Janie here with a quick email to remind you to send in any ideas you have in regards to my new Question & Answer Newsletter Feature. We had a great response to last week's newsletter and to the quick video introduction that I filmed to accompany it, so this is definitely something I will continue to do. I know that a few of you were concerned that the videos may become a replacement for the written blog, but I can assure you that I am not planning to stop doing the newsletters via email as I know that a lot of you dip in and out of reading them and that some of you save them up to look at when you have time. The video is merely an introduction and an easier way for me to engage with those of you who do not have much time, but still want a quick update.

I am planning to film the Q&A video during the first week of September and post it on Friday 4th. So, as I said already, if you do have anything you would like included please let me know so that Sarah can add it to the list of questions that she is compiling for me. You can ask anything! You might want to know about a specific crochet technique, you might want to know about the types of crochet hooks and accessories available, or you might want to know something more relevant to me and my design for example. If you want to get in touch please email your question to: mail@janiecrow.co.uk
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On Tuesday this week I sent out a quick email to let you know that I had revealed the new colour way for the Fruit Garden blanket and shown a sneaky peek of the 2 cushion covers I have designed to accompany the CAL project in a Youtube video. The response to the reveal of the new 'Love Is Enough' blanket and the cushions was incredible and I would like to thank all of those who made the time to get in touch - I have to say that quite a few of your responses reduced both myself and Sarah to tears, with so many of you sharing your experiences of lockdown and talking about the importance of your crochet during these times. Sarah said that the emails were 'life affirming' and I couldn't agree with her more...

I know that many of you missed out on working through the project the first-time round. In some cases this was because of not being able to source yarns, whilst for other ‘front line’ and essential workers it was a question of finding the time and not the yarn that was the challenge. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to feel disappointed to have missed or not kept up with the CAL, so we decided that we should do the whole thing all over again. I am so excited to have the chance to present you with the brand new ‘Love is Enough’ version of the project.
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I have also made two new cushion covers using the motifs from the CAL. These designs, which I have named Melsetter and Kelmscott after the houses that meant a lot to May Morris, are shown in the video and the patterns for these will be available in September.
 

Thank you all for your incredible support over the last few months - the Fruit Garden CAL has been an amazing journey and I am so excited to see all your completed projects popping up on social media. I hope that you might be inspired to come long on another crochet along trip with me in the autumn!
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We have had some of the new catalogues printed and have added these to the web site as a free item. If you are on the site and have other items in your cart you can add a catalogue to your existing order free of charge. If you simply want to be sent the brochure then you can add it to your cart for free, but you will need to pay a small amount to cover postage and packing.
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​We had a few requests for the link to the heart motif Granny Square pattern that Gemma included in last week's newsletter. It has been designed by Daisy Cottage Designs and you can find it by following this link or by clicking on image below. The pattern is written in US terms, so watch out for that if you are used to following UK terminology.
 

​We are having a few days off next week, so I am looking forward to another little 'staycation'! We have some plans, which include more decorating and some work in the garden, plus a few nights away in the beautiful surroundings of The New Forest. I have my fingers crossed that the weather will be kind, although sometimes a rainy day can provide the best excuse to settle down on the sofa with my crochet!
 
I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned for today you stay safe and keep well...
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I am just popping by very quickly to tell you that my Youtube video that will give you a sneaky peek of the new version of my Fruit Garden CAL design is now live. You can find it by following this link.
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​I know that many of you missed out on working through the project the first-time round. In some cases this was because of not being able to source yarns, whilst for other ‘front line’ and essential workers it was a question of finding the time and not the yarn that was the challenge. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to feel disappointed to have missed or not kept up with the CAL, so we decided that we should do the whole thing all over again. I am so excited to have the chance to present you with the brand new ‘Love is Enough’ version of the project.
 

I have also made two new cushion covers using the motifs from the CAL. These designs, which I have named Melsetter and Kelmscott after the houses that meant a lot to May Morris, are shown in the video and the patterns for these will be available in September.

​Thank you all for your incredible support over the last few months - the Fruit Garden CAL has been an incredible journey and I am so excited to see all your completed projects popping up on social media. I hope that you might be inspired to come long on another crochet along trip with me in the autumn!

If you are looking for something to do over the next month, why not take a look at the pattern for my Climbing Rose Wrap, which is now available as a paper brochure version via the Janie Crow web site, or as a download version via Ravelry and Etsy*.
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​The project has previously been published as a crochet along (CAL) in Inside Crochet Magazine and you can find a very busy and inspirational dedicated Facebook Group for the project by following this link or by clicking on the image above.
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As you know, I have always been a fan of the work of the Arts and Crafts Movement and, having worked in a home decorating store part time as a student, I am very familiar with William Morris’s wallpaper designs in particular. I started off thinking that my design inspiration would be Morris’s very well known design ‘The Strawberry Thief’, which is one of my favourites, but I was concerned about how I could produce the idea of strawberries and birds in crochet and so I was relieved and inspired further when I came across another design based on those of William Morris called 'Molly Blue', which not only had the floral elements I was looking for, but also totally summed up the colour palette I wanted to use.
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​Some of my 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.

You can find yarn kits for the project on Janie Crow or Just Knots. The yarn kits on Janie Crow are £44.50 and include the pattern. On Just Knots there are kits available either with or without the pattern in case you already have the magazines. Kits without the patterns are £39.50.

Unfortunately we have already had to substitute one of the shades used in the original project as kit is out of stock at Stylecraft. Any kits ordered before yesterday will include a 50g ball of Batik Rose, as in the original pattern, but newer packs will include a 100g ball of Life DK Rose instead. We feel the colour substitution is incredibly close and the price of the kit will remain the same.
 
Images with thanks to Inside Crochet Magazine & Leanne Dixon.

* Please note that patterns on Etsy are subject to VAT, so the price is higher than on Ravelry. We have alerted Etsy to the fact that UK downloads should no longer be subject to VAT, but have not yet heard back from them.
I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned for today you stay safe and keep well...
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We have added something new to this month's newsletter in the form of a quick introduction video that I filmed at the studio this morning. It is so much easier to get information across in a video rather than a newsletter and I do love a good chat, so I thought I would do a quick film for you today. You can find the video on my Youtube channel here or by clicking on the image below.
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If you like to idea of the video, or if you think it is a bit naff, do let me know so that I can gauge whether or not to keep doing them. We are planning a Q&A style video for the end of the month, so you can find more information about that in this film too.

When Gemma, Sarah and I sat down to discuss a theme for this months' newsletter we decided that we wanted to reflect on the events of the last few months and focus on how people have continued to enjoy their craft projects whilst isolated at home. We wanted to focus on the positive aspects that many of you have told us you have taken away from this experience. We know that there have been many negatives and some awful stories over the last few months and we are not looking to ignore these, but we felt the need to look at some of the really inspiring stories of friendship and support, of families coming together and of people going out of their way to help others.

Gemma has contributed a piece about an organisation dear to her heart as well as a really scrummy sounding recipe, which I have featured lower down this email and Sarah has donated a piece about her recent experiments with Indigo dying, something that she and her lovely husband Paul have been having a go at recently.

I had a message from my friend Jan the other night asking if I had been reading the comments within the Fruit Garden CAL Facebook group. To my shame I had to fess up to Jan the fact that I tend not to belong to groups, even those dedicated to my designs, so I had not been in and taken a look around any of the groups.

The reason I don't belong to a lot of the groups is partly because of time restrictions. I am a recovering social media addict and find the temptation to scroll and scroll and scroll really strong! I can loose hours being taken down a route I had not anticipated when I first went on line to look up just one thing! I tend to refer to this as being led away by squirrels and even have Post It note on the wall above my PC warning me of the perils of 'squirrelling'!

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It isn't to say that I am not appreciative of all the chat that goes on in these groups in regards to my work. I love the fact that so many people have taken the time to write their stories of the CAL journey and if you have a bit of spare time, perhaps you would like to pop over to FB and read a few for yourself. You can find some great posts on my Facebook Page here, or take a look at the official Stylecraft CAL group here.

When thinking about what my contribution to this month's newsletter should be I started to think about how fitting it was that a crochet along project inspired by May Morris, and in turn her father William, really was at this time of lockdown. William founded the Arts and Crafts movement primarily as a reaction against the mass produced items that flooded the market at as result of the Industrial Revolution. William's idea was that there should be more of an emphasis on hand made unique items and that the worth of craftspeople should be more revered.

Whilst I love the ethos of many of William's ideas, I do think they were often grounded within the constraints of a class system where the rich could afford the hand made and therefore high price tags and the poor had no choice but to opt for the mass produced. I think the same can be said for modern day in some respects, but thankfully we can now source quality yarns at reasonable prices and can hopefully all choose projects that suit our pockets and our ethics.
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I learnt to crochet a few years ago at an evening class run by a small charity called Community Learning Partnership, based in South Oxhey (near Watford). Headed up by the exuberant director Eliz Borg, who has a close relationship with all things yarny, CLP specializes in community learning. They run arts & crafts courses for adults including knitting, crochet, Scandi embroidery, beginners sewing and dressmaking as well as family art sessions where children and their families spend quality time together having fun and being creative.  
 

​When lockdown began back in March I had been working for CLP as a teaching assistant on an advanced crochet course. We had completed 8 weeks of a 10 week course and it was a real shame that things came to such an abrupt close when it became frighteningly clear that COVID-19 was about to have a huge impact on the everyday life of the country. I was also enrolled on a Social Media for Business Course with CLP at the time. 
 
From their own homes, Eliz and her team immediately set to work together on a plan of action to ensure that the courses in progress could be completed in one form or another and that they could continue to support their learners throughout this challenging time. For many learners CLP becomes a second family and long after courses are complete, they continue to attend informal sessions at St Martins, the church where the charity is based, chatting and laughing with friends they have made, over a coffee (and cake of course), while they crochet, knit or sew.
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After discussions with their funders, including HAFLS (The Hertfordshire Adult and Family Learning Service), CLP were able to ensure that courses in progress could be completed by moving to an online format. I am sure by now many of us have experienced the joys of Zoom and other such video meeting platforms, so as you can imagine, it was not all plain sailing! One particular Friday morning, when attending my Social Media course, it seemed like by the time all the technical issues had been resolved and all the attendees appeared to be in the right place, it was almost time to finish! For many learners it was difficult to juggle having children at home with keeping up on their learning and hanging on in there until the end of the course. For older learners encouragement was needed to give them the confidence to move online. 
 
Pre lockdown, CLP ran a Tuesday morning session called Coffee and Crafts at St Martins and this was an important get together for many people. It was a chance to relax with friends and have an hour or two of ‘me’ time to spend crocheting or knitting. It was also a chance to purchase yarn at the small but wonderfully well stocked shop in the Heavenly Arts & Crafts Café, run by CLP at St Martins. Eliz managed to secure funding from HAFLS to run a series of crochet workshops on Zoom on Tuesday mornings, which meant that there was still that chance to get together, albeit in a new virtual form. The workshops were designed to expand learning and covered different patterns and stitches and included bunting, face scrubbies, and filet crochet to name but a few. You can see some of the lovely achievements in the photos below. They are a clever bunch, the Heavenly Hookers!
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Once these workshops came to an end the community were about to support CLP by purchasing yarn packs for a Crochetalong project, which they continue to get together on a Tuesday morning via Zoom to support each other with. There are many new courses due to start in September; all will be run online but that has not put people off booking on, with one course receiving double the number of anticipated participants during the first couple of days. 
 
One of my abiding memories of lockdown will be attending a couple of virtual sewing café sessions hosted by Laura Martin, one of the team at CLP. Let’s just say very little sewing was done in most cases but just having the opportunity to see the faces of our friends, checking in on each other’s wellbeing, kept us all going when we were all facing our own personal challenges at home.  
 
Yes, the warm, close knit community that is the CLP family have been looking after each other well this year.  Of course, we are all desperate for the time when we can get together in person again, after all no video meeting can compare to a warm hug, homemade cake, laughter and the joy of comparing projects, oohing and aahing over beautiful things made by our very own hands. When that time does come it will mean so much more to all of us than we ever knew it could. 
 
You can find CLP Arts & Craft courses on Facebook here
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I am sure that I am not the only person for whom it has taken a lockdown to galvanise themselves into making or doing something that for one reason or another has kept getting put off!

A couple of years ago, my husband Paul and I were on holiday in the south west of England and whilst there we came across a book in a garden centre café. The book was called Indigo by Kerstin Neumuller and Douglas Luhanko and it was so lovely to look at that by the time lunch was over we were planning how we would have a go at some indigo dyeing ourselves. Needless to say, we returned from our holiday, ordered and read the book, bought some indigo dye and a few of the other bits needed and then promptly did nothing about it!

(By the way, if you are in that area, Potager Garden Centre near Falmouth is well worth a visit!)
 
However, along came Covid 19. Extra time at home and lots of good weather meant that we had the time and space to experiment. Dyeing with indigo involves a lot of preparation, so we bought a little kit to get us started. The patterns that we associate with indigo dyed textiles mainly involve using resist-dyeing techniques.

Paul really liked the look of 'Itajame' and I wanted to explore some simple Shibori ideas. The Itajame technique involves folding pieces of fabric and pressing them between two shapes. You will see in the photos below how Paul used clamps to secure his shapes. I used stitches to make patterns and shapes. It is incredible how a few running stitches pulled up tightly can produce such a wealth of patterns. 

Here are a few photo highlights from our day!
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​Before - One of Paul’s Itajame pieces straight out of the dye bath.

After - The same piece rinsed in cold water.
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Here I am snipping out my running stitches before the cold rinse.
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Now what are they up to?
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​The fruits of our labours drying in the sun after a hot wash and absolutely no residue in the washing machine – phew!
We plan to make a few things with our fabrics and so I hope to pop back in a few weeks with a little update for you all! Take care! Sarah x
 

In response to your suggestion that I might like to send you something about our City & Guilds Machine Embroidery class and our online exhibition I have written a little about our group and achievements during such difficult times. I think it highlights how supportive crafters/artists can be to each other during challenging times. My fellow students and tutor are happy for me to send this to you and are looking forward to getting a mention in your newsletter if you feel that can be done....
Personally it was very important for me to complete the course and to feel that I had achieved something during these challenging times, but I really don't think I could have done it without the support of my fellow students and our tutor who I think went "above and beyond” in what was a new experience for all of us. Having more time did not necessarily mean that it was easier, I think many people seem to have experienced periods where their "get up and go" has gone. Alongside the course I have pretty well managed to keep up to date with the CAL and am now on the final border, it's beautiful and I’m looking forward to seeing my own finished blanket. I have a pack for the other (first) colourway but plan to keep that as an autumn/winter project, if I can resist the 3rd option in the meantime.
9th August, 2020
I thought that you might like to hear about us and maybe include us in your newsletter to show what we have achieved during the Covid 19 pandemic - I would venture to say that the friendship and support has been as important (maybe moreso) as completing the course. 
Ros Grey & I (Chris Bourne) are two members of the Official Stylecraft Yarns CAL group who are currently participating in your wonderful May Morris inspired “Fruit Garden” CAL. 
We are also two of six students who have just completed the City & Guilds Machine Embroidery Level 2 course at Malvern College of Art, not an easy feat during lockdown but achieved thanks to great support from each other and our tutor, Caroline Park. 
“Lockdown” came during the spring term, the College closed down and we were unsure if the course could continue. Thankfully we were able to continue with a weekly online class through Google Classroom and this, together with our Whats App group helped and encouraged us to carry on. Whilst it was no substitute for being in class together, whenever anybody had a problem or query a post on Whats App would bring a speedy response, with answers to questions, constructive criticism, encouragement and offers of practical help which was invaluable at a time when many of us were isolating and unable to access materials.  
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                                                                   Chris's Mary Quant Inspired Piece

We finished the course at the beginning of July and had a “socially distanced” meeting to hand in our work for assessment, this was the first time that we had met since before lockdown and the first time we seen each others work (other than online), so it was quite an experience.   
In “normal” times the College holds an end of year exhibition, as this was not an option this year we looked into our options and the result was this online exhibition, which features each of our final assignments - you will see that Ros has created a piece inspired by May Morris. 
You will see that we have put a considerable amount of thought and effort lot into our work and we hope that you and readers of your newsletter will enjoy our online exhibition that can be found by following this link.  

Sadly a few of our fellow students were unable to continue with the course but remained active members of the Whats App group and hope to continue with the course in the future. 
As we try to regain some sense of normality in our lives we are now looking forward to being part of a new and exciting group which will be starting in September and led by our tutor. So look out for the “Elmslie Embroidery Group”.

Andy came across 'The Fabulous' a few weeks ago after a recommendation by a friend and I have to say it has been a total game changer for me. Before I tell you too more about it, here are the 3 main bullet points from The Fabulous website:

Reset Your Habits
Increase your energy levels, enjoy vibrant health, lose weight and sleep better by installing healthy habits and routines into your life.

Transform Your Life
Use Behavioural Economics to identify where you're stuck and follow a step-by-step programme to unlock your full potential.

Rewire Your Brain
Re-programme your brain and automate the important rituals in your life so you have more time for what really matters.

Sounds good doesn't it? Well actually, I thought it all sounded a lot like all the other 'be good to yourself' style mantras that lots of other sites churn out! How many times have I read articles about the importance of meditation, the health benefits of drinking gallons of water and getting more sleep? These messages are around us all the time. We take some of them on board and others we ignore - well, at least I do!

I try to eat well. I go to the gym. I walk quite a lot and I thought I made time for myself to relax, but the brilliance of using The Fabulous app for the last couple of weeks is that it has encouraged me to take a really good look at what I do and where I could do with 'cleaning up my act' (think squirrels and social media!) and by taking small baby steps, a few at a time, it has helped me to create some really great routines, which in turn really have made a difference to my life.
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The Fabulous is basically an app for your phone, that will send you push notifications to remind you to keep up healthy habits, like taking time to sit and read, or simply to drink more water!

You can download the app for free, but if you want to upgrade to add in more features you can pay a yearly subscription of around £30. Why not take a look? You could download the app and build some new routines into the weekend ahead, just don't be disheartened if it starts slow - I was a bit disappointed with it at first as I thought it wasn't giving me enough actions, but stick with it and you might find it as helpful as I have and the first week is free! ​

Blackberry vinegar is not difficult to make and only needs three ingredients: 

Blackberries
Vinegar
Sugar

I like to use a raw organic cider vinegar (such as that produced by Aspalls) but any cider vinegar or wine vinegar will do just as well.  
 
Quantities are not an exact science here but as a rough guide for a pound (453g) of blackberries will need about a pint (568ml) of vinegar. 

The first step in the process is to put your blackberries in a dish or bowl. I use a pyrex bowl as it won’t be affected by the acidity of the vinegar. Pour on the vinegar to cover the blackberries, cover the bowl and then leave them to rest for 7 to 10 days, stirring occasionally. The longer you leave the berries to steep in the vinegar the stronger the final flavour will be.   
 
After the steeping time is up, strain the mixture through a sieve into a jug or bowl so that you end up with just the liquid. Press the berries on the sieve as you strain them so that every last drop of juice and flavour is squeezed out. 

Measure the liquid you end up with before pouring it into a saucepan and add a pound (453g) of sugar for every pint (568ml) of liquid you have. I prefer to use unrefined sugar, simply because it less processed.  

Bring the liquid and sugar to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and simmer for around 15 minutes. If you get a scum forming on the top just skim it off using a metal spoon. Once simmered, pour the liquid into sterilized bottles. I use the bottles from the vinegar used in the recipe. You just need to remove the little plastic insert in the neck in order to fill them, before popping it back in and putting the lid on.  
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​Allow to mature for a few months before starting to enjoy your blackberry vinegar. Believe me, it makes all those scratches on your hands from picking the berries worth every ouch! Yum!

There is still time to vote for your favourite designers, yarn stores and publications nominated within this year's British Knitting & Crochet awards. You can vote any time between now and the 26th August and the winners will be revealed in the November 2020 issue of Let's Knit magazine.
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There are 22 categories in total ranging from Star Baby Yarn Brand and Best Sock Yarn Brand to Most Loved Knitting Designer and Social Media Star. Every voter will be in with a chance of winning a terrific bundle featuring 1800g of yarn, subscriptions to top titles My Weekly and People’s Friend Magazines and knitting and crochet books - a total prize value of over £200!

For more information and to place your votes please follow this link.
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​So here we are with the weekend only a matter of hours away and I have to say that I am on a bit of a high as we head into Friday evening. There are 2 main reasons for this, the first is that I have spent this morning sorting out the reveal video for the new colour way of the Fruit Garden CAL, which will launch again in the Autumn. My video shows the 3rd version of the blanket, plus the 2 cushions I have designed to accompany the original versions. These are all brand new and have not been seen outside the walls of Janie Crow and Stylecraft yet, so I am beyond excited about you seeing them next week! The video will be loaded onto my Youtube channel on Tuesday 18th August, so do look out for it.

The other reason I am excited is because we are celebrating the fact that my lovely Charlie boy got a call from Pret this week asking if he would like to go back to his job! How flipping amazing is that! He starts on the 24th and we are beyond happy, especially as our gorgeous daughter Summer, also started a new job a few weeks ago. I am a proud Mumma! 

We do not have big plans for the weekend, perhaps we will have a take away tonight (we all seem to have a craving for delicious Thai food) and I might finally manage to make some headway with the redecoration of the kitchen, which has been poorly neglected while it has been so hot.

If you have a few minutes you might like to head over to the Scheepjes Instagram feed to check out the live video they recorded of myself and Audrey chatting about the Royal Garden blanket last week.

That is it from me for today - I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned you have a great weekend and don't forget to send in any questions you may want to ask as part of my new monthly Q&A session, which I mention in the introduction video.

Stay safe and keep well...

Boy is it hot here in North London! Not that I am complaining as I love it warm, but the heat does make it a bit tough when you've got stuff to do. Andy and I have been busy building kits this morning, which is a body warming task at the best of times, but today we are very thankful to be able to head home for a shower and some time in the shade of garden later on! I hope that wherever you are you are managing to keep safe and well and that, for those of you in the UK anyway, you are able to keep cool too!

I was chatting on the phone last night to the wonderful Dedri from Look At What I Made and she was telling me that she and her boys have been enjoying the delights of a large paddling pool in the garden and it made me think about getting one. We have a toy shop on the local High Street, so I am tempted to pop in and see what they have - its has been many years since we had a paddling pool in the garden, so that could be fun! 

Dedri was also telling me about the recent competition she ran to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of her iconic Sophie's Universe blanket design. You can find more information about it on Dedri's blog here and by clicking on the images below.
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The competition has now finished, but you can find some great ideas on how to decorate and embellish the special Tote Bags on Dedri's site and by using this hashtag on Instagram.

I have a couple of other things to tell you about this week, so if you have 5 minutes to spare, why not put your feet up and take a read though my quick catch up.....
 

The pattern for my Climbing Rose Wrap is now available as a paper brochure version via the Janie Crow web site, or as a download version via Ravelry and Etsy*.
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​As you know, I have always been a fan of the work of the Arts and Crafts Movement and, having worked in a home decorating store part time as a student, I am very familiar with William Morris’s wallpaper designs in particular. I started off thinking that my design inspiration would be Morris’s very well known design ‘The Strawberry Thief’, which is one of my favourites, but I was concerned about how I could produce the idea of strawberries and birds in crochet and so I was relieved and inspired further when I came across another design based on those of William Morris called 'Molly Blue', which not only had the floral elements I was looking for, but also totally summed up the colour palette I wanted to use.
 

​Some of my designs have taken me months to design and make, whilst others, have been quite quick. T
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.

You can find yarn kits for the project on Janie Crow or Just Knots. The yarn kits on Janie Crow are £44.50 and include the pattern. On Just Knots there are kits available either with or without the pattern in case you already have the magazines. Kits without the patterns are £39.50.

The information in my last email in regards to the price of the kits was incorrect - please note that the patterns will not be included within yarn kits for free. 

Unfortunately we have already had to substitute one of the shades used in the original project as kit is out of stock at Stylecraft. Any kits ordered before yesterday will include a 50g ball of Batik Rose, as in the original pattern, but newer packs will include a 100g ball of Life DK Rose instead. We feel the colour substitution is incredibly close and the price of the kit will remain the same.
 
Images with thanks to Inside Crochet Magazine & Leanne Dixon.

* Please note that patterns on Etsy are subject to VAT, so the price is higher than on Ravelry. We have alerted Etsy to the fact that UK downloads should no longer be subject to VAT, but have not yet heard back from them.

​I am finding it hard to believe that this week has seen the publication of the last set of patterns for The Fruit Garden CAL. It has been an amazing journey over the last few months and, at a time when we have all struggled with the adverse effects that lockdown has had on our lives, it has been fabulous for me to have a project that provides a purpose. Doing the fortnightly videos and newsletters has kept me (pretty much) this side of same and I know that many of you have felt the same way about picking up your crochet and working through the project.

As the weather is warm it is not ideal timing to be sitting with a big blanket on your lap adding the final border, but I have seen lots of completed blankets popping up on social media this week, so I know that many of you have been busy finishing the blanket despite the heat! 

As you may already know, we are going to be launching the project again in the Autumn. This decision was made because many people struggled to get yarn kits in time for the first launch back in April. We had previously thought that the re-release of the project would happen in September, but with the world experiencing a global shortage of yarn due to restrictions on production and a huge surge in sales, we now think we will launch again in October. This means there is plenty of time to get ready and I am really looking forward to showing you the new colour way of the blanket project very soon. 

I have designed 2 cushion cover projects to accompany the new release too. The covers feature motifs from the project and will be a good stash busting project, so keep your eyes peeled for more information about these.

You can find the patterns for Set 8 of the Fruit Garden CAL by following this link and my accompanying YouTube video is here.
 

​We have a quiet-ish weekend ahead and I am hoping to find some time to sit and crochet as I have bit of a deadline looming within the next couple of weeks.  

​​I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned for today you stay safe and keep well...

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​Howdy fabulous crocheters! This is a quick email to let you know that the pattern for my Climbing Rose Wrap is now available as a paper brochure version via the Janie Crow web site, or as a download version via Ravelry. It will also be on Etsy* as a download option later on today. The pattern is £7.95.
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​As you know, I have always been a fan of the work of the Arts and Crafts Movement and, having worked in a home decorating store part time as a student, I am very familiar with William Morris’s wallpaper designs in particular. I started off thinking that my design inspiration would be Morris’s very well known design ‘The Strawberry Thief’, which is one of my favourites, but I was concerned about how I could produce the idea of strawberries and birds in crochet and so I was relieved and inspired further when I came across another design based on those of William Morris called 'Molly Blue', which not only had the floral elements I was looking for, but also totally summed up the colour palette I wanted to use.
 
Some of my 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.

You can find yarn kits for the project on Janie Crow or Just Knots. The yarn kits on Janie Crow are £44.50 and include the pattern. On Just Knots there are kits available either with or without the pattern in case you already have the magazines. Kits without the patterns are £39.50.

The information in my last email in regards to the price of the kits was incorrect - please note that the patterns will not be included within yarn kits for free. 
 
Images with thanks to Inside Crochet Magazine & Leanne Dixon.

* Please note that patterns on Etsy are subject to VAT, so the price is higher than on Ravelry. We have alerted Etsy to the fact that UK downloads should no longer be subject to VAT, but have not yet heard back from them.

​I am finding it hard to believe that today sees the publication of the last set of patterns for The Fruit Garden CAL. I have to say, it has made me feel quite emotional!

You can find the patterns by following this link.
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​I would love it if you would join me and members of the Scheepjes team at 6pm (UK time) to join in the event, which you will find by clicking on the Scheepjes 'Stories' icon at the top left of their Instagram page. We will be chatting about crochet in general and my Royal Garden blanket design in particular and towards the end of the chat you will have a chance to ask questions too!
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Inspired by the intricate and vibrant terracotta tiles decorating the floor combined with the patchwork layout of the main garden of the Green Hotel, the Royal Garden Blanket is an ode to the marvellous former palace in Mysore, India. To transform my fond memories of my trips there into a tangible project, I incorporated the tile motif and the blooming flowerbeds of the garden into this geometric design, resulting in a striking blanket that will be a centrepiece in any living space. If you want the pattern only you can find it here on Ravelry

I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned for today you stay safe and keep well...