 Myself and members of the team often admire Janie Crow designs made in different colourways or using alternative yarn brands. As these unique projects are becoming more commonly shared on social media we wanted to help those of you who may wish to make a project in an alternative colour palette or substitutre yarns, but may not have an idea of where to start, by giving you the basics on how to sub yarn correctly. It can be quite scary launching into a big project if you're not sure you have enough yarn, so use the following simple steps to ensure you have enough, especially when stash diving or using yarns you can no longer busy extra of. It is good to know that you will be safe!  These tips work for any project – if you find this post helpful you could save it for future reference. 1: Find out about the yarn detailed in the pattern. You need to know the weight of it and how much is being used. In our photo for example, the top yarn is Stylecraft Life DK in French Blue and you would need 4 balls of this yarn. So, we know the brand is Stylecraft and we know the type is Life DK – in this instance, the name tells us the weight is DK so that is helpful. We also know we need 4 balls of the French Blue colour. Here is the important bit: you need to know how much yarn is on the ball. Not in weight but in length. In the case of Stylecraft Life DK, each ball has 298m on it so we know we need approximately 1192 metres of the French Blue yarn (298m x 4 balls). Next find the weight and length information on the replacement yarn. You can find this on the yarn band, via the website of the brand or even on Ravelry using the 'Yarn Search' feature. So, for example, if you chose to use Rowan Yarns Felted Tweed (shown below) then each ball has 175m on it. Divide the combined length of the original yarn (1192m) by the length of each ball of the new yarn (175m) 1192 divided by 175 = 6.81 This rounded up to the nearest ball means that we would need 7 balls to replace the Stylecraft French Blue to have a sufficient amount of yarn. (7 x 175m = 1225m)  2: Check your tension/gauge carefully: even if you swap for the same yarn weight, you may still find that the tension is slightly different. Work a test swatch and match that to the details given on the pattern. If the swatch works up bigger and you have fewer stitches to 10cm, use a smaller hook size and if it works up smaller so that you have more stitches to 10cm, use a larger hook size. Bear in mind that a large difference will impact not just the amount of yarn you use, but also the feel and drape of the project. With that in mind we generally recommend sticking to the same yarn weight if you can.   3: Try your colour combinations out. Make a motif – or even some striped swatches – to see how colours work together. If you want to leave things to chance, make your first motif by pulling colours from a bag so you can’t see what’s coming next! Make a note of which of your yarn colours replaces which in the original pattern. A colour swatch card can be helpful here – we have some lovely Emma Ball swatch cards on our website and you can find them by following this link You can also wrap the yarn around wooden pegs and make a note of the information on the flat part using a pencil, which is very satisfying! And that’s it!  Well hello September! It is officially the first day of autumn according to the meteorological calendar, but we always seem to get a couple of lovely weeks of weather once the kids go back to school, so I am not packing the summer clothes away just yet and will not be using the A word until the beginning of next month once we have exhibited at Yarndale - the scenic drive back from Yorkshire always feels like the start of autumn for me! Over the last couple of weeks I have completed all the remaining work needed for the Spirit of Flora CAL so I have started on some new projects. I have had fun making some new Pinterest boards and have even cleared up my studio a little in preparation for new designs. I think this time of year is the perfect time for a bit of organising and have plans to do some decorating in the house over the next couple of weeks too! From a Janie Crow perspective I have just a few things to tell you about this week and I hope that you are all keeping well.   Who doesn't love a neat pile of blankets? Definitely not me as I am a massive fan of seeing crochet and patchwork blankets folded up and ready for a chilly evening. This week over Instagram we showcased some blanket stacks with a difference! The first photo below is ours. It shows some of our favourite blankets and shawls photographed on a chair. The second image also shows a lovely stack of blankets - the vintage kind that bring back memories of childhood summer days in the garden. It is a lovely image that evokes lots of feelings for me especially as piles of blankets are just so appealing, but what is really special about this second image is that it is infact a painting rather than a photograph! Can you believe it?   Image copyright Cindy Rizza Did that make you gasp? Then take a breath: this exquisite artwork has been created in oils by an incredible artist who we are HUGE fans of - Cindy Rizza. Cindy's work is exactly our childhoods: gorgeous sun-dappled blankets and deck chairs (please, please go and see the deck chairs) in glorious patterns and colours which we recognise in our imaginations from childhood days. The warmth and peace from her artwork is palpable and it is not an exaggeration to say we could gaze for as long as our busy days would allow. There are many beautiful subjects that Cindy explores through her artwork, so please do visit her page and enjoy her gorgeous work. (The sunlight through the washing on the line is just breathtaking!) We cannot of course do any justice to Cindy's background or the hours and years of developing her art here, but we hope that this tiny introduction might encourage you to visit her Instagram page and find out more.    I love it when the sunflowers start to bloom in July and it always amazes me just how long they continue to look fabulous in the garden. We still have so many of them and they will continue to cheer me up for the next month or so as we head into autumn. I have been looking at colour trends for the 'A' and thought I would draw shades from my Fields of Gold blanket to put a nice colour group together, which then led me to look at other colourways shared on Instagram. Needless to say I found some beauties and hope that their makers don’t object to me sharing them here. Images via @crafts_r_for_us and @lizziemontgomerydesign Emma has recently added some great videos on the Janie Crow YouTube channel to help with some of the ‘join as you go’ areas of this design so if you’ve never done that before do take a look!   I love the current trend for slipovers, tank tops and tabards, so I thought I would try to incorporate some of my motifs from the Spirit of Flora CAL into a design for something similar. I’m using an image of a fabulous garment by Toast as the basis for my layout and am so far very pleased with how it’s coming along. I’d love to know what projects you may have incorporated some of my motif designs into. I have seen a dress made using the motifs from my Fridas Flowers CAL and cardigans made from the Persian Tiles blanket in the past, alongside many more. I hope to have this top finished within the next couple of weeks so that I can wear it in the 'A'. I will show you when I’m done. I’m using Stylecraft Yarns ReCreate DK as it is one of my favourite yarns and is 100% recycled.  If you are following the Spirit of flora CAL the ninth motif is due to be published next week in Inside Crochet Magazine. It is the much anticipated Sunflower motif, so do look out for it.  August 15th was 'Granny Square Day', hosted by Simply Crochet Magazine, and Gemma asked our Facebook followers to share some of their favourite crochet squares. We kicked off with a photo of some of the motifs from the Love is Enough colourway of the The Fruit Garden blanket. We sneaked a rectangle in there too!  There was definitely a lot of love shown for the Fruit Garden blanket in the comments. We're particularly interested in Deborah Argorake's project as she mentioned that having started on her motifs for the Night & Dark version of the blanket she's not sure whether to make them into the blanket or a dress instead. Now that we would love to see so please keep us posted Deborah! Spirit of Flora got a couple of mentions too with Antoinette Muller posting a gorgeous selection for us to see.  Vicki Wheeler's particular favourite is the Marlborough motif (below). Loving the colours, Vicki.  It was also good to see a Janie Crow design that doesn't appear quite so often on social media, with Lynn Lamb posting a photo of some of her favourite Bohemian Blooms motifs. Thank you for sharing Lynn, they are lovely in your colour palette.  We have recently had the book for this project reprinted and are working on a Stylecraft yarns version now that they produce an organic cotton yarn. We hope to have matched the original shades pretty well, so as soon as we have a yarn listing for this we will let you know.  We think you just can't beat a traditional home made hot dessert and, as the cooler evenings set in, it's even harder to resist the lure of a comforting pud! As many of us are becoming more health conscious it seems harder to allow ourselves such things, but recipes for 'lighter' versions can be found  This week Gemma has been experimenting with one of her family's favourites, bread and butter pudding, and recommends this quick and simple recipe from the Baking Mad website. It looks so yummy and perfect for using up left over bread.  Some time ago we touched briefly on the subject of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how potentially it could be used to create crochet patterns. Well, along similar lines we have been seeing images of fairly extreme 'crochet' creations cropping up all over social media, elderly ladies with huge crochet cats being the particular one that springs to mind.   We were curious about the origins of these and having done some digging Gemma discovered that the images have been created by Lydia Masterova and were originally posted on her Instagram account and Facebook page. If you click on either of the images above you can read more about Lydia and what led her to create these images. We can only assume that they took far less time to create than a genuine crochet project of that magnitude might take! The crochet designer Kirsten Ballering has also been experimenting with AI, asking the AI programme Midjourney to imagine her a crochet rainbow. You can see the result in the image below. It's certainly an impressive rainbow but we're not sure where we would start with writing the pattern! Click on the image to check out Kirsten's Facebook page.  We are still not sure quite how we feel about the effect that AI is having on the world and whether or not it is detrimental to arts and crafts in particular, but we thought you might like to see these images so that you can make up your own minds about how you feel too.   We are having a family and friends get together this weekend in honour of our son-in-laws birthday, so I have been busy getting ingredients ready for a big chocolate cake for Chris and we have been making the garden party ready with fairy lights and a bit of a tidy up. Obviously we are hoping for warmer weather so that we can make the most of being outside and we have the bug spray ready! We should have been in Peru by now as I was scheduled to tutor a Knitting Traditions trip with Arena Travel but this has now been postponed to next year. Andy and I decided not to have a proper holiday in its place but will be pottering about at home for a couple of weeks instead and we will plan some walks and trips out to make up for it. Having spent so much time away from home lately I am really looking forward to just being around in the house for the next couple of weeks.  We have Yarndale on the horizon and hope that some of you might be visiting. I love Yarndale because it is more crochet orientated than other yarn shows and I really enjoy transforming a cattle pen into a Janie Crow sanctuary for a weekend!  I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and that you have some nice things lined up to do. If you're anything like us you're probably already planning what you can do with hook and yarn, packing it into the spare hours as tightly as possible, squeezing out everything we can from the time! As you know, we're big fans of stash busting projects and if you can make a whole blanket out of yarn from your stash then that seems even more rewarding! However carefully we plan, there is always excess yarn isn't there? Although perhaps 'excess' is the wrong word to apply to our precious stashes of bits and bobs of leftovers as these, alongside the recent completion of a larger project, often sets us off looking for a smaller project to work on to use them up. Something to scratch the crochet itch without jumping straight back into another long-term project. Do you have a favourite go-to project type for these times? Bags? Hats? Shawls? Or smaller pieces than these? We have spoken before about the single sitting project: the thing that might be nothing but is something all by itself. The little 'in-between' bit of creativity which needed to be expressed without committing time too far in the future. Also, even if you're a 'one project at a time' person, we do feel there is validity in having 'the big one' on the go and a smaller project too. Two different types doesn't really violate that 'one thing only' rule does it? So what do you make? What smaller things make you happy when you have some spare crochet moments? We have some things in the pipeline that may fill these gaps but for now, tell us what you're making! We'd love to know. Janie x    Today is officially 'Never Give Up Day' - yes really! Today is about not just reaching our goals but working towards them. We often get messages from people who want to learn to crochet but have found it too hard so have given up. As adults there is an expectation that we will pick things up relatively quickly and in relation to crochet this is especially the case if someone already knits. Participants can book on day long ‘Learn To Crochet’ workshops in the belief that they will come away from it being able to do so, but if we wanted to learn to play the piano we would not expect to do so over the course of one day, or even just a few weeks. We would expect to spend many years practicing before we would consider ourselves a true pianist, so why is there an expectation that learning a craft should be quick and easy? When I learnt to crochet it was a slow process, one that took weeks and weeks of continuous practice, but I knew instantly that it was a craft that I could interpret my design ideas through and so I was determined to master it. Another frequent comment we get is 'I'd love to be able to do this but it's too advanced'. Again we say, go for it! Learning crochet - or taking a step into more advanced patterns - is completely safe. Mostly it's in the privacy of our own homes that we experiment with hook and yarn. Go ahead, make mistakes and make lots of them! Please don't give up on crochet! 'You'll never get bored when you try something new. There's really no limit to what you can do.' Dr Seuss The Festival of Quilts was such an inspirational and vibrant show. The quilts on display were jaw droppingly amazing and we felt very privileged to be there chatting with lots of fabulous visitors. It was so exciting to meet new crocheters and people who were unaware of my work. I spoke to so many people about the positive benefits of our beloved craft that I have spent the last couple of weeks recovering my voice and catching up with some sleep!  Garden Coverlet - Marion Howard Spring 1975/6  I have been a fan of the work of legendary knitwear designers Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably for many years so I was incredibly flattered that they complimented my work and my use of colour when I bumped into them for a very speedy chat at the show. I often look at patchwork blankets for inspiration for my work and am aware of many traditional designs, but it was a real joy to see more contemporary art quilts at the show. Honestly the skill level was just amazing and the number of quilts on show was flabbergasting. Definitely a great show to add to your diary to visit next year! *** I have been incredibly fortunate to have been able to build my business, quite literally from the kitchen table, to the successful brand it is today. I love my job and still adore designing with crochet and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who supports me by crocheting my designs. Regardless of how my business has grown over the years, it is still incredibly upsetting when my designs are copied and used by others to make a profit.  Back in 2019 Dolce and Gabbana copied motifs from both my Frida's Flowers CAL and the Lily Pond blanket and more recently two companies have been promoting cardigans that use my Mystical Lanterns blanket motif without recognition that the original design is mine.   ast week I called out these companies - @tach_clothing and @w.ivana.ok over on Instagram - not for my own financial gain but for recognition of where the crochet designs came from in the first place. My designs take me a long time to create and many of you have invested in my brand by purchasing patterns, kits or by following me on social media, so why should companies who have no connection to me be able to ignore my intellectual property and create garments using my designs? Surely it’s more fun and rewarding to design your own crochet than copy that which belongs to others? I have since heard back from the team at Ivana who have apologised for the copy and have added a reference to me on their social media posts. Like many others they said they found tutorial images on Pinterest that labelled the design as 'free' but also admitted they should have been more careful to follow up on where the pattern came from in the first place. I recently did a search on YouTube for videos that show how to make Mystical Lanterns for free and immediately found more than 30 that quickly added up to a viewing figure of more than 430k. These videos (the creators of which receive a payment from YouTube per view) are also in breach of my copyright and cause a pattern to be perpetually shared as free If you are making crochet projects to sell using my designs please be kind enough to acknowledge the design as mine as failure to do so is in breach of my copyright statement. I am happy for home crafters to use the patterns to make small numbers of projects to sell, but doing so on a larger scale, like these companies have done, is not allowed.  The Mystical Lanterns blanket is an incredibly popular pattern, so almost a decade after it was first released, we felt it was time to give it a bit of an update. We have created some new colourways and layouts using the Stylecraft range of yarns. We have created one version using Naturals Bamboo + Cotton that we have called Beatrix, another using Special DK named Avice, and a third using ReCreate DK and Highland Heathers DK that we have called Orcadia. You can find a free downloadable document that shows the yarn use for all 3 colourways on the website by following this link. We have kits available to order on the website with a dispatch date of next Monday, but please support your local Stylecraft stockist if you have one as many of them will also be selling the kits. You can find a list of stockists here. *** With Festival of Quilts done and dusted, our next event will be Yarndale towards the end of September. You can find more information here.  The current crochet block for my Sprit of Flora CAL has been published in issue 160 of Inside Crochet Magazine and I have named the motif 'Evelyn' after William De Morgan's wife who was a revered artist in her own right. Her most famous work ‘Flora’ was based on Botticelli’s painting ‘The Birth of Venus’ which resides in the Ufizzi Gallery in Florence, where the De Morgan’s spent much of their time. Both paintings feature pink flowers and lots of green foliage, so I used these elements as inspiration for this motif.  Image with thanks to the De Morgan Collection Evelyn’s art often had biblical references and her studies of the human form are really skilful, and perhaps the most beautiful is her depiction of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers and the season of spring. I am incredibly lucky to have had the blessing of the De Morgan Foundation to use some of their images including that of the portrait of Flora, in which I see something new every time I look at it! Zoom in and look at all the different types of flowers you can see, the birds hiding in the Loquat bush and the exquisite decoration and folds of Flora's robe. The scroll at the bottom is in Italian and the translation is as follows: I come from Florence and I am Flora. That city takes its name from flowers, Among flowers I was born and now I take a new home, In the mountains of Scotland I shall reside. Welcome me and may my treasure, Be dear to you amid the northern mists. I especially love how the spring blooms are falling from Flora's hand and are gathering all around and under her feet. There are so many different types and they are beautifully rendered by Evelyn. I love this painting so much!  We did the first photoshoot for the project at The Emery Walker House in Hammersmith and I was so excited to see original De Morgan tiles in the fireplace - if you look at the image above you can see them under the mantel piece.  One of the things I have enjoyed most about this CAL is seeing the various colourways people are making. For each published motif I have made a couple more in the same colour palette but have used them in alternate orders - even using the same palette they look completely different! I hope you enjoy this month's flower and that the story behind the inspiration adds a little extra food for thought.    I released the Bohemian Blooms Blanket book back in 2017 and it has since been to reprint a couple of times. We have just received our newest reprint, so the book is back on the website for sale. You can find it by following this link. The inspiration for this project came from the work of artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, in particular, their murals in Berwick Church and the home they shared, Charleston Farmhouse. Grant and Bell were part of the Bloomsbury Group of influential artists, writers, philosophers and intellects who chose to work and study together in the Bloomsbury district of London in the first half of the 20th Century. Originally designed to be an heirloom piece using luxury yarns, we have already reworked the layout and created a version called 'Bloomsbury Garden' using Stylecraft yarns. In addition, Emma May of @pippin_poppycock created a beautiful version which she has allowed us to share - this version is called 'Sussex Garden'. We are currently working on a new version using the original layout of the blanket using some of the newer yarns from the Stylecraft range and will publish some images and the list of the yarns used in the Autumn. The book for this blanket and accompanying (free) YouTube videos give great, clear instructions and are a fabulous way to expand your crochet skills if you're ready for more of a challenge.  Crochet retreat alert! Have you heard of Stitchtopia? If not then you may wish to look them up! They create wonderful crafting holidays and retreats for crocheters (and knitters, and quilters and textile lovers of all kinds!) with Arena Travel - a company I have worked with for the last couple of decades!!!   One of their most popular retreats - The Stitchtopia Festival - is back in March 2024 and is a brilliant weekend with access to workshops from 8 different experts - including me! I shall be teaching beaded flowers and also how to achieve the perfect crochet finish. There are plenty of other workshops to choose from including knitting techniques with Anna Nikipirowicz and quilting and sewing too. It's a lovely weekend and loads of fun. You can follow this link to view the details of the weekend event, which will take place in March next year, and you can also have a look at some of the other workshop trips on offer, including a rather spectacular Knitting Traditions of Peru holiday next year! I am cutting back on workshops and events next year to make time for more design work. The remaining places on the Peru trip and those on the Stitchtopia weekend are pretty much the only dates I have on offer for next year other than the Festive Workshop I alway run with Debbie Abrahams in November.  We love showcasing talented textile designers on our Instagram feed and tend to focus on crochet, but last week we wanted to promote the incredible work of hand knit designer Dee Hardwicke, because we just love her use of colour and pretty style.   Dee is a designer and knitter with a rich and diverse portfolio steeped in the artisan traditions of the Arts & Crafts Movement, and is inspired by her love of Britain's ever-changing landscapes, parks and cottage gardens. Dee says she loves 'translating my sketches and watercolours into gorgeous, nature-inspired knits and colourwork motifs, which can be used and treasured for years to come. She also says ‘there's something incredibly special about the way that knitting combines art, craft and practicality but most of all I love the way that knitting weaves all of us and our stories together.’ If you haven’t come across Dee’s work before then we urge you to take a look. If you are not a knitter then you might want to look at her tableware, stationery and mat designs too. We think it's impossible to look at Dee's instagram page without smiling - it is just the most glorious riot of colour and the desk photos are just delicious - you might need to set aside a full cup of tea time for a browse!  This Celery and Mushroom Roast is a recipe that Sarah's lovely mum used to make for dinner back in the 1970s. The recipe has become a firm favourite in Sarah's family ever since and when Andy and I tried it a few weeks ago we instantly agreed that it was one of those deliciously easy recipes that we should all have in our repertoire, so I am really happy that Sarah agreed that I could share it with you.  Sarah is not sure where her mum found the recipe as she copied the handwritten recipe into her own collection. Celery and Mushroom Roast 125g mushrooms 1 medium sized head of celery 125g cheddar cheese 50g butter 50g breadcrumbs or dried biscuit 1 egg tsp Marmite tsp sage seasoning Wash the celery and chop into small pieces. Cook in the butter in a saucepan for 20 minutes. Chop the mushrooms and add to the celery and cook for a further 15 minutes. Add the grated cheese, breadcrumbs, beaten egg, Marmite and seasoning. Place the mixture in a greased baking dish and bake in a moderate oven, (Sarah usually uses 180 degrees), for 45 mins. Leave to stand for about 10 mins before serving. Yum!   I am often asked about my home. I think people imagine it is filled floor to ceiling with blankets and yarn, but in fact we only have a couple of blankets in the living room (Sandalwood & Royal Garden) and most of my crochet stuff is kept in the studio - apart from the obligatory yarn stash at the side of the sofa of course! It has been such a busy year, with so many work commitments, that I have struggled to feel connected to my home. We have become a bit lazy with food prep, housework and maintenance and so I have been feeling decidedly out of love with my little bungalow, but as the pressure of deadlines is lifting and I have a little more free time, I am beginning to feel that urge to sort out my surroundings.   Here are a few shots taken in the house a few days ago. I have a version of The Spirit of Flora CAL on the settee as I have been working on it and we have a couple of the Emma Ball cushions on the bed.  A few years ago I started a Janie Crow Lifestyle feed on Instagram, but have badly neglected it over the last year. As I feel my life opening up to the joys of being at home again I hope to post on it more often - you can find it by following @janiecrowlifestyle As the weather starts to become a little more autumnal I wonder if my newly found desire to sort out my home is a nesting instinct - maybe its part of getting ready for the winter when the garden becomes more of a no go area and the house becomes our sanctuary. Sarah and her husband Paul are coming to stay with us this weekend so we are really looking forward to spending some time with them. The weather looks set to be relatively fine, so we are hoping to spend some time in the garden and taking some local walks as well as popping into town to see some sights on Sunday. I hope that wherever you are, and whatever you have planned, that you will have a great weekend and that all is good in your world. Janie x  The weather here has been pretty dismal over the last few days and at times it has even seemed a little autumnal, with lots of rain. Despite the fact that the garden is grateful for the water, the lack of warmth up here in the studio has got me hoping that some brighter weather will appear over the weekend and into next week. Fingers crossed! I have a few bits to tell you about this week and you can find more information about what we have been chatting about on social media lower down this email. I have also added links to quite a few projects. We have a price increase coming at the beginning of August (that's next week!) in line with the rise in the trade prices of yarn, so now might be a good time to grab a kit or two in time for the autumn. We have good stock of quite a few of our kits including our best sellers - Sandalwood and Eastern Jewels. I hope this quick catch up email finds you well, that you are all safe and sound and that you have a few minutes spare to catch up with all things Janie Crow.   Emma and I have been seeing quite a lot of posts on social media that talk about Christmas in July so we started wondering whether any of our southern hemisphere friends take part in any Christmas in July events. Emma created a post on Instagram this week that I thought I would share here - would love to know what you think: We have seen this phrase plenty of times this year, but mostly relating to lovely crafts rather than gatherings or celebrations, but we understand that lots of people arrange parties and gatherings to celebrate together in colder weather. We would love to hear about any that you might be involved in! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, when our summer gets a bit steamy, the thought of cooler months to come, and invoking that with a little dip into a festive project, might be just what you fancy, or maybe you're just a person who is wonderfully organised and likes to start Christmas prep nice and early. We know lots of lovely people like that too. So what other benefits are there to get a bit festive a wee bit early? Well, apart from anything else, many of the Christmas Decoration patterns are brilliant for using up leftovers. You could make little stockings to create an advent calendar or tree decorations - they’re a great size to pop little daily treats in!    Following our recent post about the new versions of Mystical Lanterns, perhaps you love the project but don't want to commit to a full blanket: festive solution ahoy! Make a row of the motifs, fill in with half and side motifs (here is the link the blog posts to show you how), add the edging and some little bells and voila - a sumptuous and dare we say, all year round bunting!   We wondered if we could get festive in the summer months and it took about 5 seconds to realise that yes, we absolutely could! Crocheting small and pretty things is completely appropriate isn't it, whatever the time of year. *** Following on from our festive post, we are still casting glances in the direction of Christmas and within Wednesdays Instagram post we wondered if any of you were planning to make and gift a larger project this year? Once summer has been packed away and autumn arrives, it seems moments before we are rushing around trying to fit in all the things we had planned during those times when we had the luxury of the long months stretching ahead of us. Christmas really does seem to hurtle towards us at lightning speed every year, mostly catching us out totally unawares! With that in mind, if you’re one of the very kind souls who have chosen to make and gift a blanket to a loved one, it might be an excellent time to start! Blankets can take many months to complete, especially since we generally have such a lot of “life” we have to take care of before we can sit down with hook and yarn. We love a Christmas Eve cast on project but imagine a “comfortably finished by Halloween” one feels just as amazing!   We’ve included some of our favourite photos here to give you some inspiration and you can of course have a browse on the website. Every year we have the best intentions, perhaps this year will be the one they come to fruition!    There never seems to be enough time does there? I think that is why, when we receive a handmade gift, it’s so incredibly generous and touching: the gift itself is wonderful, but it’s the time that has been gifted with it that’s so valuable and humbling. The hours of work that went into it – the maker chose to spend those hours on us. Those are the things that make handmade things so very precious.  After some scorching weather in June, July has turned into a month of much more variable weather and so over on Facebook Gemma turned the spotlight on the Sunshine & Showers blanket, which was originally released as a crochet along back in 2016. This isn't a blanket that we often see different colour schemes for but we thought you might like to see Stephanie Davison's version as it's so unusual and effective in its use of fewer colours than the original.   We also took a look back at another crochet along, the Climbing Rose Wrap. This originally appeared over 4 issues of Inside Crochet during 2019 and was inspired by the William Morris fabric design 'The Strawberry Thief' along with the 'Molly Blue' design by Fryetts Fabrics, which perfectly encapsulated the colour palette I wanted to use.  Some of my CAL designs have taken me months to design and make, whilst others, have been quite quick. The design for the Climbing Rose Wrap was a really speedy one once I set to crocheting and I really enjoyed interpreting elements of Morris’s fabric design in my crochet. The flowers within the original design are not easy to identify exactly, so I looked at traditional Victorian garden flowers and used these as the basis for my motifs, hence the fact that they are called Day Lily, Rambling Rose and Anemone.    Here's Becky Rolfe modelling her wrap.  Margaret MCCauley made a square version. Thank you, as always, for sharing your photos with us. We do look at them all and so enjoy seeing your colourways and interpretations of the designs.  As we're in the thick of courgette season we thought we'd show you this lovely Greek recipe combining courgettes, orzo, feta and lemon. We tested the recipe we found here out on Sarah while she was with us last week for step-by-step photography for my new book. It was really tasty, but a little gloopy thanks to the starch from the pasta, so I really recommend using a higher end brand of orzo or part cooking it to remove some of the starch before hand.  If you do a search for recipes that use courgettes with pasta and feta you will find a lot! The recipe we used was really lovely and lemony but I have since found another that uses fresh thyme - something I really love, so I will definitely be giving this one a go too. You can find the recipe by following this link or by clicking on the image above.  We have shared this before, but we have been reminded about it again over the last couple of weeks. This wonderful little animation on YouTube is called Lost & Found. It really had us on the edge of our seats!  A crochet dinosaur is desperate to save the love of his life and makes the ultimate sacrifice! Apparently the film was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2019 and you can also watch a behind the scenes video here.   After a weekend of teaching and a busy time doing step-by-step photography for my new book last week I really struggled to get out of bed most days this week and could quite happily have sneaked back to the bedroom for a quick nap! But, as usual, there have been a long list of things that needed to be done, so I am really looking forward to a little bit of downtime over the weekend. We are going away for a few days to celebrate our wedding anniversary and I am planning which crochet projects to take with me so that I can grab some of that all important crochet time.  I still treasure my crochet time and see it as a bit of a reward in the evening - a way to clear my mind and mull over the events of the day. I use my crochet as a tool to look after myself. I think the maths and continuous counting helps my little grey cells and the complexity of my designs keeps my brain problem solving and concentrating. The rhythmic action of my hook helps to keep me calm and relaxed. July has been World Self Care Month. An event that promotes the importance of maintaining our own health and that of those around us. Self Care month is about empowering people to be active agents in their own healthcare and I definitely feel that my crochet plays a part in my own well being. I would love to know if your crochet helps you feel the same way and what other practices you have created to help look after your own well being. Janie x     Crocheted flowers are pretty much my favourite thing to make and I adore adding beads into my work too, so the Gertrude cushion project was a real joy to design and make. I wanted to create a vintage feel and chose my yarn shades accordingly. I think the little lime green beads provide a lovely pop of colour on the leaves of the dainty crochet blooms. I adored the velvet smocked cushions that my Auntie Muriel had on her bed when I was a child in the 1970s. I used to love running my fingers over the velvet pile and found the smocked stitching fascinating. The cushions were just so enticing and luxurious that I remember thinking that I would definitely have some on my bed when I was old enough! I have previously recreated the style of these cushions in a knit design I called Madeleine, which was published in my book ‘Homespun Vintage’, but I have always wanted to create a crochet version too. When working on the Muriel cushion project I decided to add pretty bobbles instead of smocked style stitching to make a simple accompaniment to my Gertrude cushion, which features pretty flowers and beads. I have always struggled with the way crochet worked in the round can look like it has a ‘scar’ running through it, so my challenge for this project was to design something that would hide the way slip stitches appear without having to fasten off yarns at the end of every round. The paper brochure copy of the Gertrude Cushion is available in UK and US terms in our store here. You can download it via Ravelry or Etsy. The pattern for the round Muriel Cushion is a free download. You can find the UK version here, and the US version here. The patterns for both the cushions were previously published in issue 147 of Inside Crochet Magazine. Thanks to the magazine and Mavric photography for the lovely images.   The name of a repeated tessellating design, like the one I have used in the Mystical Lanterns blanket, is called an ‘Ogee’ pattern in Arabesque design. It took me a few weeks to get the design of these blocks right; initially I came up with lots of complicated ways to create this motif, but in the end, it was so simple – funny how sometimes a design process can take so long, and the outcome can be so easy to make! The Mystical Lanterns blanket is an incredibly popular pattern, so almost a decade after it was first released, we felt it was time to give it a bit of an update. We have created some new colourways and layouts using the Stylecraft range of yarns. We have created one version using Naturals Bamboo + Cotton that we have called Beatrix, another using Special DK named Avice, and a third using ReCreate DK and Highland Heathers DK that we have called Orcadia.  Beatrix Colourway The colour palette for the Beatrix version was chosen by Stylecraft Brand Manager, Annabelle Hill, who owns a painting of the walled garden at Waterperry Gardens that inspired her choices. Annabelle once lived near the gardens and visited a couple of times a month with her children when they were small. Annabelle says it is the most magical place that was founded by two women, Beatrix Havergal and her partner Avice Sanders in the 1930s. The yarn used in this colour way is Stylecraft Naturals Bamboo + Cotton. The Avice version is very similar in colour but uses Special DK.  Orcadia Colourway The colour palette for this version was chosen by me and was inspired by a visit to St Magnus’s Cathedral and the Italian Chapel in Orkney, Scotland. The Cathedral is built from rich red bricks, and it features the most incredible tiled floor within its interior with intricate patterns in shades of red, brown, and yellow. The Italian Chapel is also a real treat with a lovely interior and pretty hand painted windows, which bathe the chapel in blue, yellow and pink colours when the sun shines. You can find a free downloadable document that shows the yarn use for all 3 colourways on the website by following this link. We have kits available to order on the website with a dispatch date of next Monday, but please support your local Stylecraft stockist if you have one as many of them will also be selling the kits. You can find a list of stockists here. We have re-stocked kits for the Fiori blanket. Fiori is a collaborative project between myself and Lucia Dunn of @luciasfigtree. The original design is Fields of Gold and the new colour palette was chosen by Lucia, using a trip to her home in the Dolomites, Italy as inspiration.  The original kit used a limited edition yarn, but because of this we struggled to keep up with the demand for kits for this beautiful project. This newer version uses 16 shades of Stylecraft yarn instead and is as colourful as you’d expect from a palette where Lucia is involved! The change in palette moves the project from the sunny French inspired field of sunflowers and poppies to a meadow of Italian wildflowers and flashes of glorious sunsets and cheerful window-boxes. Lucia's colour choices are always absolutely glorious: look out on our website for Primavera and Eastern Jewels, her beautiful versions of Frida's Flowers and Persian Tiles respectively. It is constantly inspiring and joyful to see you apply your own colours to my designs and to witness the change of mood your own interpretations bring. Never stop experimenting! Also, as always, this is a fantastic stash busting project too and 'scrappy' is just as beautiful as meticulously planned The kits are available on the website and include all the yarn you need for the project, the printed Fields of Gold pattern, a printed yarn substitution brochure and a Janie Crow sew in label. Lucia also has the yarn substitution document available on her website, so do go and have a visit there if you would rather not get a kit.  When we were sat at Bordeaux airport waiting for our return flight from the workshop trip to France last year it occurred to us that we were very close to Morocco, so after this month's workshop we made a little detour in order to spend a few days in Marrakech before we headed home.   It is an incredible city with colour and inspiration around every corner. I have hundreds of photos from our tours and am totally in love with it! There are painted doors, ceilings and panels - an abundance of inspiration in these alone, so when mixed with mosaics, carvings and textiles you can imagine what a sensory overload it is! There is surface pattern absolutely everywhere in Marrakech, even in our Riad where my crochet flowers looked so perfect left on the top of the dresser with the tiled floor below.   10 years ago, in 2013, I designed a crochet along project inspired by a series of tiles I saw on display at the V&A museum here in London. The design was only available for members of the CAL group that year but I had so many requests to release a pattern for something similar that I used a particular star style tile as the catalyst for the design. The resulting pattern was Persian Tiles which I released in 2015.   When I was in Marrakech last week I saw many fabulous examples of Moroccan tile design and am already so inspired by my trip. I am considering putting together yet another colourway of the Persian Tiles design based on the shades I saw there. Let me know what you think. Can you stand to see yet another version of the design using shades inspired by Moroccan tiles?    I released the Bohemian Blooms Blanket book back in 2017 and it has since been to reprint a couple of times. We have just received our newest reprint, so the book is back on the website for sale. You can find it by following this link.  How are you enjoying the Spirit of Flora CAL? We are absolutely loving the growing numbers of posts at the #spiritofflora tag on Instagram.  It's incredible to see the groups of blocks together as well - they look magnificent and because the team here at Janie Crow are slightly weird and a little bit nerdy, we have been wondering how many cumulative hours of work and metres of yarn have been used so far on this project. If only there was a way to know for sure! For now we'll make the educated guess of a gazillion of each!  We have had quite a lot of people asking about how to access the cal patterns. You can find subscription offers via Inside Crochet Magazine and you can also purchase back copies. The CAL runs in magazine numbers 154 to 164 so we are only half way through - plenty of time left to get involved! I would love it if you are able to do a bit of stash diving to create your project but we have starter packs, which contains a ball of each of the shades I have used for my blanket, back in stock.  Working crochet in a freeform way - with no pattern or technical guidance from anyone else - is a really freeing way of creating a fabulously unique crochet fabric. It is incredibly mindful and great fun to do and (as usual with a crochet technique) it is totally addictive.   I first came across this crochet artfrom via the work of Prudence Mapstone @freeformprudence and I follow quite a few freeform artists here on Instagram these days with one of my favourites being José Dammers @Josedammers who creates the most beautiful crochet pieces. José’s work focusses on the human face, sometimes abstracted and often decorated with flowers and crochet scrumbles, and always photographed in such an inspiring way. If you have never worked in a freeform way before and want some more information or tutorials you can find lots of information and videos on line. Do take a look at José’s feed on Instagram and follow the link to her online courses. Her work is a total joy!  Being away in France and then in Morocco means that we have been treated to some really lovely meals over the last few weeks. If I am honest it has been a bit of a trial having to think about food preparation this week, so I don't have a definitive recipe to offer to you. That said, we have been having quite a lot of salad based meals - always extra nice when the weather is good. One of our favourite combinations, which we discovered a few years ago, is a salad made of water melon, feta cheese and mint. It really is delicious. I am not sure you really need a recipe for this - but you will get the idea by following this link.   Another great salad is the pairing of creamy blue cheese with pears and we love the rustic Italian salad (great for using up left over bread) called Panzanella - you can find a recipe here.  We will be exhibiting at The Festival of Quilts in August. We are really looking forward to the show, especially as it is one we have not done before. We hope to see you there - you can find tickets and information by following this link.   The weather has turned a bit cold and wet today and I am feeling a little chilly here in the summer house, which is a bit of a shock after the last few weeks of warm weather. I am heading off to the coast with a group of my girlfriends this weekend, so I might need to replace the sun tops and suncream I have packed in my bag with a brolly and some more sensible shoes! Next week is set to be ultra busy here, with a step-by-step photo shoot for my new book taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. Sarah is coming to stay for a few days to help me, so I am really looking forward to that. I will try to remember to post some images on Instagram, so keep a look out. I hope that wherever you are, and whatever you have planned that you will have a great weekend and that you stay safe. Janie x  I really enjoy tutoring workshops, but I have decided that I will be cutting down on the number that I do over the next few years due to my workload and my desire to spend more of my free time at home and with my family. Workshops involve a lot of preparation and time away from home and it has become increasingly difficult for me to juggle this alongside my design commitments in particular, so it is likely that beyond next year my diary will include fewer workshops. I get asked about my workshop and event schedule often so I thought this would be a good time to give you the heads up on what I have planned for the next few months and into next year.    The most imminent workshop for me is Stitch Yourself Happy - Crochet and Yoga, which will take place in just a couple of weeks time. You do not need any yoga experience as this can be tailored to all abilities. The weekend event, which will be hosted by Arena Travel, will be split up into 4 sessions - 2 yoga sessions with Molly and 2 crochet sessions with me - so that you can enjoy a really relaxing time away. There are still a few places available on this workshop where I will be tutoring beaded crochet techniques. The weekend event runs from the 21st to the 23rd July and you can find more information by following this link. * * * Looking towards the Autumn I am really looking forward to tutoring at the Woolly Away event which will take place on the 21st and 22nd October. You can find more information about the weekend retreat, where Jeanette Sloan, Diana Bensted and Deb Cunningham will also be tutoring by following this link. * * *   At the end of November Debbie Abrahams and I will be tutoring our annual Festive Workshop in Bournemouth. The places on this workshop have not been released for sale yet and places tend to go incredibly quickly. To be in with a chance of nabbing a spot it is a good idea to join the Inspired Minds mailing list as notification of the places going live are sent out to this mailing list first before it is advertised elsewhere. You can find information about the workshop, such as dates and itinerary, by following this link and here is a link to the homepage where you can sign up to be notified of the date that the places are set to go live. * * *  For 2024 I am looking forward to tutoring a 6 day long workshop in West Yorkshire. This is a brand new workshop destination with a fabulous itinerary which I have worked alongside Arena Travel, The Knitting and Crochet Guild and Stylecraft yarns to create. On this retreat, you will visit the collection of the Knitting & Crochet Guild, a treasure trove of textile wonders, housed in a former mill in Slaithwaite – a village also home to Stylecraft Yarns, where you will have a behind the scenes tour of the mill. The trip also includes mill tours of British Wool in Bradford and their fabulous West Yorkshire Spinners yarn company. There will also be the opportunity for some local sightseeing as we spend some time in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saltaire Village. This workshop tour only went live on the Arena website a couple of days ago and 2 thirds of the places have now sold, so you might need to make a quick decision on this one! You can find more information by following this link.  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.  I am really excited by the prospect of an incredible trip to Peru, a country that has a rich history of intricate knitting traditions, on my workshop itinerary for next year. 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.  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. Please note that the web page shows Carol Meldrum as tutor, but if you click on the July dates for more information you will be presented with the trip I will be tutoring. You can find the information about all 3 of the events I am tutoring for Arena Travel by following this link.   As well as tutoring workshops I have dates in my diary for yarn shows and events that I will be attending over the next few months. I love shows and really look forward to chatting to fellow yarny folk, so I hope you will be able to come and say hello at one of the following events: In August we will have stand at The NEC in Birmingham as we will be exhibiting at The Festival of Quilts for the first time.  In September we will once again be exhibiting at the wonderful Yarndale show - one of our favourite shows and a perfect destination for crochet fanatics! In October I will be on the Stylecraft stand at The Knitting and Stitching Show here in North London.   I was away teaching a couple of workshops at Black Sheep Wools in Warrington last week and did a meet and greet event on the shop floor too, which was just lovely! This week I have been getting ready for a residential workshop in France which I will be tutoring next week, so it has been all about prepping and teaching for me over the last couple of weeks.   I have also been working on the the final chapter of my new book, which will be called 'The Perfect Crochet Finish' and Sarah and I have been organising the samples needed for the photography, so it has been busy, busy, busy! I have some exciting things to tell you about this week including some brand new colourways of my Mystical Lanterns blanket and shawl design, so I hope you can spare five minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow!    The name of a repeated tessellating design, like the one I have used in the Mystical Lanterns blanket, is called an ‘Ogee’ pattern in Arabesque design. It took me a few weeks to get the design of these blocks right; initially I came up with lots of complicated ways to create this motif, but in the end, it was so simple – funny how sometimes a design process can take so long, and the outcome can be so easy to make! The Mystical Lanterns blanket is an incredibly popular pattern, so almost a decade after it was first released, we felt it was time to give it a bit of an update. We have created some new colourways and layouts using the Stylecraft range of yarns. We have created one version using Naturals Bamboo + Cotton that we have called Beatrix, another using Special DK named Avice, and a third using ReCreate DK and Highland Heathers DK that we have called Orcadia.  Beatrix Colourway The colour palette for the Beatrix version was chosen by Stylecraft Brand Manager, Annabelle Hill, who owns a painting of the walled garden at Waterperry Gardens that inspired her choices. Annabelle once lived near the gardens and visited a couple of times a month with her children when they were small. Annabelle says it is the most magical place that was founded by two women, Beatrix Havergal and her partner Avice Sanders in the 1930s. The yarn used in this colour way is Stylecraft Naturals Bamboo + Cotton. The Avice version is very similar in colour but uses Special DK.  Orcadia Colourway The colour palette for this version was chosen by me and was inspired by a visit to St Magnus’s Cathedral and the Italian Chapel in Orkney, Scotland. The Cathedral is built from rich red bricks, and it features the most incredible tiled floor within its interior with intricate patterns in shades of red, brown, and yellow. The Italian Chapel is also a real treat with a lovely interior and pretty hand painted windows, which bathe the chapel in blue, yellow and pink colours when the sun shines. You can find a free downloadable document that shows the yarn use for all 3 colourways on the website by following this link. We have kits available to order on the website with a dispatch date of next Monday, but please support your local Stylecraft stockist if you have one as many of them will also be selling the kits. You can find a list of stockists here.  Andy calls my Persian Tiles design ‘the gift that keeps giving’ and it never ceases to amaze me just how much joy the design has brought to crocheters over the last 8 years since its release in 2015. Lucia of @luciasfigtree created her Eastern Jewels version of the blanket a few years after the release of my original colour way and since then it has opened the design up to so many unique colour ways and a myriad of versions. Kayla from @authentic.artroom recently posted a video of her (more than double sized) Eastern Jewels blanket on TikTok and it has been viewed over 6 million times. Her fantastic videos show the individual motifs in close up and really focus on the beauty of Lucia’s colour choices too so I recommend you take a look. We are hoping to restock the kits for the blanket along with those for the original colour way over the next few days. We also hope to have kits for the Sandalwood version back in stock again soon. If you want to make Persian Tiles Eastern Jewels using yarn from your stash, or by purchasing individual balls of yarn rather than using a kit you can use the pattern alongside Lucia’s yarn substitution document to help guide you through. We have added a 'NOTIFY ME' option to our web site recently which enables you to be alerted by email when items come back into stock. We think this will be particularly helpful for those of you on the look out for kits, so do head over to the website and take a look. Having things on wish lists means we can also get a better idea of the amount of stock we need to order, so do make use of this handy tool.  My Fruit Garden crochet along was inspired by the intricate embroidery work of William Morris’s daughter May. The patterns are written for four colour ways. The third one we released is called Love is Enough after the nine line poem written by William in 1897. The poem conveys the message that love is enough in the face of darkness and that in a world with lots of hardships and depression, the power of love and companionship will help us see the light and face things together. Despite the poem being written almost 130 years ago I think the message within it stands the test of time and remains poignant and relevant: Love is enough: though the World be a-waning, And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining, Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder, Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass'd over, Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter; The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.  I used the Tudor Rose motif from the Spirit of Flora CAL as the basis for one of my workshops at Black Sheep Wools last week. It was so exciting to see how the motif worked in lots of different colourways.  We continue to enjoy seeing your progress on the Spirit of Flora CAL motifs, but this month we thought we'd have a look through the CAL group on Facebook to find some of your versions of the Maker's Bag, constructed using your selections of the motifs that have been published so far. Ursula Kesek has made this beautiful version (shown below) using the Marlborough and Chelsea motifs.  Just look at these colours on Rina Levi Celikel's bag below. Isn't it just stunning!  Here's Sarah C Reaser's version of the bag. We love the styling!  Luce Bergeret has opted for citrus colours for her bag. We love the bright, summery feel.  Thanks as always for sharing your wonderful photos! Look out for the next motif, 'Gillow' (one of my favourites) which will be published in Inside Crochet Magazine next week.  Over on the Facebook page Gemma has been taking a look back at The Fruit Garden blanket timeline, beginning in 2020 with the Caramel & Parchment and Night & Dark versions, through to the Love is Enough CAL re-run and then the publication of the book, including the new Red House version of the blanket. Many of you shared your stories of the original CAL with us, along with photos of your incredible versions of the blanket. We've picked out a few to share with you here.  Kate Byers - a prizewinner!  Tamara Faurot has made 11 versions of the blanket but the one shown above is the one she kept for herself. She dyed the yarn herself, so this truly is one of a kind.  Joyce Shipp made her version in the Stylecraft Naturals Bamboo & Cotton yarn but in her own colourway. She is currently working on her eighth!  We love Lorraine Wiseman's blue colourway. What has been clear from the comments on the posts is that many of you are still working on Fruit Garden projects and many more are wanting to make the blanket but feel it might be too tricky for them. So, we thought it would be a good time to remind you that there are supporting videos for all aspects of the blanket over on the Janie Crow YouTube channel here. There is a playlist with all the Fruit Garden videos together in one place and many people have said how useful they were so we hope they might encourage you to have a go if you have been wondering about making a start on the project.   This week's recipe recommendation comes from Sarah and it's the wonderfully summery dessert, Almond Pavlovas, with meringue and fresh summer berries. If you have been growing strawberries in your garden this recipe would be a great one to use them in. We're getting a good crop so far this year, they are definitely enjoying the warm dry weather!  After seeing Justin Bieber with his Persian Tiles blanket we are always wondering where the next unusual place for a Janie Crow design to turn up will be. This week one of our eagle eyed followers on Facebook spotted Mystical Lanterns in a cross stitch kit!  Have you been watching the current series of the Great British Sewing Bee? In episode four the Made to Measure challenge involved the sewers sourcing second hand crochet blankets and then using them to create a new outfit. This episode has generated some interesting discussions. Some viewers found it uncomfortable viewing to watch the blankets being cut up, knowing how much time will have gone into making them. In this article from Prima there are a few opposing views. Where do you stand on this? If you're an Instagram user you can take a look at the Great British Sewing Bee's channel here for some tips on sewing with crochet.  Then over on YouTube The Woolpatch have published their latest 'All Gathered Up' video where they discuss some of the techniques used during the episode. Click on the image below to watch.  Lucia of Lucia's Fig Tree has recently been working on a new colourway of a project designed by Abi at Get Your Hook On. The result is the most amazing 'St Kilda' blanket that features adorable puffins and fish. You can find more information by clicking on the images or by following this link to Lucia's website.     We are heading off to France today and so will be in the sunshine of the Charentes Maritimes region this weekend. We have packed our swimming costumes so are hoping to have a day by the pool in the sunshine and some crochet in the shade on Saturday. On Sunday I will be introducing the workshop group to the project and guiding them through their crochet techniques as we head into next week. We will be focusing on making some crochet flowers, so look out for some images on Instagram if you're interested in seeing what the group achieve. The weather forecast in the UK is looking good again this weekend so I imagine many of you will be making the most of the sunshine here too, but if you are looking for some movie recommendations so that you can sit and crochet in front of the TV I recommend 'Everything, everywhere, all at once' and 'The Whale'. I watched both films a few weeks ago when Andy was away. Both good in different ways. The Whale is pretty brutal and not at all light hearted so be warned. I can totally see what both of theses movies were Oscar winners. I hope that whatever you have planned this weekend you stay safe and well. Remember to slap on the sun cream if you are out and about and make sure you keep hydrated and enjoy plenty of ice cream too - it would be rude not to! Janie x     Crocheted flowers are pretty much my favourite thing to make and I adore adding beads into my work too, so the Gertrude cushion project was a real joy to design and make. I wanted to create a vintage feel and chose my yarn shades accordingly. I think the little lime green beads provide a lovely pop of colour on the leaves of the dainty crochet blooms. I adored the velvet smocked cushions that my Auntie Muriel had on her bed when I was a child in the 1970s. I used to love running my fingers over the velvet pile and found the smocked stitching fascinating. The cushions were just so enticing and luxurious that I remember thinking that I would definitely have some on my bed when I was old enough! I have previously recreated the style of these cushions in a knit design I called Madeleine, which was published in my book ‘Homespun Vintage’, but I have always wanted to create a crochet version too. When working on the Muriel cushion project I decided to add pretty bobbles instead of smocked style stitching to make a simple accompaniment to my Gertrude cushion, which features pretty flowers and beads. I have always struggled with the way crochet worked in the round can look like it has a ‘scar’ running through it, so my challenge for this project was to design something that would hide the way slip stitches appear without having to fasten off yarns at the end of every round. The paper brochure copy of the Gertrude Cushion is available in UK and US terms in our store here. You can download it via Ravelry or Etsy. The pattern for the round Muriel Cushion is a free download. You can find the UK version here, and the US version here. The patterns for both the cushions were previously published in issue 147 of Inside Crochet Magazine. Thanks to the magazine and Mavric photography for the lovely images.   It has been great to see your interpretations of the Chelsea Motif from the Spirit of Flora CAL on social media platforms lately. There are so many beautiful colour combinations and we are just LOVING the layouts we're seeing with all your completed blocks.  We still have some Persian Tiles kits in stock in the Sandalwood colour way. Sandalwood is widely-considered to be the national scent of India, with most families burning the natural extract in their homes. The most expensive sandalwoods are harvested when the trees are around 60 years old. The older the tree, the stronger, more powerful and long-lasting the beautiful fragrance. It is one of my favourite smells!  Emma Ball also used this version of Persian Tiles to create some lovely crochet accessories - bags and hook rolls and stitch markers and all sorts. I think the velvet cushions continue to be my favourite! We still have kits for our revamped Fiori blanket in stock. Fiori is a collaborative project between myself and Lucia Dunn of @luciasfigtree. The original design is Fields of Gold and the new colour palette was chosen by Lucia, using a trip to her home in the Dolomites, Italy as inspiration.  The original kit used a limited edition yarn, but because of this we struggled to keep up with the demand for kits for this beautiful project. This newer version uses 16 shades of Stylecraft yarn instead and is as colourful as you’d expect from a palette where Lucia is involved! The kits are available on the website and include all the yarn you need for the project, the printed Fields of Gold pattern, a printed yarn substitution brochure and a Janie Crow sew in label. Lucia also has the yarn substitution document available on her website, so do go and have a visit there if you would rather not get a kit.  It was my long term dream to have a large studio space for Janie Crow and so, when that dream became a reality 7 years ago, I was so incredibly excited to move my crochet paraphernalia away from home and into a separate space. Our lease on the studio ended 18 months ago and, with soaring energy costs and lack of suitable local properties available, we made the decision to move the business back home. At the time I was sad to leave our studio, but now that I am home and working from my own little space in the summer house at the end of the garden I couldn’t be happier. The space I have is small and cosy and everything I need is within easy reach. My precious books, my (many) bags of yarn and all my bits and bobs have a home and, as my work space takes up less than a third of the summer house, we don't actually feel like we have lost any home space. The IKEA shelves make a great divider and mean that my little studio is private and easily hidden when we are using the summer house as, well, a summer house!  Some of my prized possessions are in here. My knitted moth by Max Alexander @maxsworld, my huge Klimt book and my diddy knitted fairisle sweater, nestled next to the little blue crochet lobster made by my lovely pal Jo @spannerworks all make me really happy alongside the little curated piles of yarn and baskets of WIPS. There is nothing grand about my space. At times it can feel bit crammed and during the winter it is quite hard to keep it warm, but it ticks pretty much all my boxes and it is conducive to my creativity, especially as I have a great view of the garden which is particularly glorious during the summer months. I’ve made a reel so you can come on a virtual tour of my summerhouse with me if you’d like! You can find it on Instagram.  I turned 54 a fortnight ago and (if I am honest), the prospect of yet another birthday took me down a bit of a ribbit hole emotionally, mostly because it scares me just how fast the time is flying past me. Over the last couple of weeks, and after giving myself a good talking to, I have made some new plans and am slowly rediscovering my crojo and settling back down to normality.  I have been flicking through some of my resource books and am always drawn to Indian textiles for inspiration. Picking out balls of yarn to make a new colour palette is a process that always makes me feel good, so for now I am happy to just have a pile of lovely yarn on my desk regardless of whether or not a new crochet project will transpire. It might be that I simply end up recolouring an existing project or make some samples that will never actually become a ‘proper’ project - either way I am sure that the simple process of crocheting will bring some joy. Emma and I have been talking a lot recently about the impact various life situations have on how we crochet. What really stokes the creativity, what stifles it, the soothing balm of sitting down with hook and yarn. One of the things we really hit upon was the use of crochet as our 'reward' for getting through a tough day. Genuinely being able to focus the mind at a future point in time knowing the feeling of peace, security and quiet contemplation will come. I know many of you recognise this feeling all too well. There are some big things happening in the JC team at the moment, with our lovely Emma in particular navigating some incredibly difficult circumstances, and crochet, in its constant, steady, peaceful way is there; sitting alongside, providing the thread of comfort in normality so needed when things are anything but normal. Through some tricky times it’s become clear that it is not always the conclusion of a large project that is needed. It is often, the process itself. Choosing yarn, trying colour combinations, finding a “one sitting” something that will be an end unto itself. At these times, slowing everything down and bringing the focus right in to now, can work wonders to reset the mind. Being content with whatever you may have chosen to make at that time, just one beautiful motif, is a lovely way to think about crochet. Perhaps it is the repetition of the same stitch or colour or block over again that brings your particular comfort. Or perhaps the reward to you looks like starting something completely new with a new colour pallete. Does it matter? Of course we are big fans of blankets and larger projects but we are also completely supportive to the “400 WIPS on the go” crocheters! We get it completely! So, from now on, no guilt for unfinished projects. You started a new one for a reason. Be happy and well with whatever brings you joy!  I will be in store at Black Sheep Wools in Warrington next Wednesday morning for a little meet and greet event.  I will be on the shop floor on June 14th and I would love to catch up with as many of you as can make it. You can drop in and show me your latest project or come along and ask for some advice or even decide on a new project surrounded by lots of lovely squishy yarn and inspiration. The event is free to attend and it takes place between 10am and 12.30pm and you can find more information on the Black Sheep Wools @blacksheepwools Facebook page.   There are still some 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 have been waiting so patiently for the peonies to bloom in the garden and now that we have a glut of them I couldn't be happier - the flowers are just so beautiful!   One of our plants had in the region of 30 flowers and as the lavender and roses are also in full bloom I really do think June is the best month in the garden.  Last weekend I made a yummy pasta, egg and cheese bake from The River Cottage 'Veg Everyday' recipe book.  This is one of my favourite recipe books and I have made this one a couple of times. This time I swapped the Cheddar cheese for Stilton and served it with some Focaccia and a lovely fresh salad. The recipe is a bit long winded, especially as it involves whisking egg whites, but it is definitely worth the hard work. You can find a review of the recipe by following this link. Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall calls this recipe a Spouffle - such a great word! I think I might be ready to progress to a proper cheese soufflé next time!   I am home alone for the next few days as Andy has been away at a music festival since Wednesday and Charlie flew off for an exciting holiday to the Far East yesterday. It always takes me a couple of days to get used to being on my own and I wander around a bit lost for the first day, but it soon becomes second nature to potter about on my lonesome - and at least the house stays beautifully tidy! The weather is set to be really warm this weekend so I am planning to meet my friend Sally for supper tomorrow and I will probably spend the rest of my weekend in the garden. I have the workshop project that I will be tutoring in France in a few weeks time to complete and have a bit of prep to do for the events at Black Sheep Wools next week, so there will definitely be a spot of crochet involved in my weekend too.  image courtesy of @woollychic  image courtesy of @woollychic My friend Helen Ingram of Woolly Chic is organising another one of her lovely Summer Craft Parties at the Lavender Fields in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. I am disappointed that the date of her party (June 30th) clashes with my workshop trip to France but I hope to be able to go next year. If you are interested in going along to this lovely event you can find more information on Helen's website here.  I was introduced to UPPERCASE magazine by my friend Jo recently. The publication is aimed at 'the creative and curious inspired by craft, design, typography and illustration'. Published since 2009, the magazine has an enthusiastic and loyal readership of designers, illustrators, craftspeople, creative entrepreneurs and paper lovers around the world. With high quality production values and a unique design aesthetic, the content of each issue is 'eclectic and inspiring'. You can find more information about UPPERCASE by following this link.  My friend Jan sent me a link to this article about May Morris. It is an easy to read piece that focuses on May's personal life more than her professional one. I recommend it. I hope that wherever you are, and whatever you have planned that you will have a great weekend and that you stay safe. Janie x  As usual it has been a busy couple of weeks here at Janie Crow. I have been working on the new techniques book alongside Sarah who is making many of the crochet samples. I have embraced the challenge of writing step-by-step instructions for stitch formations I haven't met before and have enjoyed sampling some of the pieces, especially the more decorative crochet samples, such as beaded edgings and crochet flowers. Next week I will be moving on to write the chapter about Finishing Techniques (one of my favourite things to do in crochet) so I am looking forward to that.  I have been putting the finishing touches to a shawl design for the Spirit of Flora crochet along, which continues to run in Inside Crochet Magazine. I have also been finalising a few workshops projects, so all in all, a pretty busy time, especially as the plants in the garden are now going full throttle and need our daily attention. What a joy it is to be back out in the garden again! The prospect of peonies blooming in abundance is making me particularly happy! I hope that whatever you have been up to and no matter what you have planned for the next couple of days as we head into yet another Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, you can find a bit of time to catch up with all things Janie Crow.   Thank you for the amazing response to Fiori. We have kits back in stock alongside some for Fruit Garden Love Is Enough and Parchment and Caramel.    We have kits for The Blue House, Primavera and Sandalwood as well as the Summer Palace Original colourway, which is in stock for the first time in almost a year!     The process of publishing crochet patterns is a long-winded affair. It involves creating a design in the first place, copious hand written notes, word documents, test crocheters and Tech Editors. In the final stages it also involves translators, photographers, stylists and graphic designers. Creating a pattern can take months from start to finish and the work can pass through many hands before a final document heads off to the printer and a download version gets posted.  Whilst I pride myself on the quality of my patterns, every now and again little things get missed. A case in point is my Indigo Dreams design, which was inspired by a kantha stitched quilt I found in India a few years ago. Whilst the original pattern instructions should not hinder the process of crocheting this beautiful blanket in any big way, we realised there were places where the charts had incorrect keys and an asterisk or two needed moving. On the US version there was also a round where the instructions had been left in UK terms, so we have spent the last few weeks meticulously checking through the pattern.  We have uploaded a revised copy on Ravelry and will ensure that all future print runs of the pattern are of the revised copy. Unfortunately we cannot replace existing purchases, but if you have a pattern and want to see where we have made changes, head over to the web site to access a downloadable errata document. We totally understand how frustrating these small blips in a pattern can be and apologise for any inconvenience caused.  The Crochet Guild of Australia will celebrate their National Crochet Conference in just over a week. My great friend Dedri Uys of Look at What I Made will be at the show and I am disappointed not to have made it too - unfortunately the logistics of such a big trip did not work out for me this year, but hopefully I will get to go another time. I am really pleased that despite me not being able to attend the conference this year my best selling design, Persian Tiles will be making its debut as a kit using an Australian brand of yarn. The exclusive kits, which also feature some other Janie Crow and Emma Ball merchandise, will be on sale at the show and there are also some in stock on a pre-sale basis on The Stitchy Witches website. I am incredibly grateful to Patty and Mercury at Stitchy Witches who have worked really hard to create these lovely exclusive kits which also include a limited edition tote bag and a signed postcard. There are just 7 kits left in stock online, so if you are in Australia and fancy treating yourself to a kit do take a look.  I love seeing images of your projects out in the wild and always enjoy it when you have created your own colouways of my designs. The Eastern Jewels version of my Persian Tiles blanket, which was created by Lucia Dunn a few years ago continues to inspire many of you to create versions of this blanket using lots of lovely colours. Rosie Coles recently sent me the image above of her lovely interpretation which uses Semilla GOTS certified wool. I am sure that it is lovely, warm and luxurious made in a fabulous natural fibre.  Some of you may already know that as well as working for Janie Crow, Sarah writes regular columns for Knitting Magazine. She hosts their Yarn Reviews, Top Tips and 'Ask Sarah' column. More recently she has started to write features as well and this month sees her discussing how craft is being used to raise awareness of climate change as well as combat the stress of this massive subject. Sarah is using a stitch project to record the highest and lowest temperatures in Birmingham on a daily basis. This prompted her to look at how other crafts have been recording this kind of data. The feature describes how and why crafters are recording data and the impact this is having on its audiences. She has been amazed by the creativity and community that has evolved globally. The effects of climate change can feel overwhelming at times and leave us feeling helpless by the enormity of it all. Sarah goes on to suggest that craft can be used to help keep our focus on the here and now rather than racing too far ahead, as well as outlining ways to start your own project. Knitting Magazine Issue 243 is now on sale. You can find download copies here.  As a thank you for your continued support over on Instagram, which has recently led us to reach the 100k followers mark, I am excited to reveal the free download pattern that followers can access for the course of this weekend. The pattern for a Beaded Crochet Pouch is live now. You can follow the link in bio from our Instagram page to download the pattern. Please note that the pattern is only available via Instagram, so if you are not a follower already you will need to head over there and sign up. The pattern will only be there for the duration of this weekend and the Bank Holiday Monday, so make sure you download and save it as it will not be available from Monday evening onwards. The project uses Stylecraft Organic Cotton DK in 5 shades and beads in 4 shades, but you can use as many or as few as you fancy, especially as it is a great stash buster. Instructions for placing beads into stitches are included in the pattern, but if you want some visual guidance on how to work beaded crochet check out the videos on our YouTube channel. Please share our Instagram post to your friends and followers so that they also get the chance to get their hands on this free pattern and don't forget - it will disappear in a plume of smoke and turn into a pumpkin like Cinderella’s coach at Midnight (UK time) on Monday. Happy Bank Holiday everyone!   The latest issue (number 158) of Inside Crochet Magazine was released yesterday and in perfect keeping with the Chelsea Flower Show happening this week, and in a move that was definitely, absolutely, planned and not in any way a fabulous coincidence, the name of the new block for the Spirit of Flora CAL is called Chelsea! William De Morgan was enthralled by Persian design and spent a long period of his creative life making tiles that echoed an ‘Arabesque’ style. When designing this motif, I wanted to try and capture a similar feeling by using the blue and cream shades on the border.  Of course that doesn’t mean I’m suggesting you have use those colours for your block as I’m excited to see how Chelsea looks in the incredible colours we are seeing you use for your own projects.There are some absolutely wonderful projects taking shape so do have a look at the #spiritofflora hashtag on Instagram – as always there is so much inspiration to be found there. Big thanks to Inside Crochet Magazine, Leanne Dixon photography and Claire Montgomerie for the gorgeous photographs.  It has been a while since we had a show & tell on our Facebook page so, hoping that a lovely sunny weekend had inspired some serious crafting recently, we asked what you had on your hooks or needles. You can see some of the wonderful projects below, beginning with Susan Johnson's Fields of Gold looking absolutely resplendent in the photo.  Next up is Julia Hill's Crimson Dreams blanket, made from yarns she already had. We're thinking Julia must have quite an impressive stash!  Henny Fiserova has started work on Persian Tiles in blue, but has been advised by her doctor to rest her hand for at least a couple of weeks. Wishing you a speedy return to your crochet, Henny.  Finally, Denise Meldrum has only been crocheting for a couple of months but she is almost halfway through the Mystical Lanterns pattern. Lovely work, Denise.  Many more of you shared images of your beautiful work - too many for us to show here, but thank you to everyone who contributed a photo. We do love seeing your work, especially the ways you use colour to really individualise your projects and it's also great to hear that some of you are making up your own kits from your stash yarn.  This week Gemma's recipe recommendation is this one for Harissa Cauliflower Pilaf which contains a lovely combination of fruit, nuts and spice, together with delicious roasted cauliflower.  It looks like a really interesting combination of flavours and textures. Click on the image above to find the recipe over on the BBC Good Food website.  We love reading about younger people taking up crafting, after all how many of us wish we had started so much earlier? We came across this article about Miah Henley, from Rayleigh in Essex, who learnt to crochet at the age of 10, before setting up her own business selling her crochet makes through a Facebook page in 2020. This led to her being nominated and subsequently winning the Entrepreneur of the Year award at her district council's business awards. You can see some of Miah's makes in the image below and find her Facebook page here.  Image copyright Miah Henley A couple of weeks ago the coronation of King Charles lll took place at Westminster Abbey and to coincide with this event yarn bombers around the country did themselves proud with an amazing array of post box toppers and other coronation themed yarn offerings! We were particularly impressed with the 37 post box toppers made by The Secret Society of Hertford Crafters, especially with the first topper (shown below) into which they have incorporated yarny versions of some of their own members!   The village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire became home to a giant knitted King Charles, complete with gardening supplies should he get bored!    Last weekend Andy and I joined a group of friends to complete the Big Fun Walk to help raise funds for The North London Hospice - a charity very close to our hearts as they cared so incredibly for Andy's sister Julie before she passed away last year.  The route of the 8.5 mile walk took us through many of London's wonderful parks and we walked past lots of landmarks on the way, including Buckingham Palace and we felt really proud to be presented with our medals at the end - even the dogs, Luna and Willow got one! As the evenings are getting longer and I have a little more spare time, I have been trying to get to the gym or go for a walk most days this week. It always surprises me just how therapeutic walking is and how often I find have sorted out lots of problems in my head while walking. It could be that a crochet pattern that has been perplexing me suddenly falls into place, or that I manage to sort out the logistics of some plans, or maybe it just makes me feel calmer and more at peace.  The Peonies in the garden are almost in bloom Tomorrow I am planning to take a trip into town to see what is going on in the shops. I often find inspiration for projects from current interior trends, so I am looking forward to having a mooch around Anthropologie, John Lewis and Liberty. Going into town will also give me a good walk. For the remaining part of the weekend I am planning to potter around in the garden and make the most of the sunshine, something that is incredibly welcome after months a grey and wet weather here in North London. I hope that whatever your plans are, that you have great weekend and that you are able to enjoy an extra day off on Monday. I will be back in your inbox in a couple of weeks time with the June update when I hope to have news of a couple of new projects. Keep well.... Janie x    We are excited to finally have kits for our revamped Fiori blanket in stock! Fiori was a collaborative project between myself and Lucia Dunn of @luciasfigtree. The original design is Fields of Gold and the new colour palette was chosen by Lucia, using a trip to the her home in the Dolomites, Italy as inspiration.  The original kit used a limited edition yarn, but because of this we struggled to keep up with the demand for kits for this beautiful project. This newer version uses 16 shades of Stylecraft yarn instead and is as colourful as you’d expect from a palette where Lucia is involved! The kits are now available on the website and include all the yarn you need for the project, the printed Fields of Gold pattern, a printed yarn substitution brochure and a Janie Crow sew in label. Lucia will also have the yarn substitution document available on her website soon, so do go and have a visit there within the next week or so if you would rather not get a kit.   Here’s a top tip for a Friday (or indeed any day really) – get a cup of your favourite tea and have a browse of this hashtag: #spiritofflora over on Instagram. Your photos are glorious! They are a riot of colour and now that there are a few different blocks, it’s especially lovely seeing how you are beginning to group them. Some of you clever people have already made complete projects and it’s amazing to see your colour schemes and how they give the project such a different look and feel to mine. From calm pastels to vibrant jewel colours and everything in between, what an absolute treat to see all the different interpretations. Thank you so much for continuing to share your delight in this project, it was a long time in the making and to see it keeping you busy and happy is just wonderful. Don’t forget to tag us in with the same hashtag when you post your photos.  This time 2 years ago we were preparing for our daughter’s wedding. It’s amazing how fast the time has gone since and I often find myself wishing I could re-live the day. It was just so fabulous! I wanted some of my crochet to be involved in Summer and Chris’s big day, but as Sum didn’t want a crochet wedding dress I made do with some small touches instead and created a beaded doily to go under the wedding cake and some crochet covers for the willow trees we decorated the tables with. I used an image from Ravelry as a guide for my doily but changed the stitch count and added a shorter fan edging with beads.  As crochet plays such a large part in our lives, it’s natural that we want to include it in our very special events. Many of you have created amazing shawls or wraps to compliment a wedding outfit and we were delighted to meet Briony (above) at Wonderwool this year. Briony’s mum crocheted that incredible version of the Climbing Rose Wrap for her winter wedding. Briony explained that her wedding had a wool and words theme as she is a published author who loves yarn – check out her page @brionymarshallauthor and have a look at her books; Unravelled is likely to appeal to many of us, you’ll see why!   Crocheted wedding items are inevitably going to be treasured and kept for many years. Julie’s Bunting adds a gorgeous elegance to a garden party and with delicate lace and beads is very much in keeping with summer weddings outside. We love the idea of this pretty decoration being stored and brought out to decorate special events for years to come.  If you can face it, favours are an amazing way to bring crochet into a wedding celebration. We say 'if you can face it' since they are often required in large numbers! Kate @just_pootling is a master of this – please do go and look at her work if you’ve not seen it. The photo above is of the 140 penguins (!!!) she made for her daughter’s wedding. Incredible stuff! We received some great feedback on this topic when we talked about it on Instagram this week, with lots of people telling us about things they had made for weddings, including quite a few who had made place settings and doilies like me and others who had made mandalas and bunting. Lizelle said she made 100 doilies for the wedding tables that were then made into a keepsake blanket and Agitha told us she was busy crocheting her own wedding dress! Amazing!  We still have some kits in stock for the Magic circles scarf shown above and below. We have added a new shade in place of the discontinued one. You can find a short video that shows the colours in better light by following this link to Instagram.  We will also have kits for the Sandalwood version of Persian Tiles and lots of items from our Emma Ball and Janie Crow collaborative range.  I was looking back through our posts on Instagram from the last year and realised that it has been almost a year since we hit 50k followers, which means that our following has almost doubled in the space of year. How amazing is that! Having Emma on board to help me with Instagram over the last 12 months has been fabulous and I am really grateful to her for getting me organised so that between us we can post beautiful content more often. I think we have created a really lovely space on our feed, where we can all share our passion for our craft and what goes on in the world around us as we happily hook! Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get to 100k followers in time for the last bank holiday weekend in May. I know this is a tall order, but I am thinking that If we were to manage to get another 1500 followers over the next 2 weeks or so we could celebrate with an extra special free download pattern that would be available exclusively to my Instagram followers over the bank holiday weekend. If you love our feed and would like to get your friends involved, or you simply want to get your hands on an exclusive free pattern, why not help us get to 100k by inviting your instagram friends to follow us. I’m dangling a little carrot in front of your noses by sharing the image above which shows a tiny snippet of the beaded crochet project we will treat our Instagram followers to if we reach 100k by the end of the month. We are so nearly there and I am really grateful to all those of you who have shared our feed over the last couple of weeks and invited your friends and followers to follow us too!  Last week I had a couple of fabulous days away with my amazing friend Jo who invited me to stay with her in Bath. We had the best time, drinking lots of coffee, eating yummy food and chatting a lot.   On Thursday afternoon we went to a fantastic workshop at The Bath Flower School, where we each made a bouquet to be proud of. Honestly it was the best couple of hours under the guidance of our tutor, the very knowledgeable (and super nice) Saffy.  The Flower School runs lots of amazing courses, aimed at rookies like me, right through to professionals and their range of workshops all sound wonderful. If you’re in the Bath area, or just want to follow a lovely looking feed on Instagram with lots of floral inspiration, then do take a look @thebathflowerschool You can see a pic of my bouquet (taken by Jo), lower down this email.  Last week on Instagram we showcased the exquisite use of colour by a favourite maker of ours here at Janie Crow, Lizzie Montgomery.  If you take a look at her fabulous feed you will see how Lizzie’s perfect eye for colour has transformed my designs, including Fields of Gold, The Blue House, Persian Tiles, Climbing Rose Wrap and Magic Circles.  Please treat yourself to a browse of Lizzie’s page because there is so much inspirational stuff to see on there! Her posts are always beautiful and it is wonderful to see so many fabulous interpretations of my patterns, along side so many other wonderful images.  Emma and I catch up weekly to talk about Instagram posts mostly, but we also end up chatting about all sorts of everything and she mentioned this week that she has gone a bit bonkers about the blossom this year. Emma says she has been loving the school run of late as her drive takes her through some beautiful countryside and it’s especially gorgeous at the moment because the blossom on the trees is absolutely glorious.  Emma's Apple Blossom Emma says: 'The cherry blossom is always so pretty at this time of year but but even that seems extra special this year – possibly a little past it’s peak now, it’s still a total joy to visit an avenue local to me which is lined on both sides with beautiful trees in full pink bloom. Little blossoms falling like confetti when it’s windy. Since hearing a radio article back in February telling us we could expect some spectacular blossom this year, I’ve been really looking forward to seeing what the trees produce. Even in our own small back garden, our little apple tree is giving us the most beautiful show of pink and white blossom and hopefully the promise of some lovely fruit to come. I have read up on the RHS website and the reason the blossom is so abundant this year is that we had the perfect combination of intense heat last summer and a frosty February: apparently deep-rooted trees LOVE this. The buds have had plenty of cold weather which they need to release them to flower once spring warms up. The cold has also ensured that the fruit trees haven’t flowered too early, which is good as it means they are more likely to escape any late spring frost that can prevent fruit forming.' Whilst walking back from a trip into town a couple of weeks ago Andy and I were really struck by the cherry blossom on the trees on our street. They are stunning every spring, but, as Emma says, they seem particularly abundant and full this year. I took the image below at about 10pm so it isn't the clearest of shots, but it gives you an idea of just how full the tree was.  Cherry Blossom When I start to think about a new design I am invariably inspired by flowers. I love looking at tessellating patterns and adore the whole mathematic side of crochet, but if I had a choice I would list floral crochet as my favourite pass time.  I had such a lovely time last week at the @thebathflowerschool and it was such a joy to have an array of flowers to choose for our bouquets. In fact Saffy instructed us to choose 20 flowers and accompanying foliage for our arrangements, so it was a couple of hours of heaven for me and I really love the bouquet I made even though it was too big for me to carry home from Bath on the train. Jo has been sending me pics of how it has been looking over the last week - including the fab pic above. Over the weekend I spent a lovely hour or so putting together a new flower orientated Pinterest Board. I find Pinterest such a great place to pull together images for mood boards and can easily spend hours on the site looking at gloriously inspiring images.   Jo is also a huge flower fan and so it was brilliant to discuss plants, trees and crochet inspiration with her for a few days last week. She is such a colourful person and spending time in her wonderful flat, surrounded by her eclectic taste and vibrant possessions was a real tonic.   At this time of year, as we start to emerge from the grey of winter, it can almost feel overwhelming to find such beauty and colour around us, but as the summer months pass it can also be easy to take it for granted. The summer time is all too short here in the UK so I am hoping to get out and about in nature as much as possible this year.   There are still some 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 think I have told you this before - May is the month for birthdays in our family. Our niece, Helen was 17 on Tuesday (the same day as my Mum and Dad celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary!) and our daughter, Summer will celebrate her birthday next Tuesday on the same day as my Dad. Our nephew Dan will be 14 on the 26th, the same day as our cousin Alexi celebrates his birthday and I have mine at the end of the month so there is always a lot of cake and celebrating for us this month.  We are going away for a few days to visit Andy's Dad down in the New Forest this weekend so I have made Summer's birthday cake to take with us. I used this Lemon Drizzle recipe but made it in 2 round tins and added some lemon curd and icing to make it extra special.  I have recently worked alongside my fabulous Graphic Designer, Steph, to create a new Janie Crow catalogue which is available to download here. Having a browse through the catalogue is a great way to see the Janie Crow collection in one place and it includes some background information about the designs. Steph has made it all look so lovely and I am incredibly pleased with it. We have sent the file off to print, so we should have some physical copies within the next couple of weeks.  If you head over to the website over the next couple of days you will notice that we have added a note to say that we are unable to dispatch orders until next week. This is because Andy and Charlie got unexpectedly held up after (what was supposed to be) a short trip to Ibiza this week for a music festival. They were meant to come home on Tuesday, but their flight home was cancelled and they were unable to get back until yesterday. As Andy looks after most of the orders on the web site (and as we are visiting family this weekend) we think it is likely that orders will take a little longer than expected to be dispatched, so please be patient. Normal service will resume next week.  Will you be watching Eurovision on Saturday? We know it's corny, but as a family we are big fans of the show so we will definitely be watching it whilst cheering and dancing along! We haven't been away as a family for a while so I am really looking forward to us all being together for a few days and hope that we will get to do some walking in the New Forest and visit the beach. It is so beautiful down there. Of course I will be taking my crochet hooks along with me too! I hope that wherever you are, and whatever you have planned that you will have a great weekend and that you stay safe. Janie x  |
AuthorWelcome to my blog. Here you will find my email newsletter archive alongside any other general musings or information about events or new pattern releases that I wish to share with you! Archives
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