I am writing this email still sat in my sweater and comfy warm joggers, hoping that the next few weeks will finally see some continued warm weather. At least the sun is shining and the days are longer, so I am happy, despite the chilly nip still in the air here in the UK.
 
Emma and I have been very busy putting the final touches to our Zero to Granny crochet course for beginners and hope to get it all packaged up and ready for you to access for free via our YouTube channel and our website next week. It has taken us far longer to sort out than we envisaged as we wanted to get it just right and cover all the bases of learning. Emma has been going through her videos and the accompanying documents with a fine tooth comb to ensure we have covered all the bases and we are really looking forward to sharing it with you.
 
We have some more kits back in stock this week and Gemma has done a great job adding some fab items to this Quick Catch Up email, so I hope you have a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow!  

We now have yarn packs for the Spirit of Flora project too. You can also purchase the printed patterns as a set or cherry pick patterns for the motifs you like best. I think it would be lovely to see items made from some of the repeated blocks and you could always use some of the free patterns (also used in our Temperature Blanket Crochet Along project) to create your own unique layout.

Over on Instagram two lucky followers won the Letto crochet hooks that I told you about in last month's Quick Catch Up. Congratulations to @peterb195 and @crochetmad_e. 
 
If you've not discovered these gorgeous hooks as yet, do pop over to @lettoworkshop and have a browse, they really are works of art.⁠

Over on Facebook Gemma kicked off a bank holiday weekend ‘Show & Tell’ with her up to date temperature blanket and a completed beaded pouch that has been in progress for about six months! 
 
Fiona Dobson is also up to date with her temperature blanket. Well done Fiona, we love your colour choices.

We think a furry pooch has already laid claim to Jennifer Haley's almost finished Fruit Garden blanket! Fabulous work Jennifer. ​

If you don't already follow our social media channels you can find links at the bottom of this email. Do come and join us! ​

​We can't believe we missed this earlier in the year, but we just found this article about a giant crochet doily that was a part of this year's Turner Prize winning installation ‘Alter Altar’ by Jasleen Kaur. Crochet teacher Rachael Mills, from Blackburn, created a 5 metre (16 feet) wide doily to cover a vintage red Ford Escort. 
 
There's no clue in the article as to how long it took Rachael to crochet the doily, but it must have been quite some undertaking. Isn't it incredible?

We're very excited to be exhibiting at Wonderwool Wales this weekend. We will be in our usual position on stand W1 in Hall 3. 
 
Tickets for the show are still available and you can find them by following this link. Sarah, Paul, Andy and myself love being at this show and it would be fabulous to see you there! 

Gemma has been so busy working on her Bohemian Blooms blanket, and doing the Easter school holiday juggling, that she hasn't had a chance to test out the book she has chosen for April, but here's a sneak peek. She's continuing the theme of stash-busting with this month's book ‘Crochet Makes From Scrap Cakes’ by Naomi Vincent. 
 
Keep on eye on the blog here, for the upcoming post, and in the meantime you can take a look at the other books Gemma has reviewed over the last few months.
 
If you like the look of the book and want your own copy, you can get a 20% discount and free postage by using the code DD88 at checkout on the Search Press website here. 

Gemma here again, to tell you about my latest Bohemian Blooms progress. Last month I had managed to join three sides and just had two more Fitzroy motifs to make to enable me to add on that fourth side. 
 
I'm pleased to report that the Fitzroy motifs are finished, ends and all, and the fourth side has been added to the blanket. Not only that, but I went one step further and also managed to join the two Bloomsbury motifs (that I made some time ago), to opposite ends of the blanket. All that leaves is two more Bloomsbury motifs, to which I can then join the remaining Omega motifs. Those two strips will then be attached to the other ends of the blanket and I will be ready to start on the border. 

I promised to reveal my little mistake this month:
 
I wonder if anyone spotted that I placed my Fitzroy and Gordon motifs upside down! Having noticed of course meant that I could pretend it had been completely deliberate and make sure that all of them were joined that way, so it wasn't a disaster by any means. 
 
I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but quite often, when I think to myself that I need to be careful about something I'm about to do, I go ahead and do it wrong anyway! 
 
The eagle-eyed amongst you may also notice that my Virginia motifs on the corners aren't all in the same orientation, despite this being mentioned in the book as something to take care over. I think I just get carried away with the excitement of putting things together! 

This month's target will be to make the two remaining Bloomsbury motifs, join the Omega motifs to the ends, and attach the edging strips to the blanket, ready to get going on the border the following month. 
 
The final blanket will definitely need a gentle blocking as there are a few slightly bulgy areas where the pieces have been quite tight to fit together, but finishing at this time of the year should work well for that, with the warmer weather helping the blanket to dry reasonably quickly. 
 
I'll be back in May with my next update! 

​Broccoli is one of Gemma's favourite vegetables, but she sometimes finds it a bit of a hard sell to the family (well the husband anyway), however she says that there is one sure way to get everyone happily eating it and that is by smothering it in cheese sauce, especially a blue cheese variety! Think cauliflower cheese but with broccoli instead, although if she has both in stock Gemma makes this with both veggies at the same time. 
 
It also works well with macaroni added in to make a pasta bake and, if there are any bread crusts hanging around, Gemma will make a breadcrumb topping to finish it off too. 
 
You can find a simple recipe for this yummy dish on the Riverford website here or click on the image below.

​Andy and I are nearing the end of our eight week diet and fitness programme and are now craving a time when we don't have to think about everything we put in our mouths or ensure we cram enough cardio into our days! That said, the course has definitely made us far more aware about the perils of over processed food and just how many calories there are in everyday things. Being a little more active has also reaped lots of benefits already and there are definitely some aspects of the programme that we hope to continue going forwards.
 
We will be away at Wonderwool Wales this weekend and are really looking forward to being amongst yarn lovers for a few days. We will be setting up the stand as you read this newsletter and I am hoping to post some images of the show on social media, so please do be sure to check it out!
 
Until next time, stay safe and enjoy your knitting and crochet! 

Good morning! Gemma here, checking in with the latest temperature blanket news. I managed to get up to date over the Easter break and I'm back into my routine of crocheting a round each day. We've had some unseasonably warm days this month and so buttermilk and copper have been putting in an appearance. Is it just me who gets ridiculously excited every time a new colour comes in to play?

I have realised that this month, there will be 5 full weeks in between floral squares and so this has required some thought. For those of you who will be deciding on your layout and joining your squares at the end of the project this won't impact you. For those of us who have decided to use the join-as-you-go method it might affect you this month.

Up until now, I have paused crocheting mid way through squares in order to make the floral square at the end of the month, once I have the temperature information needed, and joined it before continuing with the square that straddled the end of one month and the beginning of the next. That way I have been able to achieve my preferred layout of having four plain squares, then a floral square. This month, however, I will be able to complete a full fifth square before having the monthly high and low and average temperature for the April floral square. The first day of April completed the first square I joined this month, after the March floral square. I then have another four full weeks, ending on the 29th April, so another four plain squares. 

​So, in order to not disrupt my layout, my plan of action is as follows...

I will work the fifth plain square, ending on the 29th April up to the penultimate round and set it aside. On the 30th April, I will be able to make the floral square and join this straight on to my blanket, followed by the square I have set aside. Then I will start the next plain square on the 30th April too, ready to continue working on in the first week of May. Phew, I hope that makes some sense! 

As we've not long to go until the end of the month Emma has been extremely efficient and provided me with the May temperature recording chart, which you can find here. 

Don't forget to share your progress with us using the hashtag #janiecrowtempblanket25...

​Bye for now! 

So here we are in April, with Easter just around the corner! The weather has been bright and sunny, if not a little chilly still, and the garden is full of beautiful tulips and a few remaining daffodils, so I am happy!
 
I have had a busy couple of weeks again, with a lovely workshop trip to Switzerland in the mix and lots of exercise and fresh air, plus a good dose of yarny fun too! I hope that you have been having a lovely time lately too and that life is treating you well. I also hope that you have a few minutes to catch up with this month's news from Janie Crow! 

We have partnered with the fantastic team at Wool Warehouse to create a yarn kit for my Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles using their gorgeous YARNSMITHS Merino DK Superwash yarn. You can find the kit here.
 
To celebrate the release of this fabulous kit, which contains all the yarn and the printed yarn substitution document, you can currently get 40% off the price and save yourself more than £60! 
 
As the colour palette in the YARNSMITHS Merino DK Superwash is so large (with 120 colours to choose from) this version of the blanket is pretty much identical to my original version, which was made using Stylecraft Yarns - you can find a link to the original kit lower down this email. 
 
The new kits, that use the Merino DK yarn, have been selling really fast, so if they are out of stock by the time you head over to the Wool Warehouse website, be sure to register your interest by clicking on the Wish List icon.

The Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles was inspired by a trip I made there a couple of years ago, when I was lucky enough to visit the stunning gardens that surround the Yves Saint Laurent Museum. I was blown away by the incredible colours, shapes and patterns contained within its walls.
 
Le Jardin Marjorelle was created by French artist Jacques Marjorelle over the course of almost four decades from 1923 and was later purchased by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé who restored and maintained it to create the incredible location it is today.

The Marrakesh blanket also features on some new tins within the Emma Ball range, you can find them by following this link.
 
This week we have also added a new bone china mug and a draw string bag design to the range. They both feature my pretty beaded flowers and decorations and I am really happy with how they have turned out! 

I found an abundance of inspirational surface pattern, including the Giacometti murals in the entrance hall of the police station, stained glass windows by Marc Chagall and some made using agate designed by Sigmar Polka in the Grossmünster. We also saw lots of murals painted on buildings and pretty spring flowers – the weather was fabulous too! ​

Andy has recently discovered an app called ReciMe that allows you to import recipe videos from platforms such as Instagram and then gives you a break down of the ingredients and method used. It is a great way of keeping track of recipes we see online and we have already made quite a few of those we have saved over the last couple of weeks.
 
A particularly nice one is this Spinach and Feta Lentil bread, by Thyme 4 Cooking, which Andy has now made a couple of times. He used a light Feta and didn't add any oil and it was still delicious hot or cold.

​We have been posting images on social media as part of our Decade of Design celebrations and it has been so lovely to see all your positive responses to some of my older designs. 
 
I posted images of Frida's Flowers last week and will be focusing on the Mexican Diamonds and Delft blankets next week. These designs still seem relatively new to me, so it is amazing to think that they are almost a decade old, with both of them released in 2016! 

Andy and I are over the half way mark on our eight week exercise and diet programme. With just three weeks left now, we have really started to see some changes and it has been a really great way to reset and look at the areas of our lives that may have been a little out of control. I really thought I would miss sugar and hard cheeses like cheddar more than I have. That said, I am really looking forward to the first week in May when we can start having a few treats again! Especially as I brought literally kilos of chocolate back from Switzerland! 
 
We are really looking forward to exhibiting at the Wonderwool yarn show in Wales in a fortnight's time. There are still tickets available for the show, so if you fancy coming along to say hi, you can find them here. 
 
I have six weeks at home now (apart from going to Wonderwool) so I am really looking forward to some settled time and getting back to my crochet projects. I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have going on, that life is treating you well and that you are also looking forward to a lovely weekend.
 
I will be back in a fortnight's time, when I hope that we will have all the components of our Zero to Granny project ready to share, so until then, keep safe and have fun with your yarn!