Thank you all for the great response to The Blue House blanket, which I show cased here last month. It has been a real frustration for us to not be able to put yarn kits together for this project as we are still waiting for lots of shades of Life DK to come back into stock, but it has been so good to see many of you doing a bit of stash diving and creating your own colour ways of the design. You can find more information about the design lower down this email.

Last week I designed a vertical half motif for my Mystical Lanterns pattern. I have posted this on my blog so that those of you who want to make a project with straight vertical side edges can do so. The blog post includes step-by-step images and instructions, but you will need the original pattern to make the main Mystical Lanterns motifs and the horizontal half motifs. I hope this will help those of you who have been asking for this half motif for the last few years!
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Yesterday evening textile designer Lizzie Montgomery shared the image below of her version of my Magic Circles blanket on Instagram. Isn't it just a beauty? I love Lizzie's colour choices and so seeing this one as I headed off to bed really made my day!
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I adore the fun ‘fiesta’ feeling of this blanket and am really pleased with the outcome of it, but I also love seeing how motifs can be used to make alternative projects, so I asked ace crocheters Marina Kelly, Gemma Biggs and Sue Macdonald if they would like to come up with a couple of ideas for how to use the motifs in another project. Within this pattern we have included some images of the fabulous cushion project made by Marina and the vibrant handy bag project made by Gemma as well as the fun, stash busting mandala that Sue created. I love seeing my designs ‘out in the wild’ and I think the way Marina, Gemma and Sue have interpreted the pattern is fantastic. Hopefully you will be inspired too!
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I love seeing my designs made in alternative shades. The blanket versions shown above have been made by Lex Priestly (above top right) and Chris Bourne (above bottom right).
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I have been doing a bit of spring cleaning as the change in light has highlighted my need to do a little bit more housework! I am not a big fan of weekly cleaning chores, but I actually enjoy a good spring clean and love seeing the results of a good declutter!
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Marina Kelly is one of my prized test crocheters, but she is also a very talented crochet jewellery designer and I am very lucky that she has given me permission to add five necklaces from her new collection to the web site. 
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Andy has been busy seeking out exciting new products for his Just Knots web site. He has found some really fabulous things, including the range of project bags, needle cases and hook wraps from Della Q.
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The canvas makers bags have proved particularly popular and we have struggled to keep them in stock, but parcels are arriving weekly and we are updating the stock as often as we can.

All the bags in the Della Q range have lots of great pockets and some include a pouch with a clear side so that you can refer to your pattern without spoiling it on a journey. They also have integrated yarn guides and stitch markers and other features perfect for crafters on the move.
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Hopefully you didn't miss the fact that yesterday was World Earth Day. I found quite a few emails in my inbox asking me to sign petitions and take some action. If you want to do something too then you might want to take a look at a couple of the links I have included here.
 
‘This is not a one time thing. This is our entire future'. Greta Thunberg. 
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The weather has been much brighter over the last 10 days and thankfully it looks like the threat of snow has gone, although I think the north of the country could still get a bit more as the temperature is not rising very quickly and we are still having quite cold mornings. We are hoping it will stay relatively nice as we are planning a family get together in the garden tomorrow afternoon. Despite the cool temperatures it has been so nice to spend time together outside.
 
I am planning to do some step-by-step photography for the new CAL project next week and so I was silly excited to have been able to secure an appointment to have my nails done earlier today. It feels very indulgent after more than a year with terribly neglected nails. I don’t have a hair appointment until the 1st May, so another week to wait for that - I never thought I would be so excited by the prospect of having my hair and nails done!

The garden plans are coming on nicely. Andy has built the footings for the new shed, which will link through from the summer house and we have dug over a new vegetable patch. The seedlings are all thriving in the sunshine in the conservatory, but as we are still having light frosts overnight very little has made it out into the garden except the potato tubers, which were planted last weekend.

It is Andy's birthday next week so I am thinking of doing a bit of baking on Sunday, although he has yet to decide what type of cake he would like. A couple of weeks ago I made an 8 strand plaited loaf from a Paul Hollywood recipe. I tested the plaiting out with string first as I know it's something all the contestants on The Great British Bake Off struggle with!
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I designed the Mystical Lanterns motif in 2016 in between working on my first two CAL projects for Stylecraft (Lily Pond and Frida's Flowers blankets). It has always been a really popular design and it is a real joy to see the project motifs being made in lots of fabulous colour combinations.

The first version of the pattern I realised was for a triangular shawl, so I designed a horizontal half motif to ensure that the shawl had one straight edge at the top. The Ogee shape of the motif gave the shawl a really nice sloped edge so I was more than happy with the outcome of the design. The horizontal half motif was also used in a blanket version a little later on so that it had two straight edges.

I am often asked if I have plans to add a vertical half motif to the design as some of you would like to create projects with straight edges on all sides of a project. I love the wavy edges on the blanket, but I know this is not to everyones taste, so I have finally got around to making an alternative vertical half motif and you can find the instructions below.

The step by step instructions for how too make this half motif are only available here on the blog - they do not feature in the download or printed pattern.

​If you want to find the original patterns for this motif you can find the blanket pattern by following this link. The shawl pattern by following this link and the scarf pattern by following this link.

I have made my sample using a 4mm hook and DK weight yarn in 4 shades.

INSTRUCTIONS (UK terms)

Note: All rows are RS facing - do not turn.

Using your first shade of yarn make 7ch, join with a ss to form a ring.
Foundation Row: 4ch (counts as 1tr & 1ch), [3tr into ring, 3ch] twice, 3tr into ring, 1ch, 1tr into ring, fasten off. (11sts & 4 ch-sps)

Row 1: Join your next shade of yarn into 1ch-sp made at beginning of last round by working 1ch + 2ch (counts as 1tr), 3tr into same ch-sp, 1ch, * [3tr, 3ch, 3tr] into next ch-sp, 1ch; repeat from * 4tr into next ch-sp, fasten off. (20sts & 5 ch-sps)

Row 2: Join your next shade of yarn into top of first tr made at beginning of last row by working 1ch + 5ch (counts as 6ch), working back along 6ch just made skip next ch, 1dc into each next 2ch, 3tr into (same) st at base of 6ch, 3tr into next ch-sp, [3tr, 3dtr] into next ch-sp, dtr3tog into next ch-sp, [3dtr, 3tr] into next ch-sp, 3tr into next ch-sp, skip 3sts, 3tr into next st (this is the final st made on the last row), 3ch, working back along 3ch just made skip next ch, 1dc into each next 2ch, ss into (same) st at base of 3ch, fasten off. 

Row 3: Join your next shade of yarn into the skipped ch at motif 'tip' by working 1ch, 1dc into same ch, 1dc into each next 10sts, 2dc into next st, 1dc into each next 3sts, 3dc into next st (this is the st that sits just before the top of the dtr3tog made on previous row), 1dc into each next 3sts, 2dc into next st, 1dc into each next 10sts, 1dc into skipped ch at end of row, fasten off. (35sts)

You should find that these motifs join in with your main motifs nicely and that the addition of a border along the side of the motifs will help straighten the 'raw' edge out a little and prevent it from looking quite so wonky! I estimate that you need to work 23sts along the side edge of each half motif when adding a border. I would probably work as follows, but I haven't tried it so you may need to do a bit of jiggling about to make it work:

1st into side of dc made on Row 3
2sts to correspond with next 2dc made at tip on Row 2
2sts along side of next tr made on same row (Row 2)
3sts along side of tr made on Row 2
3sts into next ch-sp made on Foundation Row
1st  into ring
3sts into next ch-sp made on Foundation Row
3sts along side of tr made on Row 2
2sts along side of next tr made on Row 2
2sts to correspond with next 2dc made at tip on same row (Row 2)
1st into side of final dc made on Row 3

I hope this goes some way to help those of you who are fans of straight edges! I do plan to revisit the Mystical Lanterns design at some point and will probably add in this vertical half motif to my project too. I am notoriously slow though, so don't hold your breath in the hope of seeing my completed project before you do yours!

Janie x