The most recent crochet design to feature in Inside Crochet Magazine as part of the Spirit of Flora CAL is called 'Double Carnations'. It is another motif to feature two flowers sitting at opposite corners of the square motifs and it has been great to see them popping up 'out in the wild' over the last week or so. It amazes me how quickly some of you get them made! As you know, this project was inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the work of ceramicist William De Morgan in particular. Botanical symbolism was widely adopted by members of the movement in their art work, and plants were often used as metaphors for virtue and vice. William used the carnation flower frequently in his designs and it was often depicted as a symbol of love. Spirit of Flora is drawing to a close now with the final block due to be released in December. It doesn't seem possible! The project was a HUGE undertaking - 13 individual block designs, 3 blanket layouts, a bag and shawl pattern, as well as 2 cushion design options and 3 borders - this was never going to be a small undertaking! From the outset we wanted the CAL to be a project where crocheters forged their own paths, either by making the motifs using yarns from their stashes, or by choosing completely different colour palettes. We also hoped that some of you would choose to make things other than a blanket and so have shown a bag design, a shawl, and most recently a pair of cushions. The team at Inside Crochet always create such lovely images of my projects and we have come to expect a really high level of styling and photography from the dream team who are Claire Montgomerie and Leanne Jade. When I first saw the images of the cushions this week they really blew me away, so I am sharing a few here as they are just so stunning! This month's Inside Crochet Magazine also features a supplement pattern for my beaded Glitzy Festive Stockings shown below: When we were children my brother and I would place hessian sacks at the end of our beds for Father Christmas to fill with gifts overnight. The sacks felt huge back then and I remember how we would drag them into our parent’s room, probably at some ridiculously early hour, on Christmas Day to rummage through them, always finding satsumas and nuts at the bottom. These decorative crochet stockings are not large enough to hold lots of presents, but they would make the perfect addition to the fireplace none the less and are definitely large enough to fit a few small gifts in or would make a lovely gift in themselves. The sight of a festive stocking hanging ready by the fireplace for Santa to fill epitomises all things festive don’t you think? To me they symbolise the expectation of gifts and people arriving to celebrate with us, as well as creating a lovely decoration. Don't forget that we now have kits for a new version of my Bohemian Blooms Crochet Along Style project. The original pattern is written for yarns from the Rowan range, but as 3 of the shades are now discontinued we decided it was time to give the project a revamp. Our new kits include yarns from the Stylecraft range and we have chosen shades that almost exactly match those used in the original project. The tension of the new yarn palette crochets up the same as the original, but we decided that the new version would not include beads so that crocheters can see what it looks like without them and have the choice of whether or not they want to add them - not everyone is a fan of bling like me! We have created a quick video that shows the two versions of the blanket and you can find over on our Instagram feed. We have made a yarn substitution document, which also suggests alternative yarns for the discontinued yarns in the Rowan version should you wish to source yarns from their range. You can find it by following this link. With a multitude of cut-price offers bombarding our in-boxes care of Black Friday this week, it is good to know that a growing number of consumers are opting to support smaller retailers over the big discounts and the start of the heavily promotional Christmas season, which can appear all consuming. At Janie Crow we are rarely able to offer bargain prices on our kits, but instead choose to do offers on patterns from time to time. This week however, we do have a sale offer for you in the shape of the Crimson Dreams yarn kits, which are discounted by 20%. We only have limited stock available in our 'Crimson Friday' deal, so you might need to be quick! Kits are reduced from £74.50 to £59.60 - they will not be restocked at this price once our current stock has sold through. This blanket project was originally designed in a blue colourway and you can find more information by following this link. I am really excited to reveal that I have been nominated in two different categories in the Yarn Industry awards for 2023. I am really proud that my name appears in the 'Best Independent Designer' section and within the 'Best Online Personality' category. I am up against some true giants of the yarn world, many of them with many more followers than me, so I am flattered simply to have been nominated, but if you do want to vote for me, or any of the other fabulous nominees, please follow this link. I love projects that use up left overs or small amounts of yarn and I really adore adding beads to crochet stitches, so I am really excited that the pattern for the beaded pouches are available for all you eager crocheters who love stash busting projects and a bit of bling too - they would make a particularly nice accessory for a festive outfit! You can find the patterns available as downloads on Etsy and Ravelry and as paper copies (UK terms only for this one I'm afraid) by following this link to the Janie Crow store. If you fancy a bit of stash-busting in the lead up to Christmas, and also want to make something to decorate your home, why not take a look at our festive patterns. We have mini stockings, bunting and hanging decorations. Here at Janie Crow we all love the Mystical Lanterns pelmet/bunting that I first saw at Folklore Yarns in Belfast. It’s a lovely way to interpret the pattern and add mirrors to the centre of the motifs to add some extra sparkle! I am really looking forward to taking part in the Wool in Garden City event in January. I will be taking part in a 'meet the designer' session on Saturday 20th and will also be at the Preview Evening event on Friday 19th. Both These events are ticketed -the preview tickets are £10 and are available now. A full list of workshops and events will be published soon. Click here for more information. If you are looking for some little gifts that are perfect for popping in Advent Calendars or giving to a yarny friend as a Secret Santa present, how about checking out our Janie Crow & Emma Ball Collection. The little tins, stitch markers and notebooks are incredibly popular and make ideal small gifts. For the festive season we have bauble cards that feature images of my crochet designs. The baubles detach from the cards and can be hung on the tree. We also have jigsaws and there are still some calendars left in stock if you want to get organised for 2024. You can find a little reel I made yesterday of the bauble cards and the jigsaws on our Instagram account. This is a 'ta dah' moment as I want to show you the two self-seeded butternut squash that we have harvested from the garden. Aren't they fabulous! And utterly free! We will definitely be growing them again in 2024 and next time we will let them all grow rather than mistaking them for courgettes and eating them far too early!!! Despite being big butternut squash fans, we haven't cooked either of the homegrown pair yet, but last week I did buy another squash and make the soup recipe that Emma found a few weeks ago. It was totally delicious so I really recommend it. I popped all the veg in to roast while I was cooking something else in the oven at the same time and even managed to make some focaccia bread to go with it. My pics don't do it justice as it was really yummy! You can find the recipe by following this link. We are in Bournemouth this weekend for our Festive Inspired Minds workshop. The hotel is beautifully decorated for Christmas already and Debbie and I have designed a festive project for our workshop group to make over the weekend - I will reveal the design on my social media platforms next week. The weather forecast is good for the whole weekend so we are hoping to squeeze in some beach walks while we are away and maybe a little bit of Christmas shopping. I hope that you are also looking forward to a nice couple of days whatever you have planned. Janie x
It has been a fortnight of pretty much incessant rain here in North London. I have to admit that I have found the transition from summer to autumn to winter a bit tricky this year so I am particularly pleased to have my crochet to focus on now the clocks have changed and I can settle down on the settee in the evenings for a bit of 'me' time. I have a few things to tell you about this week so I hope you can spare 5 minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow... Last Friday I spent the evening with Gemma at a charity fundraising event where I gave a talk about my design history and process. I think many of the audience members were surprised to hear just how many stages a design goes through and how long winded the process can be. As we near the end of the Spirit of Flora CAL in Inside Crochet magazine I thought you might also be interested to read about my process and see some 'behind the scenes' images so, with help from my fabulous assistant Emma, I have published a post about it on my blog. You can find it here. I want to remind you about our new yarn kits for the Bohemian Blooms blanket project which I showcased a few weeks ago. The Stylecraft yarn shades in the new kits are almost identical in colour to the original Rowan branded yarns, but they come in at a more affordable retail price. The patterns are written in a crochet along style in UK terms and feature in the dedicated pattern book. You can find more information by following this link. Mary Maxim have recently released a yam pack for my Summer Palace blanket in the Blue/Pink colourway. The pack includes their Mellowspun yarn and is particularly cost effective for those of you in the US and Canada. You can find more information here. Many people probably feel that it is still too early to start using the word 'Festive' or any others linked to Christmas, but it is fair to say that us yarny folk need to start planning our holiday makes relatively early. I am hoping to create an Advent calendar using my Mini Festive Stockings pattern. I had planned to make a stocking pretty much every day for the duration of November, but so far I have only to managed to finish one, despite the fact that I have already bought all the chocolate treats to pop inside! At this rate I will be crocheting them right up until Christmas day! Perhaps you can be more organised than me and have yours ready for December 1st? I am using a palette of mint, yellow and green shades to match our living room and would love to see them in more colourways, so do share your makes using #Janiecrow on social media platforms. I have cut right back on teaching commitments for next year, in order to concentrate on my design work, but I am really looking forward to the Arena Travel, Stitchtopia trip to Peru in July. Textile expert Karin Hellaby is currently accompanying a group on a similar tour there, so if you're interested in seeing her images of the trip, which include pics of some super cute alpacas and some lovely squishy yarn, then head over to her Facebook page. There are still some spaces left on this incredible textile holiday, so if you are interested in finding out more take a look at The Arena Travel website here. I will be participating in the Wool in Garden City Festival which will take place in January. The event is a week long pop-up yarn show in Welwyn Garden City. A few exhibitors, including myself have already been revealed and there will be workshops and other yarn related events you can attend. The pop up is free to visit, but if you would like to come to the preview evening on Friday 19th January, you can purchase a ticket for £10. You can find more information by following this link. I launched my first crochet along project in 2011 after I was inspired by Debbie Abrahams's Mystery Blanket Club which she has been running for well over a decade. Debbie was instrumental in encouraging my crochet designs and she has been an incredible support to me over the years. Debbie has recently started the application process for her 2024 (knitted) Mystery Blanket Club and it has already nearly sold out. If you're interested in Debbie's club follow this link for more information. Have you visited the Janie Crow YouTube channel lately? We are regularly adding new videos to help with basic techniques through to videos to support you with specific projects, such as Sunshine & Showers and Indigo Dreams. You can see some examples below. Click on any of the images to be taken through to the video on the YouTube channel and if you subscribe to the channel you'll be notified when new videos are added. If you're struggling with a particular section of any of our projects please let us know. If lots of you are finding the same thing tricky we will add it to our list of topics for future videos. Over on Facebook we reminded our followers of three crochet along projects for which the patterns remain free to download from the Stylecraft Yarns website here. Those projects are Lily Pond, Frida's Flowers and, of course, The Fruit Garden. Some of you shared photos of your projects with us: Here's Betsy Fruhling with her Lily Pond blanket: Carol Baker also made Lily Pond but in the Cherry Blossom colourway - we don't see this one so often so it's lovely to see such a beautiful example. Here's Joanna Whymark's Frida's Flowers in the Primavera colourway. Just gorgeous! Thanks, as always, for sharing. We love a good show and tell! Have you ever tried making pesto using parsley? Faced with a large bunch in the grocery box this week Gemma decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised with the results. It has a fresher, lighter taste than pesto made with basil, but was equally delicious stirred through a bowl of gnocchi! There are plenty of recipes available, but you can find the one Gemma used by clicking on the image above. Alzheimer's Research UK are currently running a fundraiser in which they are challenging those taking part to knit, sew or crochet every day in November to raise £100 for vital dementia research. If this is something you would be interested in taking part in you can find out more by clicking on this link or on the image below: In the village of Stanley Common in Derbyshire a local crafter, Jilly Crofts, known locally as the 'Crochet Queen', has spent over 200 hours crocheting a life size World War 1 soldier to be ready in time for Remembrance Day. Isn't it incredible? You can read more about why Jilly decided to make the soldier here. We have a quiet weekend planned after meeting some friends in London today for a walking tour. The forecast is for rain again, so I am sure to be snuggled on the sofa with my crochet hook at some point. I am still working on my granny hexagon cardigan and it is shaping up really nicely! I have been sent a book called 'The Lost Flock', by Jane Cooper and hope to find some time to start reading it over the next few days. It's described as a 'windswept love letter to Scotland's heritage sheep and to the Orkney farming community too!' and is all about the authors life as she cares for the UK's last remaining flock of Boreray sheep. If you would like to read it after me, reply to this email, quoting your address (UK only I'm afraid) and I will pick one of you to send it to - so long as you promise to pass it along to another reader once you're done. With big thanks to Chelsea Green Publishing for sending me the book. I will be back in your inbox in a fortnight's time with the November Newsletter. Don't forget that we love hearing from you and seeing your makes out in the wild, so do get in touch or tag us on social media so that we can see what you're up to. Janie x
Next week’s pattern release for the Spirit of Flora crochet along project, which has been running in Inside Crochet Magazine, will be the penultimate one and we simply can’t believe just how quickly the CAL has flown past over the course of 2023. I am incredibly proud of the design and could not have envisaged at the start of the year just how amazingly well the crochet community would embrace it. Last week, I gave a presentation at a fundraising event and the audience was surprised to hear about how many jobs are involved in the process of taking a design from conception through to completion. With lots of designs on the go at the same time this is something that myself and the team here at Janie Crow are constantly working on, so I guess we have taken it for granted that you all know what goes into a design from start to finish. Finding an inspiration source for a design can take ages, or it can come quickly. Sometimes it is as simple as seeing an image as a I flick through a magazine, but other times it can be something that formulates over the course of many months. Once I’ve got the idea for a design, I start by creating mood boards and then begin to try out a large colour palette. I start by 'doodling' with my crochet and the more crochet I do the more I can whittle down the colour palette - usually choosing somewhere between 8 and 11 shades for my final design. Usually I draw a design out on graph paper to scale using a pencil and then I start to crochet my motif to fit, adjusting and rethinking along the way. Some motifs won’t make it to the final design (The Blue House blanket for example came about after a block didn’t make it into the Frida’s Flowers crochet along project) and lots of crochet doodles get put to the side along the way. The design process for the Spirit of Flora CAL was a long one. There are 13 individual block designs, 3 blanket layouts, a bag and shawl pattern, as well as 2 cushion design options and 3 borders - this was never going to be a small undertaking with many people involved along the way! Once the crochet motifs start to look like something viable I remake and refine them and then start the pattern writing process. As a rule I write my patterns by hand first and then transfer them onto a word document, finally putting them into our house style. After that, I send them to my test crocheters to make and we refine them again. (Shout out to the people who pack and send the yarn to them to make this happen!) The test crocheters feedback any issues and then the pattern goes to a technical editor - who often finds things that the crocheters haven't - usually incorrect stitch counts and grammar errors. Once we have a definitive pattern we photograph the steps and make more adjustments if needed. Finally the pattern is checked through once more by myself and Emma and (if time allows) another crocheter. As this project was for Inside Crochet magazine, there were extra steps to consider: researching the shoot location, the styling and the photography - the image above was taken by the fabulous Leanne who managed to capture my joy at discovering a May Morris embroidered bed cover under the dust sheet at the Emery Walker House - what a total joy! Eventually the pattern and photos make it to magazine layout stage where it is worked on by a graphic designer with additional text added by the editorial team. At this stage, everything is checked again before heading out into the world! For the motifs in Spirit of Flora I have calculated that the blocks were looked over by at least 5 crocheters, myself and Emma, the magazine layout team and the editor, so maybe 9 people before it went off to print! Of course there are other things happening too: the team packing and sending out yarn kits, Sarah dealing with pattern queries and Andy heading up all other email related enquiries as well as Emma and Gemma, my ace social media team, monitoring and posting on our platforms and responding to queries of all sorts.
In short, it is a BIG job, a mini-industry, with lots of people involved along the way. I am indebted to everyone involved in Spirit of Flora – and especially to you for being so welcoming of it and making it – what an amazing team effort to make this project such a success. Thank you all so much! |
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THIS LINK AuthorWelcome to my blog. Here you will find my email newsletter archive alongside any other general musings or information about events or new pattern releases that I wish to share with you! Archives
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