging people to join in their ‘Sharing Stitches’ project. There is a video on Tina’s Instagram page where the two friends discuss past collaborations, stitch, yarn and friendship and a full explanation on how to record your days in stitch. There is an emphasis on using yarn that you already have. I had great fun sorting through my stash and assigning different colours to different temperatures. I don’t think it has to be climate based, but I am finding this not only interesting but a great way to keep me on track. I like the sense of purpose and intention behind this project and the connection it builds between stitchers. I’m still catching up at the moment so it really isn’t too late to join in!   The Getting Started information and the first 2 patterns for my Spirit of Flora Crochet Along were published in Inside Crochet Magazine on January 5th. The next pattern, which I have called Merton Abbey will be featured in the next issue of the magazine which will be available next Thursday 9th February. There are some beautiful versions of the first few crochet blocks appearing out in the wild and I wanted to share some images with you to spur you on and motivate you. I am particularly pleased to see that so many of you are embracing the stash diving advice and are creating unique projects. Gemma has selected some images from the dedicated Facebook Group, which now has over 3500 members. You can find it and sign up by following this link.  Amy Paoletti's cushion cover - beautiful tones of blue  Liesl Kleu's Moffat Flower - so pretty  Kylie Anderson's blocks - reminding me of Frida's Flowers!  Hilary Lyall's blocks - a lovely vintage feel  Karolyn Smalls - love all the different colourways Since Christmas I have been working on a new version of the blanket project, which features a more random layout. This new version also has an alternative edging too, which I designed with William De Morgan's more intricate 'Arabesque' border tiles in mind. I know from the Facebook group that many crocheters are starting to join their motifs together using the blanket layout that Inside Crochet have shared sneaky peek images of within the magazine. However, if you are working through the project it might be an idea to keep an open mind in these early stages as you may decide on your own blanket layout or might even want to make an alternative project such as a bag, a cushion or a shawl, ideas for which will all be featured in up-coming magazine issues.  While searching for some more information about William De Morgan recently I came across the knitwear collection that Loewe designed using the ceramicist as their inspiration in 2019. It really is fabulous! You can take a look here. This is a quote from the site where you can find more information and images: 'De Morgan’s Persian and medieval-inspired influence on the Loewe De Morgan capsule permeates abundantly throughout – the ready-to-wear women’s, men’s and accessories pieces serve as a fantastical ode to the artisan, and a sartorial tribute to the enduring spirit of the imagination. From the embroidered indigo, cerulean and green peacock pattern that pieces together a trench coat (as though De Morgan himself stitched each thread), and the high drama of a woollen dragon’s tale and horned knitted beanie, to the collection’s quieter moments: floral motifs adorning Loewe’s signature leather Puzzle, Hammock and Gate bags, and neutral knitwear which feature the ceramicist’s iconic dodo silhouette.'  I will be joining Emma on her stand at the Spring Fair trade show on Sunday and Monday at the NEC Birmingham. I am really looking forward to seeing the items from Emma's lovely collection on display and will post some images from the show on Monday so long as all goes to plan.   We have some more items from the collection coming into stock next week, including greetings cards and notepads, so I am really looking forward to showing you these very soon. Don't forget that you can also support your local Emma Ball stockists. You can check out our YouTube video where Emma and I talk about the collection here and I have also posted our live chat from a few weeks ago on our Instagram Feed.  Andy and I are already looking forward to exhibiting at Yorkshire Yarn Festival in early March. The show organiser, Sophie from Botanical Yarns, has lined up some really fabulous fellow exhibitors and I will feature as the guest at the Saturday evening craft night event where I will be doing a short presentation and Q&A session.  Tickets are still available for the 4th & 5th of March and you can purchase them in advance by following this link. Tickets for workshops are also still available and you can find more information by following this link and clicking on the menu.  If you're looking for a simple recipe that's very quick to prepare, Gemma recommends this Mushroom Stroganoff recipe from the BBC Good Food website.  Gemma doubled up the ingredients to serve more than two. It was great for using up a glut of mushrooms and went down a storm with the family, no leftovers in sight!   I love Friday afternoons with the promise of the weekend on the horizon. For us, Saturdays usually involve a lay-in with a good book and a lazy breakfast of eggs, either fried or poached, toast and lots of lovely coffee as we contemplate what to do with our day off. Tomorrow, however, Andy has an appointment for an MRI scan (for his sore shoulder) at 6.50am! Yes, you read that right! 6.50am! So this week our Saturday will involve a bit of a rude awakening, but hopefully they will get to the bottom of what is going on with Andy's shoulder and of course, we are incredibly lucky to have our fabulous NHS looking after us. At least we only have to get up early one Saturday whereas the hospital staff are there bright and early week in, week out....  We have been trying to be a bit more healthy since we got back from our trip to India and have been upping the exercise a little, so no doubt the weekend will involve a walk or two and a bit of batch cooking in a bid to stop us from picking between meals! I am of course hoping to find some time to plonk myself on the settee to crochet as I need to finish my new colourway of Mystical Lanterns and also hope to finish my current book 'Live Life in Crescendo', which I am finding a really good read. I hope that you have a good weekend and that life treats you kindly whatever you have planned... Janie x    I am writing this email from the gardens of The Green Hotel in Mysuru where I have been teaching a workshop for Knit for Peace. Sitting here in the relative tranquility of the garden it is hard to believe that we are just over a fortnight into the new year and that Christmas was only 4 weeks or so a go - it seems like a lifetime already!  If you follow Janie Crow on Instagram then you may have seen that over the festive period we created a stream of posts that we called the '12 Days of Blankets' which ran from Christmas Day through to the 6th of January. Each day we featured a blanket design and shared images of the same project 'out in the wild' on our stories. It was a really successful idea, with many crocheters across the globe sharing their projects with the blanket hashtags so that we could see what they were up to. If you want to take a look you can still find the posts on our Instagram feed and each post features the relevant hashtag for the day.  Over the next few weeks we will be featuring some of the projects that didn't make it into our 12 Days of Blankets feature, such as The Climbing Rose Wrap, which made an appearance on the feed a few days ago.  On Day 4 of the event we featured my Fields of Gold Blanket with the promise that we would donate all proceeds from pattern sales that day to the UNHCR to help Ukrainian refugees. We tallied up the sales via our download portals and paper sales and were able to add the fabulous sum of £150 to our amazing fund-raising total, which now stands at of £5150. Thank you to everyone who got involved. We really appreciate your support. If you would like to make a donation to the UNHCR you can do so by following this link.  Sharing the projects created by you guys 'out in the wild', such as the fabulous version of Fields of Gold made by Lizzie Montgomery shown above, is something we are passionate about here at Janie Crow so please make sure you use some hashtags so that we can find your posts on social media. Using #janiecrow or #janiecrowpattern on Instagram will help us find you, but if you also add the name of the project, such as #mysticallanternsblanket or #persiantilesblanket for example, then we have more chance of seeing and sharing your work. If you want to share images on Facebook then you can do so via the Janie Crow page which you can find here. Postal Services Just a quick note to say that we are still having an issue with sending post to countries outside of the UK. This is due to a cyber glitch with Royal Mail. Our website is currently taking orders but we will not be dispatching some of our post until we return from India week beginning 30th January. We hope that the postal service will have returned to normal by the time we are back to work. We thank you for your patience in advance.  This time last week we left the cold, wet and windy UK to fly to Mysuru and since then we have been having a great time here in the warmth of this fabulous city. I am sure I will never tire of India. The people are so incredibly friendly and the city is so vibrant and colourful that it is a designers paradise!   Last weekend was the Harvest Festival and so we were taken out to a village in the suburbs of Mysuru to see the festivities, which feature cows and oxen, which are sacred here, as an integral part. You can see from my images at the top of this email how adorned the animals are with many of them painted using turmeric and decorated with flowers and fruit.  Like most of India, Mysuru was hit badly by covid so Knit For Peace continue to do great work out here helping to combat poverty, focussing in particular on the health and education of women and children. We hope to visit some of the projects before we go home next week. If you want to find out more about the work of Knit For Peace and receive any information about future trips, please head over the the KFP website by following this link. By the way - I learnt just before we came away (via Michael Portillo's Great Indian Train Journeys series) that the updated name for Mysore is Mysuru, so please excuse the fact that within this email I have used a few different ways of referring to this great city!   The Getting Started information and the first 2 patterns for my Spirit of Flora Crochet Along were published in Inside Crochet Magazine on January 5th. The next pattern, which I have called Merton Abbey will be featured in the next issue of the magazine which will be available in February. It has been really exciting seeing versions of the first few crochet blocks out in the wild over the last couple of weeks and I am particularly pleased to see that so many of you are embracing the stash diving advice and are creating unique projects. The dedicated Facebook Group now has almost 3000 members and you can find it by following this link.  Since Christmas I have been working on a new version of the blanket project, which features a more random layout. This new version also has an alternative edging too, which I designed with William De Morgan's more intricate 'Arabesque' border tiles in mind. I know from the Facebook group that many crocheters are starting to join their motifs together using the blanket layout that Inside Crochet have shared sneaky peek images of within the magazine. However, if you are working through the project it might be an idea to keep an open mind in these early stages as you may decide on your own blanket layout or might even want to make an alternative project such as a bag, a cushion or a shawl, ideas for which will all be featured in up-coming magazine issues.   We have had such an amazing response to the Emma Ball & Janie Crow Collection already and I cannot wait to share more items from it over the next few months.  Some stock items are now live on the website ready for you to take a look. We have stitch markers, note pads and small note-lets as well as the tin items for you to choose from. More items from the collection, such as tote bags, project pouches and mugs, will come into stock in the early spring. You can check out our YouTube video where Emma and I talk about the collection here and I have also posted our live chat from a few weeks ago on our Instagram Feed.  Andy and I are already looking forward to exhibiting at Yorkshire Yarn Festival in early March. The show organiser, Sophie from Botanical Yarns, has lined up some really fabulous fellow exhibitors and I will feature as the guest at the Saturday evening craft night event where I will be doing a short presentation and Q&A session.  Tickets are still available for the 4th & 5th of March and you can purchase them in advance by following this link. Tickets for workshops are also still available and you can find more information by following this link and clicking on the menu.  he Janie Crow team have been busy getting ready for a new feature that we have imaginatively called 'Friday Motivation' over the last few weeks. We originally thought we would create 'Motivational Monday' emails but decided that the feature might be better suited to social media as we head into the weekend - a time when many more of us are able to dedicate a little bit of our precious time to a bit of TLC.   Our Friday Motivation posts will feature on our Instagram feed every Friday (funnily enough) so do look out for them over the forthcoming weeks. Emma has created a lovely Friday Motivation post today that features out in the wild images of the Spirit of Flora CAL and talks about stash busting. Take a look by following this link.   We are very fortunate to have a day trip to an Elephant sanctuary, a coffee plantation and a golden temple lined up for tomorrow and then on Sunday we will be visiting one of the projects funded by the Charities Advisory Trust. I will be slipping my crochet hook into my travel bag as I think we have quite a lot of time on the road ahead of us which could be valuable crafting time! With the weather in the UK decidedly chilly I am sure that many of you will be staying close to home for the next couple of days. I hope that what ever you have planned that you have a smashing weekend and that you are able to stay warm. I will be back in a couple of weeks with a quick catch up email when I hope to bring you up to date with news of new projects. Sending much love from India! Janie x   I hope that you have enjoyed a fabulous Festive Season and that you are safe, happy and healthy as we take our first few steps into 2023. I am just popping into to wish you a very Happy New Year and to thank you for all your incredible support over the last 12 months. 2022 was an amazing year for us. It was a year full of changes as we got used to working from home and getting back out in the world after the pandemic. We have also been part of lots of exciting projects and events and I am very proud of the crochet designs I have created over the course of the year too. Our social media presence has really grown, with our followers on Instagram almost doubling and our YouTube Channel and Facebook page reaching more accounts than ever before. As we head into 2023 we have a lot to look forward to with the first patterns for my Spirit of Flora CAL being the very first event in our new calendar, closely followed by our workshop in Mysore, India, in less than two weeks time. I am very excited about what the new year has in store and hope that you will feel inspired to join in with crochet projects or come along and say hello at shows and events over the forthcoming months. Janie Crow wouldn't be where it is today without the support of wonderful people like you and the incredible crafting community that we are all a part of. I hope that our solidarity in an ever changing world and our allegiance to the joys of our craft will continue into 2023 and that the New Year will bring us all feelings of mindfulness, relaxation and accomplishment, which in turn will lead to creative fulfilment and a sense of inner peace and positivity. Happy New Year!   We are so excited that today sees the retail launch of the Emma Ball & Janie Crow Collection. We have had such an amazing response to the collection already and cannot wait to share more items from it over the next few months.  Some stock items are now live on the website ready for you to take a look. We have stitch markers, note pads and small note-lets as well as the tin items for you to choose from. More items from the collection, such as tote bags, project pouches and mugs, will come into stock in the early spring. You can check out our YouTube video where Emma and I talk about the collection here and I have also posted our live chat from a few weeks ago on our Instagram Feed.   The Getting Started information and the first 2 patterns for my Spirit of Flora Crochet Along project will be published in Inside Crochet Magazine on January 5th. You can find more information by following this link.      It has been a bit of an odd week here at Janie Crow. We started the week with a huge snow shower that left us with thick ice and freezing conditions for the rest of the week. Low temperatures (currently -5 here as I write this) have made it difficult to keep my crocheting fingers warm, so I have been doing quite a lot of stuff on my PC, like catching up with emails and pattern checking, but we have also been getting ready to reveal our fabulous new collaboration, which you can read about lower down.  Yesterday saw the final instalment of the Glad Tidings Wrap Advent CAL. Thank you to all those of you who took part - I hope you enjoyed it and that you are pleased with your wrap. The pattern has now been archived on Ravelry as the CAL was just 15 days long, but don't worry if you are not up to date with your wrap as the patterns will stay on Ravelry for everyone who signed up before there 15th. Emma and Steph have been working hard on the collated pattern and we will be releasing it again as a single pattern next year. I have been working on the projects that I will be taking to Mysore with me in January and am also creating a new colourway of my Mystical Lanterns project, so I have lots to keep my fingers occupied in front of the TV in the evenings. It has been really cold here, so we have not been venturing very far. The settee is such a lure at this time of year! We will be 'breaking up' from work next Wednesday the 21st December and will be returning on the 4th January, so I am looking forward to a nice break. I have lined up quite a few projects to work on while I am away from my desk and particularly hope to finish my knitted tank top that has been a work in progress for almost a year! The video to accompany Part 8 of the Sunshine and Showers blanket project will be posted on our YouTube channel next week, so do look out for that if you have been following along.  I feel very honoured to have been asked to join Jamie and Merion of The Love Crafts Show Podcast for a chat. The recorded programme will go live on Spotify on Tuesday next week (the 20th December) if you fancy tuning in. If you haven't listened to the podcast before I urge you to give it a listen - its a great programme to craft along to and we chatted about lots of crochet related stuff!  We have been getting lots of attention on Instagram lately, especially since we launched the teaser images of the new Spirit of Flora CAL and I have finally got my head around creating (very basic) Reels! This week I posted the image above of some fabulous bunting my friend Rosemary made using the Mystical Lanterns blanket pattern as the basis. Rosemary started making the bunting while we were away in France on a workshop recently and she added a border with a picot edge and little elephant charms and bells to make it extra special - isn't it fabulous! This post has had more than 11k views on Instagram, which is just amazing! I have recently joined an organisation called A C I D (Anti Copying In Design) and so my website and this newsletter now carry their logo and copyright statement. Janie Crow patterns will be updated with the logo over the next few months, so if you have a download pattern in your Ravelry library you may find an email alert to let you know that the pattern has had an update.   We have been keeping a really big secret, but now the cat is out of the bag! Emma Ball has been designing fabulous accessories for the craft world for the last two decades and is well known for her signature style of hand painted birds and animals placed within hand knitted backdrops. Emma’s company now supply many stockists across the UK and overseas with quirky gifts, stationery, homeware, textiles, and greeting cards. With a history of creating limited edition art prints, Emma not only produces her products using her own designs, but also those of other artists so that she can offer pieces to suit many tastes. I am really excited to reveal that I am the latest artist to join this list. Emma has used images of my crochet pieces to create some fabulous items including many of the signature things we have all come to know and love her for, such as project bags and totes, tins, stitch markers, notelets, and cards. Items from the collection will be revealed over the next few weeks and stockists will be able to start ordering them to sell at retail in the New Year. Emma and I will be busy posting images and information on our social media channels, so do look out for more information soon. We are incredibly proud of this collaborative collection and we hope that you will love it too! We recorded a video interview this morning which we will post on our YouTube channel next week so please look out for that and follow us on social media if you want to find out more. You can find Emma's web site here and her Instagram feed here.   As you may already know, we have released some teaser images of my new CAL Spirit of Flora over the last couple of weeks along with some advanced information about the project. The images have been very popular on social media and I am so pleased to know that so many of you are hoping to follow the crochet along in the new year. The first pattern will be published in Inside Crochet magazine in January. You can find more information about the project over on the website and I have posted some further information about yarn and tension over on my blog. If you want to purchase a yarn starter pack we still have amore than 20 in stock on the web site. Please note that these will not be dispatched until 6th January. Working with Stylecraft Yarns and Inside Crochet Magazine is an absolute joy and it is wonderful to have so much support from them. I am sure you will agree that the images taken at Emery Walker's House in Hammersmith are fabulous - there will be many more to come over the forthcoming months.    The design of my new crochet along was inspired by the work of ceramicist William De Morgan who was a member of the Arts and Crafts Movement. You can find out more about William and his wife Evelyn, who was a renowned Pre-Raphaelite artist by following this link to the De Morgan Foundation.   Sarah Hardy, Director of the De Morgan Museum, has been incredibly helpful over the last couple of months and has given me permission to use quite a few images from the collection including the one above of one of William's tile designs and the beautiful painting 'Flora' created by Evelyn in 1894. The painting, inspired by Botticelli’s Primavera, was made entirely in Florence and is a celebration of the city and its Renaissance artists.  When the nights are really cold and frosty I am very lucky to be able to curl up on the settee with my crochet for a warm and cosy evening. I know that I am in a very privileged position to be able to do this and often find myself thinking about those who are not so fortunate, especially those who are displaced or homeless, at this time of year.  Gift giving also comes from this point of privilege, so if you are in a position where you can find a little extra money, I urge you to make a donation to our two chosen charities this festive season. We are supporting UNHCR, who tirelessly support refugees the world over, and CRISIS who support the homeless. I know it's a tough time for many with all that is going on with energy bills and the cost of living, but even the smallest donation will help these worthy causes.  Tuesday 20th December You can listen to an interview with me on The Love Crafts Show Podcast Thursday 5th January First Instalment Spirit of Flora CAL - Inside Crochet Magazine Sunday 19th & Monday 20th February Stitches Trade Show NEC Birmingham Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th March Yorkshire Yarn Festival Thursday 23rd & Friday 24th March Janie Crow in the Crochet Lounge - The Stitch Festival Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd April Wonderwool Yarn Festival   Despite our far flung locations here in the UK my little Janie Crow team managed to all collide with Andy and I in the same place at the same time last Friday for our little festive do! We had a lovely evening, although it all went far too quickly. It was a real treat to finally catch up in the flesh rather than chat via WhatsApp, email or Zoom.   If you are wondering who everyone is, the top image is of me with Emma, who helps me with Instagram and is responsible for liaising with our fabulous Graphic Designer, Steph, to produce our patterns. Emma is relatively new on board and has already been a bit of a God send to me as she now does a lot of our YouTube tutorials and most of my step-by-step photography. In the second image Sarah is on the left and Gemma is on the right hand side. Sarah is responsible for putting the wording of my patterns into the Janie Crow style and is an excellent proof reader. She also deals with our pattern queries and comes along to help us at shows. Some of you may have met her at events and so you already know what a lovely human being she is! Gemma is responsible for our Facebook posts and she looks after our Etsy and Ravelry stores too. Gemma has recently done a fabulous job posting the Glad Tidings Wrap patterns and is another real asset to us here at Janie Crow. I am so thankful to have these amazing ladies in my life! As life has once again been pretty hectic over the last couple of weeks I am looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend. I am off to a carol concert with my Mum this evening but have very few other plans. We still have a few festive decorations to put up as we have not been able to put anything outside yet due to the snow! I will be back in your mail box on Monday 2nd January and hope that you all keep well and safe between now and then. Thank you for all your incredible support in 2022 - you're all amazing! Janie x 'Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.' John Boswell   With the last postage dates before Christmas looming I have popped into your inbox with a list of lovely things that I think would make the perfect gift, either for a friend, a loved one, or just for you!   SPIRIT OF FLORA - STARTER PACK     INDIGO AND CRIMSON DREAMS BLANKET KITS     PERSIAN TILES - SANDALWOOD BLANKET KIT DELLA Q MAKERS RANGE The Della Q range of makers accessories are a stylish way to carry around all you need to knit or crochet on the go! I have made my mini messenger my go-to bag for everyday as, not only can I fit my every day items into it, but I can also pack in my yarn and hooks. With pockets, yarn guides and cutters an integral part of the bag, and stitch markers also added in, the bag provides all I need to craft on the go!  DELLA Q SADDLE BAG  DELLA Q MINI MESSENGER BAG  DELLA Q MAKERS BACK PACK  DELLA Q MAKERS ROLL TOP BAG  DELLA Q KNITS SACKS (PAIR) FESTIVE DECORATIONS TO MAKE If you have a little bit of spare crafty time and some left over odds and ends of yarn in your stash maybe you would like to have a look at all the festive decoration patterns we have in store. You can choose a paper copy or, if you want to opt for a download version, you can visit the Janie Crow stores on Ravelry and Etsy.  BEADED CROCHET DECORATIONS  FESTIVE DECORATIONS  TWINKLE BUNTING  TWINKLE BUNTING  FESTIVE MINI STOCKINGS  My friend Rosemary made this fabulous bunting using the Mystical Lanterns Blanket pattern. Isn't it wonderful! Rosemary used bells and little elephant charms to make it so special. SMART ACCESSORIES   I just love the Cohana thread snips and itsy bitsy, teeny weeny scissors we have in stock. The thread snips make the best present for any crafter and come in a choice of colours in a lovely presentation box. The mini scissors are just adorable and are perfect for travelling - be sure to take a look at all the images on the web site before ordering so that you are aware just how tiddly they are!  We have a few other smart accessories in stock, such as pendant embroidery scissors and JUL shawl pins. Check out our accessories page for more information.    THINKING OF OTHERS When the nights are really cold and frosty I am very lucky to be able to curl up on the settee with my crochet for a warm and cosy evening. I know that I am in a very privileged position to be able to do this and often find myself thinking about those who are not so fortunate, especially those who are displaced or homeless, at this time of year.  Gift giving also comes from this point of privilege, so if you are in a position where you can find a little extra money, I urge you to make a donation to our two chosen charities this festive season. We are supporting UNHCR, who tirelessly support refugees the world over, and CRISIS who support the homeless. I know it's a tough time for many with all that is going on with energy bills and the cost of living, but even the smallest donation will help these worthy causes. Janie x  |
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