 This is a gentle reminder that our Advent CAL, the Glad Tidings Wrap, starts tomorrow 1st December and runs through to the 15th. The patterns for the CAL will be released in daily parts via Ravelry and you can find lots more information about the project and what you need to to do to get involved by following this link.  If you want to use yarns from your stash you will need those that work to a 4 ply weight. You can use as many or as few shades as you wish. Alternatively, if you want to treat yourself to some new yarn to make the wrap, we have partnered with 2 of our favourite indie yarn producers, Eden Cottage Yarns and The Knitting Shed and they can help you make some lovely colour choices to make an extra special project. The cost to join the CAL is just £6.95 If you have read through the Getting Ready document and still have questions, then do get in touch by hitting reply. The document is available for free here and is also listed within the Ravelry project folder here if you want to sign up. Have a great day!      The weeks before the Christmas holiday can be great fun, but it is also a time when there is much to do and things can get a little stressful. During this period I love settling down on the settee in the evening with a crochet project and soon find that the rhythmic action of making the stitches calms my mind and helps me feel more settled, even after the most fraught days.  This project was originally designed for Jimmy Beans in the US and was released in December 2021. Now that the pattern has reverted to me, we have decided to relaunch it this year as our own Advent Crochet Along. We will be releasing a section of the pattern every day for 15 days, with the first pattern available on the 1st of December. If you decide to join you can expect to receive an email notification with a download link (via Ravelry) for each day's section of the pattern. At the end of the crochet along, we’ll send you the link for a complete pattern with all parts of the pattern combined into one document. You can find a free 'Getting Ready' download document, which includes more information on yarn, hooks and equipment, as well as a more in-depth explanation of how the CAL works and what you need to do to join in, by following this link. Emma recently posted a great reel on Instagram where I talk about there yarn requirements for this project, so if you fancy a bit of stash diving or are still a bit unsure of what yarn you need, do check out this video for more information. If you feel ready to sign up for the CAL you can follow this link to Ravelry where you can also find the 'Getting Ready' information as the first document within the download set. Signing up via Ravelry will give you access to all parts of the pattern from 1st to 15th December and the amalgamated final pattern once the CAL is over. If you don't want to work through this project as a CAL, but do fancy making this lovely shawl, we will be releasing the pattern as a paper brochure and as a download via Ravelry and Etsy. Please note that the full pattern might be available at a higher price. Patterns will be available in UK & US terms. I hope that you fancy joining in and that if you do, working through the Glad Tidings Wrap over the first couple of weeks of December will help create some calm in your life and that the result, which could make the perfect festive gift, will bring you much joy too.  I had the most amazing day when Claire, Leanne and I did the shoot for my new crochet along project at Emery Walker's House in Hammersmith. It really was the most incredible location, crammed full of Arts and Crafts Movement furniture and textiles as well as the most beautiful original features.   The new CAL is coming soon and I cannot wait to show you some of the reveal images on the 1st December when we and other Stylecraft stockists will also have starter packs available for the project. This CAL is a little different to my previous designs, with more of an emphasis on crocheters creating their own unique designs rather than following mine to the letter. I think it will be incredibly exciting, especially as I will also be encouraging you to stash dive and create alternative colour combinations. The CAL will be published in monthly pieces over the course of a whole year in Inside Crochet magazine starting in January, so do look out for subscription offers and more information very soon.  Sarah and I had a fabulous day out last week visiting Leighton House in London's Holland Park. The building was the home to Victorian artist Lord Leighton and it includes the most amazing decor, including the stunning 'Arab Hall', which features incredible tile panels and beautiful mosaics.   It has certainly been a month for seeing a wealth of surface design inspiration as Andy and I were also treated to a visit to the Cathedral in Bordeaux as we popped in on the last day of my recent workshop trip to France. The hand painted pillars and wall panels really were fabulous and I am sure the colours will be very influential on my future palette choices as they were just so stunning.    I am writing this from Harrogate as Andy has a stand at The Knitting & Stitching Show. We are not here with our Janie Crow hats on, but rather to exhibit Andy's hooks, needles and accessory stock. We have had a really big sort out at our storage units and have also brought along lots of reduced yarn, so if you are attending the show and are looking to nab a few yarny bargains do come along and visit us on stand YV14. This week I have been working on the project for our very last workshop of the year, which will take place in Bournemouth next week. Once that project is complete I will start to sort out the project for my workshop in Mysore, India in January. There are still some places on this incredible trip and you can find more information lower down this email.  We have had an amazing reaction to the patterns and kits for my Indigo and Crimson Dreams blanket, which originally featured as a crochet along project in Inside Crochet Magazine and I am so grateful to all of you who have shown so much positivity towards the design. We have added a couple of helpful videos that Emma has shot to help with a couple of the more tricky bits of the design. You can find these over on our YouTube channel. When I appeared on Yarn Lane TV a couple of weeks ago I demonstrated the heart motif and how to make the Half and Half Granny motif - something that we have not shown in our own videos. You can find the recording of the show by following this link. The demo comes about out an hour and 15 mins in. I was lucky enough to be on the show for 2 hours, so you will also find other demonstrations within the same video, including surface crochet and how I make crochet leaves.  You can find kits for both colour ways, (Indigo and Crimson) by following this link and the 24 page paper pattern brochure by following this link. Download patterns are available via Etsy and Ravelry. You can find more information about this project and all links on the website page here.  We have a few new projects for there Festive Season. My Twinkle Bunting pattern (shown below) was released during the first week of November and I have already reminded you about the Advent CAL, The Glad Tidings Wrap, which will take place over the first couple of weeks of December.  We have seen a bit of a run of sales for Christmassy things. We have quite a choice now including the Festive Decorations, Beaded Decorations and Festive Mini Stockings - click on the images below for more information. All are great stash busters!     Are you looking for something fun and a tad quirky for you and your family members to enjoy over the Christmas holidays? If you are a bit tired of the usual board games and party tricks, then how about taking a look at the Knit For Peace Party Kits.  Knit For Peace say: 'It comes in a box, crammed with yarn, needles, hooks, haberdashery and notions. Curated by textile artist Eliza Kenan, no two kits are alike. The Party Kit is all that’s needed for a fun filled get together with friends and neighbours (enough to keep 12 people crafting at the party!) There are activities for a wide range of skill levels and it provides the perfect excuse for getting in touch with old friends – invite them to your craft party! The perfect gift for anyone who loves knitting and crafts.' Kits cost £125 and KFP will waiver the £10 postage fee for any Janie Crow customers. Only available in the UK. Click here for more information - all proceeds go to the charity.  There are still places on my knitting and crochet workshop in Mysore, India in January with Knit For Peace. If you have been thinking about joining me, then I suggest you don't hesitate too much longer as booking will close very soon due to the length of time needed to apply for a visa.  The trip is almost 2 weeks long and all meals, trips to the charity's projects and workshops are included in the cost of the trip. You can find more information by following this link.  The video that accompanies Part Seven of my Sunshine and Showers blanket pattern is live on our Youtube channel here.  The patterns for each part of the CAL, which are split into 12 pieces, are available for just 95p each with the 'Getting Ready' document available to download for free here. You can find more information about the project by following this link. Yarn packs for the project (which is shown above centre right) are available via the website here. We also have kits in stock for the Primavera version of my Frida's Flowers blanket which is shown alongside the original version to the left.  We managed to secure another delivery of yarn to make kits for my Sandalwood version of Persian Tiles. The kits will be added to the website (as we build them) next week, from Wednesday onwards.   Sarah has recommended this recipe for Banana Bread which she made in her slow cooker. She says it was really yummy!    We will be at the show in Harrogate for the whole weekend, but I am hoping I might be able to squeeze in some time to take a wander around the town at some point. Harrogate is such a lovely place with some really impressive buildings and fab shops. It is especially lovely in the lead up to Christmas when everything is wonderfully festive! We have a couple of days at home next week and then we will be off to Bournemouth on Thursday for our final workshop of the year, so it is busy, busy, busy! I have to admit I am looking forward to a bit of a rest in December. I really enjoy these weeks in the lead up to Christmas and especially like catching up with friends and family over the festive period. I hope that whatever you have planned for the forthcoming days and weeks that you are able to enjoy a bit of down time too. We are so grateful to all those of you who follow our feed on Instagram. We have reached more than 80k followers this week, which is just incredible. I would like to thank Emma for all her help with Instagram and Gemma who does such a great job on the Janie Crow Facebook page - another of our social media platforms which is gaining followers all the time. I leave you with a link to watch the John Lewis Christmas Advert just in case you haven't managed to see it yet. I think its another cracker! Janie x   It is feeling decidedly chilly here in North London today and, after a very wet week, where the rain has seemed incessant at times, I have found myself indoors with my crochet quite a large proportion of the time. This is the time of year when I often feel inspired to work on new projects, so I have been busy trying to get myself organised for the forthcoming months. With autumn very definitely knocking at the door, I have been enjoying immersing myself in the world of lovely crochet to cheer myself up! I have quite a lot to tell you about this week including news of our Advent CAL, the Glad Tidings Wrap, which launches today. Gemma has also added in some fun things to this week's Quick Catch Up email, including her Facebook round up, her 'Words From The Web' piece and a lovely autumnal recipe. I hope you have five minutes to spare to catch up with all things Janie Crow...    Here at Janie Crow we have been getting increasingly excited this week about the release of the Glad Tidings Advent CAL, which will start on the 1st December and run through to the 15th. The patterns for the CAL will be released in daily parts via Ravelry and you can find lots more information about the project and what you will need to to do to get involved by following this link.   The wrap was originally designed for Jimmy Beans in the US and featured as their Craftvent CAL this time last year. Since then we have been working on the pattern in order to put it into the Janie Crow style and split it into easy to follow parts that will be released daily. We have also used this time to make some new versions, with my lovely test group making the wrap using yarns they found by rummaging through their stashes.  With almost 4 weeks to go before the first part of the pattern is released via Ravelry on the 1st of December you have plenty of time to source your yarn. If you want to use yarns from your stash you will need those that work to a 4 ply weight. You can use as many or as few shades as you wish. Alternatively, if you want to treat yourself to some new yarn to make the wrap, we have partnered with 2 of our favourite indie yarn producers, Eden Cottage Yarns and The Knitting Shed and they can help you make some lovely colour choices to make an extra special project. The cost to join the CAL is just £6.95 and it will only be hosted via Ravelry. If you would rather not join the CAL, but like the look of the wrap and fancy making it in the future and not within the time frame of the CAL, the pattern will be available in an amalgamated form in the future - at the moment we are unsure what price point this will have. We are planning to post a lot more information on our social media platforms over the forth coming days and weeks, so if you are on Facebook or Instagram do take a look. If you have read through the Getting Ready document and still have questions, then do get in touch by hitting reply. The document is available for free here and is also listed within the Ravelry project folder here if you want to sign up.  I had a lovely time celebrating Yarn Lane TV's second birthday party and felt incredibly touched to have been given 2 hour long slots on the show on Wednesday. During the first hour I chatted about my Indigo and Crimson Dreams blankets and demonstrated how to make the half and half granny square and the love heart. You can find the show archived on the Yarn Lane web site here.  After the lovely Stuart Hillard had recorded his hour-long show, where he talked about his fabulous Head Over Heels yarns, I appeared again to talk about Magic Circles, Mexican Diamonds, Persian Tiles and Frida Primavera. I demonstrated how to join pieces of crochet together and how to work surface crochet as well as how to make a crochet leaf. You can find the video for the show here.  On Tuesday we released our new festive pattern 'Twinkle Bunting'. I love how decorating the house at Christmas time brings back so many family memories. We have some decorations that date back quite a few generations and I especially like these old pieces. When setting out to design this bunting I wanted to create some crochet motifs that echoed the shape of our precious vintage Christmas tree baubles. I have added beads, bells and little 'shisha' mirrors to add a touch of sparkle and I am so pleased with the results.  The pattern for the bunting is written with three classic shades in mind - Navy, Mustard and Grey, but you could raid your stash for multicoloured left-overs to create a very different, vibrant look as in the image above. You can find more information by following this link and you can find the 8-page paper brochure pattern here. You can also find the download version of the pattern (which is in UK terms) on Ravelry and Etsy.  I had a great time in France last week tutoring a workshop where the group focussed on making some festive decorations using a collection of my patterns, including the new Twinkle Bunting. The fabulous group of crocheters came up with some really lovely ideas, such as wreaths and hanging decorations. You can find a few images on my Instagram page by following this link.  If you fancy having a go at making your own decorations too and want to use any of my patterns as the basis for your designs, just click on the images to be taken to the pattern pages. If you share your makes on Instagram, please use the hashtag #janiecrow so that we can see what you've been up to - we just love seeing your makes out in the wild!  We had a show & tell a couple of weeks ago over on the Facebook page and as usual we loved seeing all your lovely makes. You showed us your many versions of The Fruit Garden Blanket, as well as Magic Circles and Mystical Lanterns, but two of our favourites were this gorgeous Fox Lovey made by Yvonne Teunisson and a fabulous Christmas cushion cover made by Mary Woodall Cude.  We think we have found the pattern for the Fox Lovey here and have found the Noel cushion cover pattern for sale on Etsy via Two Little Birds here.   For those of you who are knitters, the wonderful charity Woolly Hugs are helping a Care Leavers project with their request for hat and scarf sets for young care leavers. The sets are given to care leavers (from foster and care homes) who are provided with Christmas dinner by Care Leavers Christmas Dinners. The deadline for posting is 21st November. You can find all the information at the Woolly Hugs website via this link or click on the image below  We absolutely love this story about Diana Baker, aged 77, who took on the amazing challenge of a wing walk on a 1940's biplane to raise money for a dementia charity. An anonymous crafter has made a crochet postbox topper in her honour. We think they are both amazing!  Most of us will have seen the images of Tom Daley knitting and crocheting between dives at the Olympics but this article delves a little deeper into what role yarn crafts have played in his life over the last few years. It's an interesting read. You can follow Tom's yarny tales over on Instagram @madewithlovebytomdaley.   At this time of year Gemma is lucky enough to have access to a plentiful supply of windfall cooking apples and this is one of her favourite recipes to make in the slow cooker.  You can leave out the cranberries if you're not keen and a garlic clove or two makes a good addition. It's a great accompaniment to all sorts of meals and you definitely don't have to wait until Christmas day to make it!  I am looking forward to my first full weekend at home in a while. I had a good clear up in the front garden last Sunday as we had a deluge of fallen leaves and I wanted to make it look nice for Halloween. I decorated the little iron table that sits outside our front door with a lantern, some cute little squashes and lots of clementines. We really enjoyed greeting all the little 'Trick or Treaters' who visited us, despite the rain! There are more leaves to clear up this weekend so I am hoping it stays dry long enough for me to do the same job all over again!  I was really pleased to finish my hand knitted 'orchid' sweater while I was away in France last week and think it will make a very cosy addition to my wardrobe. I have made a pact with myself to finish some of my WIPs before starting anything new, so have returned to working on a slip-over made in Rico yarn that I started at the beginning of the year. You can find the pattern I am working from here if you fancy taking a look - it is a really simple knit. If you want to watch something uplifting as we head into the weekend then I suggest you take a look at this video of an awesome teacher who has created an individual greeting for each of his students. What a guy! And - if you fancy a laugh at some members of the animal kingdom, then why not take a look at the images selected for the comedy wildlife awards here. I think the one below is probably my favourite!  Oh - I almost forgot! Andy has been doing quite a lot of work on the website over the last week, updating our stock levels of kits and patterns. He has finally had time to add the Cohana range of snips and scissors to the store and update the stock levels of the items in the Della Q makers bag range. You can find the Cohana pages here and the Della Q listings here. I think these items would make great gifts, so if you are beginning to think about presents, either for yourself or for others, do take a look. I hope that whatever you have planned for your weekend that you will have a lovely time. I will be back in 2 weeks with my November newsletter, but I hope that you will keep up to date with all that is going on here in the meantime via our social media channels. Do get in touch if you have any questions or things you want to show us. Sending yarny hugs.... Janie x    It's already a really busy week here at Janie Crow and it's only Tuesday! I know I usually pop into your inbox on a Friday, but I am here today to let you know that my new pattern 'Twinkle Bunting' is now available. I love how decorating the house at Christmas time brings back so many family memories. We have some decorations that date back quite a few generations and I especially like these old pieces. When setting out to design this bunting I wanted to create some crochet motifs that echoed the shape of our precious vintage Christmas tree baubles.I have added beads, bells and little 'shisha' mirrors to add a touch of sparkle and I am so pleased with the results.  The pattern for the bunting is written with three classic shades in mind - Navy, Mustard and Grey, but you could raid your stash for multicoloured left overs to create a very different, vibrant look as in the image above. You can find more information by following this link and you can find the 8 page paper brochure pattern here. You can also find the download version of the pattern (which is in UK terms) on Ravelry and Etsy   I had a great time in France last week tutoring a workshop where the group focussed on making some festive decorations using a collection of my patterns, including the new Twinkle Bunting. The fabulous group of crocheters came up with some really lovely ideas, such as wreaths and hanging decorations. You can find a few images on my Instagram page by following this link.  If you fancy having a go at making your own decorations too, and want to use any of my patterns as the basis for your designs, just click on the images to be taken to the pattern pages. If you share your makes on Instagram please use the hashtag #janiecrow so that we can see what you've been up to - we just love seeing your makes out in the wild!    As I said already - it is a busy week here at Janie Crow and I have a big list of things to do, especially as I will be on Yarn Lane TV tomorrow morning at 9am and then again at 11am to celebrate the channel's birthday. I hope you will be able to tune in as I will be demonstrating some little crochet techniques and talking about some of my blankets, including my most recent blanket release Indigo Dreams. That's pretty much it from me for now, but I will be back in your inbox on Friday with a quick catch-up email that will include news of how you can join in our Advent CAL project the Glad Tidings Wrap.   |
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