I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

We are heading off to exhibit at Fibre East Yarn Show this weekend, so we have our fingers crossed that the weather is going to stay nice and that the rain is going to hold off. If you are coming to the show make sure you come and say hello! We will be in the Cotswold Marquee and we will have lots of lovely new things on display including the new versions of my Delft Blanket design.
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The yarn kits for the project are now on sale via the 3 Janie Crow flagship stores. You can find them at Just Knots, Black Sheep Wools and Deramores. More images and information will be revealed soon.....

This week I have finally been able to reveal the winners of the Delft competition. I plan to feature this in more detail next week, but if you want to have a look at the winners and the free downloadable colour substitution documents for my Delft Blanket design you can do so by following this link. Just Knots have kits for all 5 finalist colour-ways in stock already and other stockists will follow suit soon I am sure!
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We got a lot of feedback about last week's crochet tip, so I have left it in this newsletter and added a few extra tips that relate to it.

As always, I hope you are looking forward to a lovely relaxing weekend and that you are healthy and happy wherever you are....
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I am at a stage with Janie Crow where I could do with a bit of help!

I am looking for someone in the North London area who can crochet well, understands all crochet terminology, can proof read, is good at social media and PC related things and who has good organisational skills. Currently I cannot guarantee how many hours of work I can offer and I know I am asking a lot, but if anyone is able to get to High Barnet easily and fancies coming along for a relaxed chat about what you might be able to do for me then please hit reply.

​Last week I featured a tip on how to stop a long foundation chain from twisting before you join it with a slip stitch. A lot of you emailed to say how much you liked the tip and two of you had suggestions as to how it could be further improved or used.

Joyce Grove suggested using a small elastic band to hold the first chain in place down the shaft of the hook. Joyce says she has tried this and it works really well.

Lenore Rhodes also emailed suggesting that this technique would be a great way of keeping track of your count when you have a very long chain to make, even if it doesn't need to be joined with a slip stitch to form a ring. Lenore suggests that you re position the chain that sits on the shaft of the hook at regular intervals, say every 50 stitches, so that you never have to go back and recount from the very beginning.

I think these are both great tips and I will definitely be using them in the future.

If you missed last week's tip, here it is:

If you are doing a crochet project that requires you to make and then join a long foundation chain it can be difficult to join without accidentally adding a twist or two to your chain. A few years ago someone on a workshop showed me a really neat trick for keeping the chain untwisted, so this month I am going to share it with you.

Imagine you need to make a project that requires a very long foundation chain. Instead of making all the chain and then struggling to not get a twist when you make the slip stitch join, just make a few chain to begin with. In my image below I have made 10 chain.
 

Slip the last chain off the hook making sure it doesn't unravel.
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Insert your hook through the first chain you made and push it onto your hook. It doesn't matter whether you put your hook through from the back or from the front of the chain.
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Place the last chain you made back on the hook, making sure you haven't twisted the chain.
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Push the first chain down the shaft of your hook so that it sits out of the way of the hook end.
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Continue to make your chain, then, when you have reached the right number, draw the stitch at the hook end through the one lower down the shaft to create your slip stitch join.
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It can take a bit of practice to feel comfortable working the chains when you have 2 loops on the hook, but once you get the hang of it this tip is a real time saver and you will be safe in the knowledge that you won't have any twists in your chain.
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I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

Can you believe that it is Friday again? The weeks are speeding by and I feel like everything needs to slow down a little to give me a chance to enjoy these summery days. I hope that wherever you are you are enjoying some sunshine too...

I had a great time chatting to Andrea and Andrew of Fruity Knitting last Saturday - if you are one of their Patreons you will be sent a link to an audio edition of our hour long chat where we talked about how to add simple crochet edgings to knitwear, how to read charts and where I find my design inspiration. You can find a link to the Patreon site here if you want to unlock past audio files.

We are really looking forward to the weekend, but also to next week when we will be taking a short break with the kids. I love travelling and enjoy planning trips, although I have made the decision to do fewer workshops away from home next year. The 2 trips I am committed to are the Knit For Peace trip to Mysore, which I talked about last week and an Arena Travel Stitchtopia trip to Iceland that will take place in June. The trip is not yet live on the Arena site, but you can register your interest by contacting them - a link to their web page is here.
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Places on the knitting and crochet trip to Mysore in January continue to book fast. You can make an enquiry by contacting Knit For Peace.

If you fancy a short knitting related break this year then it would be lovely to have you join me at one or both of my workshops at Missenden Abbey as part of their Summer School in August. I will be tutoring a colour workshop and one on finishing techniques and you can find more information by following this link.

I have been telling you over the last few weeks about the CAL I have designed for Inside Crochet magazine. Next week's newsletter will feature a sneaky peek image of the project and links to the 3 Janie Crow flagship stores who will have yarn packs in stock. Packs will go on sale on the 15th July. The project will be revealed in the July issue of Inside Crochet magazine, which goes on sale week beginning 22nd July. If you want to subscribe to the magazine (a bargain at just £5.99 a copy) you can find more info by following this link to their web site.
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I love getting images of your completed projects and especially liked the one I received from Toni Newnman this week. Toni's image is above and it shows a Kingsize version of my Persian Tiles design in the light blue colour way. You can find yarn packs (for a smaller size) on the Just Knots web site and via other stockists.

We have a relatively quiet weekend to look forward to. It is the Village Festival though and we will probably head down there on Sunday. Fingers crossed it stays sunny so that we can enjoy a few glasses of wine in the park!

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell me what is on your mind. I hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are....
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