This is Gemma here, with a truly flying visit, to give you the July temperature recording chart! 

We've had some incredibly warm weather here in North London over the last few weeks and as a result of that I've found crochet a challenge. The yarn doesn't want to play nicely and the thought of a hot blanket laying on my lap has been unbearable! I know, I'm such a lightweight! As a result I'm a good few weeks behind on my blanket now but with some fresher weather on the way later this week I'm hoping to catch up. 

In the meantime I have been conscientiously recording temperatures each day and ready to continue doing so as we move in to July tomorrow. So with no further ado, please find the July temperature recording chart here! 

I have been away tutoring a workshop trip to West Yorkshire this week and so have been enjoying the company of a group of lovely knitters as we visited the Knit and Crochet Guild head quarters, Stylecraft's fabulous Mill, where we saw their yarn production first hand, and the amazing historical mill town of Saltaire. 
 
While I have been away, Gemma and Emma have been busy, brilliantly holding the fort on our social media platforms and Andy is back up to speed with sorting orders and answering your emails after a brief break, so it's nice to know that Janie Crow is in good hands.
 
It has been a busy fortnight since we were last here in your inbox and we have a few things to tell you about, including a nice stock update, so I hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up with our news. 

​We have two new yarn packs to tell you about this week. Wool Warehouse have now released the Yarnsmiths Merino versions of the Mystical Lanterns and Sandalwood blankets. We know that many of you prefer to use natural fibres and are really pleased with how these colourways have come out. 
 
The Yarnsmiths palette is a little brighter than the original Sandalwood but close enough to keep the same name and the Mystical Lanterns colourway is bright and fun. You can see them both in the images below - click on any of the images to find the yarn packs. They are currently on offer at 40% off so if you prefer natural fibres it's a great time to snap up a pack. 

The itinerary for my trip to Turkey in October next year is live on the Stitchtopia website and you can find it by following this link. There are now only a couple of spots left on the trip, so do take a look if you think it might be your kind of holiday. 
 
I am really excited about this trip already, even though it is over a year away, and I have been busy thinking about the knit and crochet projects I can design for participants to work on while we are away. 

We have a lot of kits back in stock this week and we've put a selection below, all of which can be found on the website. You can have a browse of all our stock by following this link.

Over on Instagram this month we celebrated the gorgeous Eastern Jewels version of Persian Tiles. Eastern Jewels was a collaboration between Lucia Dunn and Stylecraft and embodies the vibrant colourways Lucia is well known for as well as her way of embracing life in vivid technicolour! 
 
You can take a look at some of the wonderful makes we discovered using the tag #easternjewelsblanket by clicking here and we do currently have kits available over on our website here.

How are the temperature blankets coming along? Gemma has fallen a little bit behind, blaming the very hot weather that we've been having here in North London! We have found some great images of your work over on Instagram, which you can see below. The first photo from @soniams1 is tracking a Californian winter, while in the second photo @suelindt is showing off not one, but two blankets she has on the go! 
 
Do share your temperature blanket progress with us using the hashtag #janiecrowtempblanket25, so we can take a look at how your blankets are coming along. We'll pop it on the blog as well but in the meantime you can download the July temperature chart here. 

Over on Facebook we have been continuing with the Decade of Design series of posts and this time we focused on Frida's Flowers, which was a crochet along project released in collaboration with Stylecraft yarns in 2016. 
 
A lot of love has been shown for this design over the years and the patterns are still available to download free of charge from the Stylecraft Yarns website here. Lots of you told us that you loved making this blanket and for some of you it's your favourite JC project. 
 
Lucia Dunn worked her magic on this design too, with the incredibly pretty Primavera version of the blanket.

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! ​

There are lots of up and coming yarn shows around the country and UK Hand Knitting have complied a handy guide to what's on. Click on the image below or here to find out if there's a show near you. ​

Gemma's review this month was of Claire Montgomerie's Granny Square Flowers Card Deck, the hotly-awaited follow up to the Granny Square Card Deck. I have one of the sets too and it is fabulous! Gemma had a go at the Peony motif, using leftovers from her Bohemian Blooms project and you can see the results in the photos below. It's very pretty. 

You can read Gemma's thoughts over on the Book of the Month blog here and if you fancy getting your hands on this or the original card deck head on over to the Search Press website. If you're in the UK you can get a 20% discount and free delivery by entering the code DD88 at checkout. ​

I'm very excited to let you know that my blanket is finished! Well, certainly most of the hard work, with just a little bit of finishing to be done. There are a couple of ends from the joining process left to be sewn in and the blanket needs blocking to smooth out a few slightly ‘lumpy’ areas. Here it is in all its glory, together with a few close-ups of the detail… ​

I have loved making this blanket, and writing about it each month has helped to keep me motivated. Now the next question of course is, what shall I make now? Is there another Janie Crow project you'd like to see me work on? If so hit reply to this email and let us know. ​

The weather has been really good over the last few weeks, but it has been a little cooler over the last couple of days, especially in Bradford where I have spent the week with my workshop group. The cooler weather makes it a little easier to crochet, so I have been working on some beaded festive decorations that will be available later on in the year. Small portable projects are perfect for this time of year and I have really been enjoying working with beads again. 

We had a lovely time away last weekend with our daughter Summer, her husband Chris and the puppy! We spent a few days down on the south coast and had a lovely time by the sea! Stoick (who is now six months old) enjoyed every minute, but was shattered by Sunday after all the beach based adventures! ​

As usual there has been quite a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on here, and not so much exciting design work, so I don't have a huge amount to show for the last couple of weeks. I am still going to the gym quite a bit and keeping up with my new exercise habit - it seems to have become a way of life now, which is quite a relief as I don't have to force myself out of the door and down to the gym in the mornings, but I guess it's always easier to feel motivated when the weather is good.
 
I hope that you have something nice planned for the weekend and that you are able to squeeze in a little crafting time. We will be back in your inbox in a couple of weeks with the July newsletter, so do look out for that, and in the mean time stay safe and enjoy your crafting! 

Looking through the images I have taken on my phone over the last couple of weeks I can see that the predominant shade in my life has been pink! I have gravitated towards pink flowers, pink yarns and pink clothes, in much the same way as butterflies are more likely to be drawn to pink and purple too! Having bursts of brightness around me at this time of year makes me feel so happy and calm, and even on the cloudier days, it is so affirming to see a shock of gorgeous colour, don't you think?
 
I have had a busy couple of weeks and was even lucky enough to have a short break away with one of my oldest friends, so life is all good here at Janie Crow. I hope that it is treating you well too and that you have a few minutes to catch up with all my news.

I ordered this gorgeous box of sixty mini balls of Ricorumi cotton from Wool Warehouse last week, along with a couple of balls of the super cute ‘Nilli Nilli’ chenille (which you can find by following this link), and I got really inspired when I opened it on Tuesday morning! The colours are just so cheery and the little balls are perfect for smaller projects.
 
I am going to use the yarns to create some more beaded festive decorations and, whilst it does feel a bit strange working on a Christmas project in the relative heat of June, I am really enjoying playing with beads and this lovely yarn.

Emma and I have been a little out of love with Instagram lately, partly because we were very engrossed in our Zero to Granny project for quite a while, but also because the algorithms on there now seem to be throwing up a lot of stuff we don't actually want to see.
 
That said, we have always loved the way our feed looks and the way that you guys interact with us on there, so we are determined to give the platform more attention going forwards, starting from next week. You can find our feed by following this link, or by clicking on the image above.

Andy made this lovely crochet basket using a kit from The Left Hookery. 
It was the perfect vessel for displaying my gorgeous peonies from the garden recently and I am really proud of him for picking up his crochet hook again after a long break. The kits from the Left Hookery are perfect for those who want to make a relatively quick project and the leather accessories and high end yarns mean that the projects turn out so lovely.  
 
Andy has lined up the fabulous Glastonbury basket kit as his next project, but Tamsin has plenty more projects to choose from over on her website. You can find it by following this link. 

We have stock of quite a few yarn packs still, but as one of the shades that I tend to use a lot in my designs has been out of stock for a while, we are beginning to run low on some. You can find kits by following this link.
 
The warmer weather always makes me want to work on smaller projects that won't create extra warmth as I make them. This is a perfect time of year to work on shawls, cushions or bags, or even get well ahead of the game and start thinking about your Christmas decorations like me! 
 
Don't forget that you can also get Janie Crow project kits that contain natural fibres via Wool Warehouse, who currently have kits in stock for my Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles.
 
Within the next couple of weeks they will also have kits for a brand new version of Mystical Lanterns (shown below) that has been made using their Superwash Merino range of DK yarns. Of course it includes quite a few shades of pink and purple and the colours are so bright and scrummy that I am smitten by the palette.
 
I have created a copy of my Sandalwood version of Persian Tiles using the Yarnsmiths yarn range too and that should be in stock soon, so do keep an eye on the Jane Crowfoot area of their store for stock updates.

Emma and I recently spent a huge amount of time creating our Zero to Granny, Learn to Crochet Course and so we are incredibly pleased with the fabulous response it has received since we launched it in early May.
 
There is something so special about the humble Granny Square and I am really proud to have been asked to support Simply Crochet Magazine as a Granny Square Day Ambassador later on in the summer. The date is 15th August, so I am busy coming up with a new crochet design for the day. 

Due to a cancellation there is one last spot available on my West Yorkshire Workshop trip with Stitchtopia at the end of the month. You can find more information by following this link.
 
Although it is more than a year away, there are also now only a couple of places left on my workshop trip to Turkey in 2026. I am already incredibly excited about this tour, which has an amazing itinerary, jam packed with yarn and textile inspiration. You can find more information by following this link or by clicking on the images below.

I have been reading about the importance of protein in our diets and how we should be trying to have a good amount in all our meals. Evidence appears to show that it is particularly important during menopause and as we get older, so I have been more conscious of getting my daily amount. 
 
Our lovely Sarah, the clever brain behind our pattern query service, recently sent me a fabulous recipe book by Dr Rupy Aujla and I have already made quite a few things from it. Last weekend I made the daily bread using a recipe that is very similar to this one and it was delicious! Incredibly quick and easy to make, and packed to the max with protein filled seeds, nuts and oats, it is a bit high in calories, but you don't need much to feel full and the nut content means you don't need to add butter or a topping, so it's a total win!
 
On Wednesday I made the red bean stew with chocolate and spices from the same book and it was really good too. I used sugar free dark chocolate, which gave it a really rich taste and texture without adding a ton of sweetness. I did go a bit heavy on the jalapeños, but I do love them and the kale on the side gave the perfect combinations of flavours.
 
You can sign up to Dr Aujla's mailing list via his website or just peruse his recipes - I have lined a few up for next week already!

​Tomorrow is World Wide Knit in Public Day, which I like to think also makes it a great day to crochet out in the wild! I often have a ball of yarn and a hook in my bag, so crocheting in public is nothing different for me, but I am hoping that I might see others out and about tomorrow. I would love to know what you have planned for the day. I might take my project to the pub garden as the weather is forecast to be good for most of the day after a little rain early on. 
 
Talking of knitting, did you see this incredible lace wedding dress knitted by Marii over on Instagram? It is amazing! 

​I am signed up to try a Zumba class tomorrow morning. My strength training sessions have proved that I have terrible co-ordination, so I am hopeful that the class might help me with this. I am assured that it is really hard work, but great fun too, so I am really looking forward to it, even though I will undoubtedly be the hot sweaty mess at the back of the class, out of time and out of energy very early on! 
 
I have volunteered to puppy sit on Sunday, so I am looking forward to a day in the garden with some toys and a few games of fetch with the lovely boy. Andy is away this week, so I the pup will be my sole responsibility - I will need to have my wits about me, so not too many drinks in that pub garden tomorrow!
 
I had a lovely birthday a few weeks ago and I am really thankful for all your lovely messages. I really can't believe how fast the years are starting to pass, but it is really good to know that I am in much better shape this year than I have been in the past and that 56 feels better on me than most of the last decade! 
 
I hope that wherever you are, and whatever you have planned for the weekend, that you are in good place too and I look forward to being back in your inboxes in a fortnight with the Janie Crow Quick Update.

For May & June (running late for May and early for June!) I have chosen to take a closer look at the Granny Square Flowers Deck of Cards by Claire Montgomerie (Search Press 9th May 2025 ISBN9781800923065). The question is, is it a book? I'm not sure if it quite fits that description but let's live dangerously!   

This beautiful set of 50 pattern cards is the follow-up to the sell-out (and much-copied) set 'The Granny Square Card Deck', also published by Search Press in August last year. Having purchased an official original set and having seen a cheaper copy that one of my students had bought, I can very definitely say the difference in quality is huge, so it is worth spending that little bit extra and not supporting the copycats (and copyright infringers). 

Each card measures 10cm x 10cm (I've just realised as I typed that that they could make a great visual tension square size guide!) and on the front there is a close-up full colour photograph of the finished motif. On the back of the card is the charted instructions together with any other relevant information needed to make the motif. There is also a 32 page booklet in the box, with a step-by-step guide on how to read and understand crochet charts, some joining suggestions and advice on choosing colours for your motifs.

I'm not a seasoned chart reader. I like a chart to help clarify something I don't quite understand in a written pattern, but I would ultimately always prefer to use a written pattern. So, I quite liked the idea of challenging myself to make a motif using a chart only, just to see how I would get on. I decided to use card number 16, the Peony, for my sample. There are seven pages in the user guide dedicated to explaining in excellent detail how to read a chart so I made sure to read this through before starting. 

The charts are printed very clearly, with different colours used to differentiate the rounds, making it clear to pick out the stitches you are making on your current round. The card tells you any special stitches that are included in the motif and where to find the explanations of those stitches in the user guide and includes written notes on the pattern where needed. US terms are used where stitches are written on the cards.

I had a few leftovers from my Bohemian Blooms blanket in some lovely pastel shades so decided to use this for the pattern. I had no trouble following the chart, despite its relatively small size, as the clarity of print was good (far superior to the fake version of the cards I've had sight of). I would recommend taking the time to have a really good look at the round you are starting to make sure you fully understand what is happening before you get going. 

I'm quite pleased with my little square and quite like the idea of continuing with the granny rounds to make it a little bit bigger and then potentially using it as part of a larger project, perhaps a cushion cover. That's one of the things I really like about these lovely boxes of cards, that they serve as a starting point for creating a project that has your own stamp on it. 

So it's definitely a thumbs-up from me for this publication. If you are in the UK and would like to purchase one of these sets you can get a 20% discount and free postage on the Search Press website here, by using the code DD88 when checking out.

​I'll be back in July with another review but until then, happy hooking!