September News

As I have said so many times before, it has been fabulous seeing all your Spirit of Flora projects out in the wild over the last few months. I have especially enjoyed seeing different layouts and colourways such as the one shown below made by my friend Gwyn.

Emma has been busy on Instagram showcasing your projects and Gemma has been doing the same over on our Facebook page. Don't forget there are motif and border patterns, including the Flower Tile border that Gwyn has used on her blanket, free to download from the website. ​

Frustratingly we have been experiencing an issue with our Spirit of Flora pattern listings on Ravelry as a volunteer editor decided to remove them due to 'invalid sources'. Gemma has been working really hard over the last week or so to get them reinstated, but unfortunately Ravelry are notoriously bad at replying to emails or correcting these kind of mistakes. For now only pattern bundle one is available, so if you want single patterns, or wish to purchase the other bundles for the Spirit of Flora project I suggest you take a look within our Etsy store here.

Victoria's Bedroom at Brighton Pavilion

(c) Diane Hill

I have been working on a new design inspired by large flowers painted in the Chinoiserie style. I am a huge fan of hand painted frescos and wallpaper and recently saw this great article by Diane Hill, an artist I admire, about the recently discovered painted walls in Queen Victoria's bedroom at Brighton Pavilion. I am nowhere near to finishing my design, but hopefully the images of the interior of the pavilion and the style of Diane's work will give you a few clues about what to expect.

I am also hoping to design some garments using some of my black catalogue of blanket designs as the basis. Over on Instagram, Emma has recently asked what kind of garments you would like to see within a collection and you can see some replies here. 
 
Don't forget that the Complete Crochet Handbook is back in stock following its reprint. We have signed or unsigned copies for sale on the website now and you can find them by following this link. ​

The book is written in UK terms and the copy written in US terms is called The Perfect Crochet Finish. You can find the US copy for sale on Mary Maxim by following this link, where you will also find a brand new kit for my Mystical Lanterns blanket on sale.

I love flowers - you may have noticed! And although I keep trying to design crochet projects that don't feature them, I am constantly drawn to them. ​

(c) Floret Flowers

Aster is the birth flower for September and as I have motif design called Aster, which featured within the Fruit Garden Cal back in 2020, we decided to have a bit of fun and challenge our social media platform followers to come up with their own colourways of the motif keeping in mind the colours of summer when choosing their palettes.

If you want to take a look at some of the amazingly colourful Aster motifs made already follow this link to Instagram where crocheters have used the hashtag #janiecrowastercompetition

The pattern for the Aster Flower can be downloaded for free via the Stylecraft web site here, or, if you want a physical copy, you can find it in the Fruit Garden Blanket book, which includes all the patterns used in the project and charts by following this link.

I have been working with Arena Travel, who provide tailor made trips for textile enthusiasts under the heading of Stitchtopia, for many years and felt incredibly privileged to tutor the recent trip to Peru in July and the West Yorkshire trip back in June. For next year I suggested two new holiday destinations and am so pleased that my trips to Switzerland and Morocco are now live to book on the Stitchtopia site. You can now find the information about my trip to the Swiss Yarn Festival in April and the details of the Yarn Inspirations of Morocco trip, which is scheduled to take place in October 2025.

I am especially excited about the trip to Morocco as I fell head over heals in love with Marrakesh when I visited last year and have worked with Helen Warrington at Arena to create a really exciting itinerary that includes stops in Marrakesh, Rabat, the Atlas Mountains, Fez and Casablanca, to name a few. Next year's 'Yarn Inspirations' trip has already sold more than half the places, so if you fancy coming along, do take a look at the details here.

We are incredibly lucky that my fabulous cousin, Bev, did a bit of a Shirley Valentine and went to Greece on holiday forty years ago and never really came back home again! Instead she married a Greek man called Christos and stayed on a tiny little island to raise her children, thus giving us the most ideal holiday destination!

Going to Bev's island has been a part of our lives since our children were little and although we don't go every year we all feel the pull of a trip there every couple of years.

One of my favourite things about trips to Greece is the delicious food, with fresh salads and tasty meze at centre stage. This year I became totally addicted to Dakos salad - a Cretan dish that mixes dry barley rusks with black olives, tomatoes, capers and feta. The salad has been part of the diet in Crete for centuries and as it’s so delicious I totally understand why. 

You can find recipes for it easily (there is a good one here) and it is a great way of using up stale bread if you can’t find the rusks. I’ve been trying to add a bit more protein to my diet lately so have been replacing the feta cheese with tofu and a tablespoon of Greek yogurt. Ooh yum! ​

We are really looking forward to making our annual trip to Skipton to show our wares at the fabulous Yarndale show, which is one of the highlights of our work diary. If you are planning to come along please drop onto the stand to say hello - we are on stand J12, which is in the usual position. We will have kits, patterns, accessories and our Emma Ball items on display alongside almost all the Janie Crow blankets and projects.

Tickets for the show are still available and you can find them by following this link - tickets are timed to ease congestion around the show.

Since we returned home from our summer holiday on Tuesday the house looked like a bomb had dropped on it for a few days, with washing and empty suitcases at every turn. Our son Charlie and his girlfriend will return from Bev's island later on this evening, so I am sure that the suitcases and drying washing will be a big feature over the next couple of days too. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will be all sorted and back to normal - totally ready for a proper fresh start and our exciting trip to Yarndale next week.

We are hoping to get some time in the garden over the next few days. It has all got a bit wild and out of control while we have been away and many plants are in need of their late summer prune. We will also be making time for some walks in the local countryside and, as Andy and I are both on a bit of a health kick after a bit of an indulgent time away, we will be doing some healthy meal preparation.

I am never quite sure how I feel about yarn bombing. Visually I love it and think it is great that crochet in particular is given a public stage because of it, but I am not totally convinced about the environmental impact of yarny installations that have no real use. That said, it pales into insignificance in relation to the waste produced by fast fashion, take away food and supermarket packaging.....

I recently came across 'Yarn Bombing in Trivento' on Instagram and just love the vibrant colours, scale, skill and sense of humour that the crochet pieces evoke. ​

If you are into crochet as an art form then I suggest you also look at the work of Kate Jenkins whose work I really love. I first came across Kate when she created a crochet and knitted fish counter which was on display at The Knitting and Stitching Show. Since then she has worked on lots of collaborations and has really built her incredible inventory of crochet items, which now includes fabulously funny bakery goods and fast food. 

Kate was one of the first designers to produce beautifully detailed, tongue in cheek, crochet items and I am really excited that her newest show opens today in London's Soho. I am hopeful that Andy and I will manage to get there either tomorrow or Sunday. You can find all the details by clicking on the image above or here.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend
Janie x