 The spring and early summer time has been a really busy period for me this year, with three residential workshops happening in a short space of time. This weekend we will be running our final workshop of the season in Bournemouth. I have designed a project based on my Indigo Dreams blanket, so if you look on my Instagram account over the weekend you might find a few sneaky peeks of my new colour way of the project, which will be released in the autumn.  I love workshops, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to next week when I can start to think about some new projects and finally get my designing hat on. I have a few really exciting things in the pipeline that I have had to put on a back burner for the last few months, so it will be really good to be working on something new and I look forward to showing you what I am up to. Thank you for all the lovely feedback from last week's 'Quick Catch Up' email and for your continued support. It really does mean so much to know you are all out there enjoying my designs. This week's newsletter is a little bit of a repeat performance as I have mentioned quite a few of the things I talked about last week, but hopefully there will still be something that interests you..   Thank you so much to all those of you who have purchased a copy of Julie's Bunting pattern. The project was designed in memory of my sister-in-law, with a percentage of the profit going to Bowel Cancer UK. I am so happy to reveal that we have raised a fabulous total of £393.75 over the last month, which we will donate to the charity within the next couple of days.   Emma has done a new video to accompany Part Two of my Sunshine and Showers Blanket. The second pattern features pretty puff flowers and a textural stitch which is made by working into the back loop of one stitch and then the front loop of the next. You can find Emma's brilliant video by following this link to our Youtube channel.  We still have a good stock level for the following kits, so if you are looking for a new project, do take a look on the website by clicking on the images below:    The Fruit Garden - Love is Enough & Night & Dusk kits in stock.      Persian Tiles - original and light blue version.  Other kits are available, so if the one you are looking for is not listed above please do take a look at the website to check our stock holding.  Last week I received an email from Michele Dillon who has made a garment using my Mystical Lanterns design - isn't it lovely! Marie says: 'In response to your 'what are we up to?' request, I am enclosing pictures of my latest f.o. I call it "Marie Wallin meets Janie Crow." I purchased yarn to make Marie's "Ninian" cardigan, & I knit the back, but thought it looked like a muddy mess. I fell in love with your "Mystical Lanterns" blanket on the Fruity Knitting episode in which you were interviewed. I immediately purchased the pattern, but hadn't gotten around to making it. So instead of knitting "Ninian," I decided to rip out what I had done so far, & try to turn your amazing blanket into a sweater. I am quite pleased with the results. It was a fun brain challenge to figure it all out. I loved working with the your design and I thank you for the instructions of all the partial motifs......I am also enclosing photos of it during a blocking as this gives you an idea of how it all came together'.   It was fantastic to see this fabulous new sculpture unveiled at Waterloo Station this week. Designed by renowned Jamaican artist Basil Watson and delivered with £1 million funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Monument symbolises the courage, commitment and resilience of the thousands of men, women and children who travelled to the UK to start new lives from 1948 to 1971.  I found this lovely account by India Rose Crawford on Instagram and thought it might create a calming moment to lead you into your weekend. I think the little movie showing Frog's morning routine is really cute and you can find lots of lovely images on there too.  As usual we cannot rely on the great British weather to give us a nice sunny weekend, but I hope that whatever you have planned you have great time regardless! As usual - if you want to get in touch and let us know what you are up to do hit reply and let us know what is on your mind. Sending yarny hugs from the seaside... Janie x   I am back from a fabulous workshop trip to Finland with Arena Travel and have spent the last few days attempting to get back into work mode in here in the studio - not an easy task when the weather is so lovely and warm and the garden is calling me! I hope that wherever you are you are keeping cool and enjoying this snippet of heat. I think we need to make the most of it as the forecast is looking cooler as we head into next week. I am here with a quick catch up email to tell you about a few things going on here. I had hoped to send this to you last week, but I was so busy in Finland that I didn't even open my lap top! I have a few things to tell you about this week so I hope you can spare a couple of minutes to catch up with all the news here at Janie Crow.   As I have already said, the trip to Finland was super! We had 3 days in Helsinki and then 3 in Vaasa, where I finally got to see Korsnas sweaters being made. I have waited so long to see these amazing garments and felt a bit emotional when I finally laid eyes on them, especially as the craftsmanship was so exquisite. The garments are a traditional piece of local costume and are made using both crochet and knitting techniques. The crochet bands are made using 4ply yarn and a fine (2mm) hook, with intricate patterns that are created by changing yarn shade using the jacquard technique, with up to four colours used per round.   The crochet bands are then knitted onto by a group of three women. The pattern repeat is made by working one round using the fairisle technique and two rounds of stocking stitch using cream. One lady in the group does the colour and the other two work in cream. Working in this way means that three rounds can be worked at the same time. It kind of blew my mind to begin with, but when I thought it through I could see how logical it was to work in this way in order to speed up the production process.  You can find more images from my trip, where we also did a beaded mitts knitting workshop and learnt to make 'Himmeli' mobiles on my Instagram feed here. If you are interested in participating in this wonderful trip I think there are still a few spaces left on the next holiday in August with Carol Meldrum. You can find more information by following this link.   If you are beginning to think about workshop trips for next year, then you might be interested in joining me on the Knit For Peace trip to Mysore in January. I have booked my flight this morning and am really looking forward to going back to India after what will be a 3 year break. Mysore is an amazing city with lots to see and do and the trip also includes visits to local projects supported by the charity. Morning (weekday) workshops are included in the price and they take place under the shady pergola in the garden so that we can all keep cool. The yarn for the project I will set is also included in the cost of the trip. There will be plenty of time for shopping and sightseeing too! If you have never been to India, the surroundings of Mysore are a gentle introduction to this amazing country. If you have been to India before, but maybe only visited larger cities on the travellers trail, then you might like the idea of going somewhere a little less touristy to get a true taste of India. The holiday runs from 11th to 25th January and you can find more information about the trip by contacting KFP. You can find FAQs by following this link. The last few months have been all about preparing for workshops as I had the Iceland and Finland trip and next week I will be tutoring a workshop in Bournemouth. Working on workshop projects has meant that I have had to put new design plans on the back burner for a while. I am really looking forward to getting stuck back into some new design work in July and really hope that you might get to see a new project in the autumn when we will also be launching the pattern and new colour way of my Indigo Dreams blanket. We finally have good stock of a large number of project kits. I know it can be hard to think about a large blanket project when it is warm, but I also know that many of you have been eagerly waiting for some of these to be available. We have good stock of all the following kits. Please click on the images for more information:  Emma's video to accompany Part Two will be available to watch for free on our Youtube channel next week    The Fruit Garden - Love is Enough & Night & Dusk kits in stock.      Persian Tiles - original and light blue version.  Other kits are available, so if the one you are looking for is not listed above please do take a look at the website to check our stock holding.  After coming across an article in the British press a couple of weeks ago (see 'Words from the Web' later on in this email) we asked the following question of our Facebook followers: What does crochet mean to you? Almost 90 of you shared your thoughts with us and, although there were a variety of themes coming through in your answers, the main answers were that crochet helps you to manage anxiety and stay calm; that it has helped during times of illness and that it helps in coping with disability. For some of you the use of colour in crochet is a form of therapy, whilst for others it has helped you to socialise with fellow crafters. Some took up crochet during lock-down, whereas others were taught by family members and are passing the skills down to their children. All very interesting stuff! If you'd like to read the comments in more detail, head on over to our Facebook page by clicking on the image below.  Of course, we must also mention Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee pageant which took place a fortnight ago. Knowing that lots of yarn bombing has been going on around the country, we asked you to share any images of examples you had come across or had a hand in making. Here are some of the brilliant photos you sent through to us:      Here is the article that prompted us to ask the question about what crochet means to you over on our Facebook page. Please note that the article header does contain flashing images so we would recommend caution if you are sensitive to these. We would be really interested to hear from you if you have used crochet as a form of therapy. If you are struggling with your mental health or with any other health issues you can find links to organisations that can help you at the end of the article - just click on the image below:  Have you ever heard of 'camouflage' knitting? We were blown away when we came across an article about garments that are created to seamlessly blend into their surroundings. The collaboration between photographer Joseph Ford and knitting professional Nina Dodd was published in the book 'Invisible Jumpers' in 2019, click on the image below for more information.  Nina is based in Brighton and you can see more of her work on her website here. Some of the projects are just so clever!  Gemma had a go at making this speedier version of lasagne a few weeks ago. She substituted the sausages with courgettes, red peppers and celery to make a vegetarian version. The ricotta topping was really tasty and the overall dish had a lighter feel than a traditional lasagne. Gemma would highly recommend it!  I am planning to make an aubergine one pot lasagna this evening, so I will let you know how I have got on with that next week. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's VEG book, but you can also find it here.   What do you like to knit or crochet during the warm weather? I have been working on a blanket project, so have been using some thickish yarns which have made me feel a bit hot and sticky at times, but I also have a few smaller cotton motifs on my hook so that I don't get too warm. I think that today's crochet will be done later on this evening when it is likely to be a little cooler in the garden. This will be my first weekend at home in a few weeks and we have the family coming over on Sunday (just when the weather is due to break!) so I am looking forward to seeing them and spending some time pottering around - my new favourite things to do! We are still working on the lean-to that Andy added to the summer house last year. It now has a roof and we have been staining the wood darker. It already feels so good to sit up in the garden under cover and I am really looking forward to the point where I can start to dress it all up with shelves, lanterns and pot plants. I love the fact that the summer time provides us with so much more space, even if it is for a relatively short time. I try to spend as much time out there as I can, pretty much whatever the weather!   I am a huge fan of junk shop finds and love walking around our local charity shops in search of bric-a-brac and small pieces of furniture. Andy has banned me from bringing anymore small tables home (I have a bit of a things for them), but this week I came across 2 fabulous chests, one of which I have since discovered is probably a 'bible box'. I think it is really old and it has definitely seen better days so I am hoping to spend some giving it a bit of a tidy up this weekend. I will post some images on my Lifestyle Instagram feed if you want to see the process. The top image shows my box and the image underneath that one is from a feed I have found that features lots of similar items. As always, I would love to hear what you might be working on at the moment, whether it is a knit or crochet project or something completely different. You might be attempting to renovate a piece of furniture like me, or you might have a garden project going on - whatever it is, please let us know. I hope you enjoy the forthcoming weekend and that you all stay safe. Janie x    This week it has been my turn to reveal a crochet project designed for the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party Collection. My design is for a pretty beaded bunting, which I have called 'Julie's Bunting' in memory of Andy's amazing sister who lost her courageous battle against bowel cancer in January.   Julie loved a party and was great at organising food, music and a dance floor at the drop of a hat. She liked nothing more than a family get together and a good old boogie! Julie was a big fan of bunting and was great at sorting out the decorations, with fabric and paper flags always taking centre stage! My bunting features a pretty layered flower at the centre with three little crochet leaves. I have used some delicate pastel shades (including a lovely soft shade of yellow -Julie's favourite colour) from the Stylecraft Naturals - Bamboo + Cotton yarn range and silver beads, which sit at the tip of picots made within the lacy edging. I have used a ribbon threaded through the top edge of the flags to hang them up and you can make 9 pennants from the yarn amounts given in the pattern, which will create a length of approximately 2.6m of bunting.  The pattern is available as a download via Etsy and Ravelry or as a paper version via the website. The pattern is £6.95 and we will donate just over 25% of the sale price (£1.75) to Bowel Cancer UK for every copy sold, whether you choose paper or a download. I think the bunting would make a really lovely decoration for a wedding reception or a christening if made in the pastel shades I have chosen, but I think it would also look fabulous in some bright, fun shades for a birthday party or to decorate a child's room. The project is a great stash buster too - I hope you like it! 'Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile.' Mark Twain  I love my garden and spend a huge amount of time pottering around in it this time of year. I am sure you can tell that I am a big fan of flowers as they feature in almost all of my designs, so when the team from Inside Crochet approached me about designing for their Cottage Garden inspired issue of the magazine I jumped at the chance and created two pretty floral inspired cushions.  My Gertrude cushion features small beaded crochet flowers made into lacy hexagons that are then joined to create the cushion cover. The cushion is named after British horticulturalist, garden designer, craftswoman, artist and photographer Gertrude Jekyll, who created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the US. The flower motif used in the Gertrude cushion cover can also be used as a brooch or pin design as in the image below.  Once I had created my floral cushion I felt that it needed a partner and so I designed a round cushion with a bobble edge to compliment it and make a lovely set. When I was a child my Auntie Muriel had some of those lovely pleated edge round velvet cushions on her bed. I loved stroking the velvet pile and adored the smocking on them.  I have already attempted to replicate the cushion in knitting, creating my Madeleine cushions in my book 'Homespun Vintage' and so I felt it was time to do a simplified crochet version using bobbles on the edge. My round cushion is called Muriel after my Auntie. The patterns for the two cushions currently feature in Inside Crochet Magazine issue 147, which is called Cottage Garden.  We will be revisiting my Sunshine and Showers blanket design over the course of this year and into 2023. The CAL was released 5 years ago and features a new stitch for every month of the year, based on typical weather here in the UK. The pattern is available in parts as downloads, but we have never had videos to accompany the design, so my lovely new assistant Emma is in the process of creating some to help anyone who wants to work through the project.  You can find a new introductory video about the CAL on my YouTube Channel, where we have also created a playlist so that each new video can be loaded onto there as it is released. Part One, which features the techniques used in the patterns for May, is available now and the video for Part Two will be on YouTube in a couple of weeks time. 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.  Just under a fortnight ago I returned from an amazing trip to Iceland where I was tutoring some workshops with a group of lovely knitters as part of the Arena Travel, Stitchtopia holidays. We had the most amazing time and I have some fabulous memories of the trip, but since I got home I have been struggling to catch up with my workload and also had a couple of technical mishaps which have meant that I only just feel like I am getting up to speed now. Apologies that these things led to me being a little under the radar this last week or so. Hopefully normal service has resumed now and that I will be up to speed for the next couple of weeks before I head off to Finland for my next workshop adventure!  As I said already, the trip to Iceland really was an amazing one. The ladies in the knitting group were great fun and they all bonded beautifully and got on with their projects with gusto. I designed a cushion project for the group, which I am thinking of naming Glorious Bolette after the ship we sailed on. I encouraged them to make changes to the pattern to come up with their own projects.  A few of the group made draw string bags and Melli made a wonderful duffle bag using a little extra yarn that she purchased in Iceland and draw strings made from Scottish rune thong necklaces that she found in Orkney - it even had an Icelandic button! A few of the ladies made cowls. You can see Trish's one in the image above with a lovely crochet edge. I will be releasing the pattern for the design, which used Rowan Yarn's gorgeous Alpaca Soft DK, later on in the year.   Whilst we were away we managed to find some fabulous yarn stores, including Folklore Yarns in Belfast, which was a total joy to visit. One of the highlights of the trip (in regards to yarn anyway) was a visit to Hespa natural dye studio and the group really loved Garni Gangi in Akureyi too.  A couple of days before I headed off to Iceland I made another appearance on Yarn Lane TV. The show focused on my Fruit Garden blanket and I showed how to make a layered flower and join crochet pieces together. You can find the video of the show by following this link.    So that's quite a lot of news about what is going on for me, but I want to use this opportunity to showcase the work of a friend of mine who makes the most lovely crochet things for babies and toddlers. If you like making things for little ones I urge you to take a look at Gurinder Kaur Hatchard's new book 'Head To Toe Crochet', which is just the cutest thing! Gurinder is a really talented designer whose work often appears in Inside Crochet Magazine. She works under her company name of Yay For Crochet and I really recommend you take a look at her feed on Instagram too. You can find a link to pre-order this lovely book via Gurinder's website here.  I cannot believe just how quickly the weeks and months are flying by. I feel like I am only just getting into the swing of 2022 and already I am starting to put dates in my diary for next year, something that always feels a little scary as I try not to plan too far ahead. However, there are some things in life that need to be organised well in advance such as trips and holidays, so I suppose it should not be surprising that dates for next year are already booking up.   In very exciting news I have been asked to return to Mysore, India to tutor a workshop for Knit For Peace in January 2023. I have tutored 3 of the workshops at The fabulous Green Hotel on previous occasions and love it there, so I am very excited about the prospect of the trip happening again after what will be a 3 year break. If you would like to join me in India for this amazing trip you can register your interest via the Knit For Peace website, which you can find here.   I have also committed to teach a crochet workshop in France in June next year. Despite this trip being more than a year away, the workshop is already fully booked, but you can find more information about the other workshops on offer and possibly join a waiting list should anyone cancel by following this link.  Having been away for the last couple of weeks I have done very little cooking or baking. It was Summer's birthday on the 17th so I made my first Victoria sponge of the year. British raspberries and strawberries with some fresh whipped cream are one of my favourite things!  As I think I have told you before I always use Mary Berry's Victoria sponge recipe - but add an extra egg to make it even lighter!  We are looking forward to a day in the garden with family tomorrow afternoon, so Andy is planning to make a favourite recipe of ours. It is an upside down Mediterranean style tart, which Jamie Oliver calls a 'Reverse Puff Pastry Pizza'. The recipe features in the book called 'Veg', which we use a lot as a guide for making yummy veggie meals. You can find a video showing the recipe here. Andy uses Feta in place of Mozzarella and it is so good!  The response to our recent fundraising campaign in aid of UNHCR was fantastic, with so many of you purchasing my Fields of Gold blanket design. The motifs that make up the project are put together using the 'join as you go' method so we thought it would be a good idea to create a video that shows you how to do this.   Emma has created a great technique video that shows how to work some of the more complex aspects of the design and in particular how to join the motifs as you go. Within the video Emma also shows how to work the two colour crochet method that Lucia used in her Fiori version of the design. You can find the video here.   Along with almost 200,000 other people in the UK, we took part in The Big Plastic Count last week. The survey aims to analyse just how much plastic waste we are creating within the nations households in order to show the Government that it is time to commit to reducing single use plastic and ban selling our waste to other countries. Andy and I think we are pretty good at seeking out products that are plastic free. We have our milk delivered and do not buy pre-made meals etc, but there are still plenty of items that are almost impossible to source without plastic packaging such as cheese, crisps and vegetable oil and it has shocked me to see just how many bits of plastic we accumulated in a week. Needless to say, we are on a new mission to cut our plastic waste even further as we head into the summer! Yesterday I took part in a Zoom call with members of the Crochet Guild of Australia. We had a lovely chat and I felt really honoured to have been invited to be interviewed. Thank you to all of you who attended the call. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! The nomination stage of the annual Knit and Crochet Awards is now open. You can nominate your favourite yarn brand, store or designer by following this link to the dedicated Let's Knit website. Of course I would love it if you were able to take the time to nominate me and Janie Crow!  We are heading out to visit the Kehinde Wiley exhibition at The National Gallery this evening and tomorrow I have booked a family trip to our local Go Ape Tree Top Adventure to celebrate my birthday which is on Monday. I am trying really hard not to over think this at the moment as I am terrified of heights, but as I head into my mid 50s I am getting a little braver, so I am hoping I won't bottle it at the last minute, especially when it comes to hurtling down the zip wire! If you are looking for something to do over the next few days and are in the Edinburgh area you could check out the William Morris 'Art of Wallpaper' exhibition at Dovecote Studios. I would love to see this show, but it is too far for me, so if any of you do go, please let me know what it is like. Here in London it is the Chelsea Flower Show's last day tomorrow. I have never visited the show and would love to go in the future. I have seen lots of images online and have been hearing about this year's event in interviews on the radio. You can find a great post that shows all the gardens in this year's show by following this link. I particularly like the Morris and Co Garden and the Stitchers Garden, which celebrates Fine Cell Work, a charity teaching prisoners needlework. Visitors will see into the garden through a ‘cell’ – this simple structure is made of steel, with the contemporary woven willow panels replicating the dimensions of their prison space.  A few weeks ago I came across this lovely animated video called Oscars - lost and found. The videos was featured in a COOK email and it tells the story of two crocheted stuffed animals, a fox and a dinosaur, who love and care for each other, living together in a sushi restaurant after hours. In a twist of fate fox is in danger of drowning, so it is up to dinosaur to save the day. In the rescue effort, dinosaur hits a snag and must make a difficult decision to save fox's life. Make sure you have the tissues ready, as this is a real tear jerker! If you are interested in the way the video was made you can find a behind the scenes video here. Well, that's it from me for another couple of weeks. I look forward to being back in your inbox in a couple of weeks time. Don't forget - if you want to get in touch just hit reply. Have a great weekend wherever you are and whatever you have planned. Janie x    Today it is my turn to reveal the project I have designed as my contribution to the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party event. My design is for some delicate floral bunting that would make the perfect decoration for a summertime party or family get together. I think it would make a beautiful hand made decoration for a wedding reception or for a child's bedroom too. In fact, with so many shades of yarn to choose from in the Naturals Bamboo + Cotton range, I think it would be easy to find a colour combination to suit pretty much any event you might be celebrating or any room you fancy decorating! Andy's amazing sister, Julie, was a huge bunting fan. Julie loved life and was the life and soul of any party, enjoying nothing more than a get together and a little boogie! Julie collected patterned papers and fabrics to make her own bunting and she loved organising decorations for any event, with bunting always taking centre stage! We lost Julie in January after an incredibly brave and courageous battle with cancer, so as soon as we started to discuss a garden party theme for a new Blogstars collection I knew immediately that I wanted to design some bunting with Julie in mind. A pretty, floral design that features sparkly silver beads and yarn in her favourite yellow shade was the obvious choice. I really enjoyed designing and making this bunting with the help of my ace crocheter, Marina, and so I hope you will like it too! A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of this pattern will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK. The pattern is available as a paper brochure or as a download via Etsy and Ravelry. You can find more information by following this link to the Janie Crow web site. You can also find more information about the Blogstars collection of designs by following this link to the Stylecraft blog where all the projects that have been released over the last couple of weeks have been featured. If you follow me on Instagram then you may already know that I had a computer meltdown on Friday so was unable to send out my May newsletter. I am back up to speed with all my technology now, so, all being well, you can expect the newsletter to drop into your inbox this Friday, so do look out for it! I look forward to telling you all my other Janie Crow news then! Hoping you have great day and thank you for all your amazing support...  'Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile.' Mark Twain    We had a fabulous time at Wonderwool last weekend despite having one man down as Andy tested positive for covid. For a moment or two I considered staying home, but then I decided to be all grown up and put my big girl pants on and take myself to the show. I managed to hire a smaller van and cram it full of stock and the wonderful Sarah Hazell and her fabulous husband Paul came down to Wales to help me. I couldn't be more grateful for their help or for all of you who popped by the stand to say hello! We really did have a very special weekend and it was so good to be out in the wild again after such a long break away from shows. I have been busy getting ready for my Iceland trip with Arena Travel, which heads off next week, but I have a few more things to tell you about today, so I hope you have a little spare time to catch up with my news.   We finally have lots of kits in stock, so if you have been waiting for the yarn for certain designs to be back on the website, take a look at the list below and the links for more information.             We are so pleased to have so many kits back in stock after long absences from the website and hope that there will be something that takes your fancy. We will be revisiting the Sunshine and Showers design from May onwards to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the design featuring in Crochet Now magazine as a year long CAL project. We will be focussing on the design each month from May this year through to April next year and Emma will be doing some technical videos to accompany the design. Patterns are just 95p each or £11.40 for the whole set via Ravelry. I have created two pretty cushion designs for Inside Crochet Magazine - these will be revealed next week, on May 5th, so do look out for them.  A couple of our Instagram posts produced quite a few interesting tips this week so I thought I would share the links here for you. The first post that produced more chatter than usual was one where I asked whether you preferred to work in production line way when crocheting or whether you tend to make one complete motif at a time. It seems the majority like to work in a production line way, but there were some great tips posted too - take a look here.  In another post I showed some of the pieces I have in my essential crochet kit - such as sewing up needles, beads and my favourite crochet hooks. This post also produced a lot of feedback with many of you naming your favourite accessories - you can find that post here.  If you follow us on Instagram then you may have seen that I officially introduced the lovely Emma to the team this week and mentioned that we will have some new videos on YouTube soon - If you don't already follow us on Instagram it would be great to have you join us!  I am very much looking forward to sitting down with the family for a treat filled celebratory meal tomorrow as it will be Andy's birthday. I have baked the scrummy chocolate cake that I made a couple of weeks ago for a friends birthday and will post a pic on my Lifestyle Instagram page.  Things have been so busy lately that I have really neglected my kitchen and, other than to make the cake for tomorrow, I have spent barely any time cooking. I am not a fan of ready meals, but on weeks like this we do resort to some of our favourite pre-made meals. This week, rather than share a recipe with you, I am going to recommend you tale a look around the COOK website. We are particularly keen on the Nut Loaf (which will easily serve 3 people, if not 4, despite the packaging saying it is for 2) and the Roasted Pepper and Goats Cheese Quiche, which is a great addition to a large family gathering.   I will be appearing on Yarn Lane TV on bank holiday Monday, so I have a little bit of prep to do for this event over the weekend. The show is on at 1pm so I hope you will be able to join me as I chat about my Fruit Garden blanket design. The weather forecast is looking a tad chilly here for the bank holiday weekend so we might not be out in the garden quite as much as we had hoped, but the house has been mightily neglected lately, so I think we will be giving it a bit of much needed TLC over the next couple of days by having a bit of a spring clean.  We have Summer and Chris coming for the weekend and as I said already we will be celebrating Andy's Birthday, so I am sure it will be a lovely couple of days. I leave you with a pic of this amazing version of Mystical Lanterns made by Anna Wells with yarns from her stash. Isn't it amazing! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend whatever you have planned and I look forward to popping back into your inbox in a couple of weeks time. Janie x    I had a really great time away from home last week teaching workshops and doing a couple of presentations about my work. Black Sheep Wools hosted a really nice afternoon Tea Party event on Wednesday followed by a day of mini workshops on Thursday where participants made a beaded brooch using one of the flower designs from The Fruit Garden Blanket as inspiration. On Friday I spent the day with a group from Crafty Stitchers in Northwich, Cheshire. It was so good to be with groups of crafters and it was brilliant to see them all so inspired by their crochet. Let's hope that more events and workshops are in the future for us all.  The flower motifs from the Fruit Garden blanket would all make lovely brooches or decorations. I used the Hollyhock motif and added beads on a couple of the rounds. You can find a free beading technique download document on the web site here and a video to show you how to do it on the Janie Crow YouTube channel. Andy got the train up and we met on Friday evening in Buxton where we spent a night and then drove on to Holmfirth where we visited some of the places I knew well from my days at Rowan Yarns. On Monday we had a great meeting at Stylecraft and so I am back at my desk feeling inspired by some ideas for the future. After all the preparation I did for the workshops and events last week I am now getting organised for my workshop trip to Iceland, which is in a few weeks time. It has been really nice to dig out my knitting needles and sit down at my PC to draw fairisle knitting charts. I am about to cast on my project to test that everything works ok and so it will be a bank holiday weekend with quite a lot of knitting for me. We are heading away with the kids and my lovely mother in law, so I am hoping there will be plenty of time to knit.  I have designed 2 cushion projects for Inside Crochet Magazine. They will be in the next issue, which is called Cottage Garden and is number 147. As soon as I have some official images I will share them with you, but for now you will have to make do with this sneaky peek image from this month's magazine! We will be at Wonderwool in Wales next weekend (23rd & 24th April) so we have quite a lot of things to sort out for that. We have taken on a really big stand so that there will be plenty of room for us all. We hope to have patterns and kits for sale and Andy will be taking lots of hooks, needles and accessories, but above all, this is a chance for you to see my blankets and cushions in the flesh and get a real feeling of colours and styles - there is nothing like seeing things in 'real life' is there!  We are planning to revisit my Sunshine and Showers blanket design over the course of this year and into next. The CAL was released 5 years ago and features a new stitch for every month of the year, based on typical weather here in the UK. The pattern is available in parts as downloads, but we have never had videos to accompany the design, so my lovely new assistant Emma will be doing videos to help anyone who wants to work through the project. We will have more information about the project soon.  We have updated our stock of the beaded pastel decorations yet again! We have 13 kits in stock and will be making some more to take to Wonderwool with us next week. You can find them by following this link.  We have had a big delivery of Della Q items this week. I really love this range of knitting and crochet bags and pouches and use my own little messenger bag all the time - in fact it is my go to bag these days.  I also use my little buddy case all the time as it is perfect for storing my beads - the soft velour type interior of this case makes it really perfect! You can check out our updated range of Della Q products here. We will be adding more stock to our Cohana and Jul ranges over the next few weeks so if you are looking for some fancy yarn snips or a lovely fair trade shawl pin make sure you take a look in the web store over the next couple of weeks.  Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it; Not a penny was there in it, Only ribbon round it. As a family we still do a Zoom quiz on a Sunday afternoon. A couple of weeks ago my mum asked the question 'Who found Lucy Locket's pocket?', as in the rhyme above by James Orchard Halliwell, which was first recorded in 1842. I had no idea of the answer, but the question sparked a conversation about the fact that womens' pockets were not sewn into clothes until relatively recently. Instead, skirts or dresses of the time, as well as the petticoats worn underneath, had an opening at the waistline to allow access to the pocket which hung around the woman's waist tied by a ribbon or tape.   I found a really good piece about the fashion for ladies' pockets via The V&A here and you can find what looks like a really interesting book on the subject called 'The Pocket - A Hidden History of Women's Lives' by Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux by following this link. I have found this all quite intriguing and think it would be really cool to make some separate pockets - do you think they could work in crochet?  It is always really cold at Wonderwool! Whatever the weather outside, the cold comes up through the concrete floor in the halls so we always pack plenty of warm clothes to help keep us toasty. A few years ago I got so cold that I ended up buying some hand knitted gloves from another stall holder!  When I saw these wrist warmers, made by my good friend Dedri of 'Look at What I made', I thought they would be an ideal make for these spring days when you can get caught out by the cold. Take look at Dedri's fab free pattern by following this link.  I put on a bit of weight over lockdown so I thought it was about time I made an effort to shift it. I am not a diet fan and find I always loose my way with strict plans, so I thought a book that outlines a better way of life rather than a strict low fat diet might be the answer for me. I bought the book The Full Diet by Dr Saira Hameed and am working my way through it. It is a good read which has helped me to understand the science behind weight loss and the devil that is sugar and processed food.  I haven't made any of the recipes from the book yet, but one of my favourite meals, 'Aubergine Parmigiana', is on plan so I thought I would share it with you this week. I love this dish and make it at least once a month. There is a good recipe here.   We are heading away for a weekend by the sea with the family to celebrate the bank holiday weekend. I have packed plenty of knitting and crochet and hope that I will get time to sit with my hooks and needles over the next few days. Next week will be pretty hectic as we get ready for Wonderwool, so a relaxing weekend with some sea views will be perfect.
My friend Chris shared with me the work of Gabriela Hurst after I featured some of the crochet garments from The Peruvian Connection a few weeks ago. Gabriela's work combines knit and crochet and is really inspiring. You can find her web site here or by clicking on the images above.  I wanted to thank you again for all your support with our Ukraine Appeal to raise funds for UNHCR. We have paid the £5000 we raised to the charity and are thinking up new ways to raise money to support Ukraine. Amanda from Little Box of Crochet is asking for crochet squares to make blankets that will be raffled to raise money. You can find more information by following this link.  Image with thanks to Karin Hellaby I am really looking forward to my trip to Iceland with Arena Travel in a few weeks time, but over the last week I have been avidly following the progress of the Stitchtopia tour of Uzbekistan. It really does look amazing and I would really love to take a group of knitters and crocheters out on the same trip in the future. Uzbekistan is a Central Asian nation and former Soviet republic. It's known for its mosques, mausoleums and other sites linked to the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean. It is also famous for its amazing textile heritage. Take a look at the Stitchtopia Facebook page for images and videos of what looks like an incredible trip. Apparently the tour company have already had 3 stitch groups do this tour, but they say that knitters and crocheters aren't keen. I am sure there is so much to interest us yarn folk on this trip, so I would love to hear from you if you fancy this trip. If I get a good bit of interest then perhaps I can pitch it to Arena to try launching the trip again!  Last night I finally managed to settle down and watch the first episode of the second series of Bridgerton. After all the hype I was really looking forward to being immersed in the world of empire line dresses, fancy frocks and old fashioned etiquette. I think my favourite thing about the series is the costumes and settings - there really are some gorgeous details on some of those dresses! Watching the show reminded me that a few months ago I made a 'Jane Austin' inspired mood board on Pinterest using the film 'Emma' as my inspiration. Like in Bridgerton, there were some amazing costumes in this film too. You can find the board here - it is a secret board as I was using it for ideas for a design and might still do so in the future, so you will need to follow the link rather than find it on my Pinterest profile. Well, that's it from me for another couple of weeks. I hope there has been something in this email that you found interesting and I hope you all have a fabulous bank holiday weekend and keep well..... Janie x   I hope this quick catch up email finds you well. It has been a bit hectic here at Janie Crow this week as I have been preparing for my workshops 'up north' next week. I love doing workshops and events, but there is always a lot to do in the build up to them, like making sure the project is made and accompanying yarn packs prepared, as well as making sure I have all my own notes ready. I am also doing a presentation next week, so that has taken a bit of work too. I felt a bit snowed under yesterday, so I tidied my desk and had a quick clear up in my studio space - something that always makes me feel more in control, so I am heading into the weekend feeling a little calmer! I have a few things to tell you about this week and hope that you can spare 5 minutes out for your own hectic schedules to catch up with all things Janie Crow.    Thank you for your incredible response to our appeal to raise funds for the charity UNHCR, who are doing their best to support refugees. Throughout Ukraine's history sunflowers have been a symbol of peace and solidarity and it has been amazing to see how many of you adopted the idea of making a crochet mandala, using my Fields of Gold pattern to show support. We have seen so many lovely images and messages on social media over the last couple of weeks and I am absolutely blown away by your generosity. We have tallied up all the profit made on the sales of my Fields of Gold pattern for the month of March. We have rounded all amounts up and we have taken a hit on some of the printing charges and packaging costs so that we can donate as much as possible for each sale. We have included download patterns via Etsy and Ravelry and all paper patterns, including those in blanket project kits. We have also added in donations made directly to me via the 'Support Me' buttons on my web site this month. So, without further a do, I can reveal that the amount we raised was an amazing £4901.28. The final amount we will be donating to UNHCR is the incredible total of £5000! I am so grateful to all of you who supported this fundraiser - you are all totals stars! THANK YOU!  Last Friday I took myself off to the V&A Museum and had a wander around for a couple of glorious hours. The V&A is my default destination when I am looking for ideas and it was so good to be back there after a long time away. My first port of call at the museum is almost always the Islamic Middle East Gallery, where I check in with the ceramic tile that became the inspiration for my Persian Tiles design way back in 2016.  From there I wandered around the South Asia Gallery, which always leaves me full of ideas. This time I found myself really drawn to Indian water colour paintings. I have collected a few of my own miniature paintings on our travels in India, but what really drew me to those on display was the intricate floral painted frames, which I have focussed on in the images below.   A visit to the V&A is not complete without a walk around the Arts & Crafts Movement room (Britain Galleries), which has lots of lovely William and May Morris pieces. I was really excited to see that a new item in the museum's collection is this amazing portrait by the awesome Kehinde Wiley. I missed his exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in 2020, so I was a bit emotional to finally see a piece of his work up close and personal, especially as this one is so stunning! If you are a fan of Wiley's work then you might be interested to know that there will be an exhibition of his work at The National Gallery from 18th April - you can find more info here.  And finally, I climbed the stairs to my favourite 'hidden gem' in the museum, the ceramic galleries on the 4th Floor. These rooms are a bit out of the way and are not on the well trodden museum route, so there are never many people up there and it almost feels like I have found something secret! The ceramic collection is vast, with huge display cabinets from floor to ceiling in at least 4 large rooms and I always leave feeling really inspired and a little overwhelmed!    A visit to the V&A is not complete without a mooch around the shop. I found some great books, which I hope will help me form some new design ideas.  In my last email I mentioned that I have been thinking about designing some garments. Many of you replied to say that this is something you would like and I am still considering how my designs could work within items of clothing. I admit that I am quite apprehensive about the idea of fitted pieces and am more likely to come up with wrap, shawl and bag ideas to start with - so it is a case of watch this space for now. If you are looking for some great crochet fashion design I urge you to take a look at Cassie Ward's work. Cassie's Instagram feed is called The Missing Yarn and you can find it here. The response to my pastel versions of the Beaded Decorations was so good last time I emailed that we sold out of kits in no time. The good news is that we now have some more in stock, so if you missed out last time please take a look!   The kits includes 6 balls of Organic Cotton DK in the spring shades, a bag of Debbie Abrahams beads, a 4mm crochet hook and the printed pattern, which also includes a beading masterclass. The price for the contents of the kit work out at almost £30, but we have priced it at £24.95. I have made 12 decorations so far and possibly have enough to make at least 8 more depending on the order of yarn use. You can find the kits by following this link, where you will also find the pattern if you want to use yarn from your stash.  Just a reminder that the price of our paper patterns will be going up. At Janie Crow we have tried to keep our prices as reasonable as possible and have swallowed quite a few of our increasing costs over the last few years, however we are at a point now where we can no longer put off a price increase on our paper patterns. The cost of printing has almost doubled over the last few months and so we will be increasing the price of paper patterns as existing stocks sell through. The increase in price will be added to the next print run of all our brochure patterns, but for now our smaller 4 page folded leaflet style patterns will remain for sale at £3.95. Going forwards 8 and 12 page patterns will increase in price to £6.95 each and 16 page patterns will be priced at £8.95. If you want to stock up on paper patterns before the price increase starts to kick in from next week, you can find a link to all our paper patterns here.  I will be at Black Sheep Wools for a couple of days next week. I will be hosting a Fruit Garden Blanket Tea Party at the store on Wednesday 6th of April. The event is a chance for you to come along and hear about my design process for the project, how we launched it as a CAL over the pandemic and how I set about creating the dedicated book last year. I will be bringing along lots of my own projects and hope that participants will also get involved in a show and tell and talk about their own Fruit Garden projects. You can find more details about the event by following this link. The following day (7th April) I will be tutoring 2 beaded flower mini workshops where I will demonstrate how to make a lovely beaded flower using a motif from the Fruit Garden project as inspiration. Most of the places have sold out but you can still find a couple of spare spots by following this link.  Gemma has been incredibly busy finding some great items online this week, such as the fact that March was National Crochet Month in the US and that crochet is a key fashion trend for 2022. You can find a great piece from The Fashion Network here, a piece from Malay Mail here and a lovely piece about crochet handbag trends from Woman and Home. I am pretty sure we could all come up with some lovely crochet bags at a fraction of the price of some of these....  Gemma also found this great little video from 'On the Red Dot' entitled 'Handmade Tales'. I really enjoyed watching it and particularly liked the piece about yarn bombing in Singapore and the spotlight on fibre artist Kelly Limerick.  Gemma is always busy in the kitchen and serves her family some lovely home made meals. This week she has recommended this Parsnip Dal recipe from Riverford. It sounds delicious!   The last couple of weekends we had some amazing weather, so we spent quite a lot of time preparing the garden for veggie planting. Our little beetroots were delicious, so too were the over wintered fennel I used to make a scrummy pasta sauce.   I try to start my working week with a good dose of fresh air and tend to head for a walk around the woods before I settle down at my desk on a Monday. This week the blossom was in full bloom and the catkins were just so pretty that my walk took me much longer to complete as I kept stopping to take some photos on my phone! The weather is a little different here today as we are now in the grips of some icy and blustery weather, so it is extra nice to look back on my images and be reminded that it has been warm and sunny so recently!  We are heading away to Stratford Upon Avon for the weekend to meet up with a group of friends who came to Mysore with us in 2020. I am really looking forward to a weekend of knit and chatter and some good walks around lovely Stratford, so I am hoping the weather will not be too unkind! If you are also planning a spot of knit or crochet over the weekend, then you might want to find some good TV to keep you company. I am looking forward to catching up with all things Bridgerton over the next few weeks and will try hard not to binge watch it. Andy and I have also been watching 'This is Us' and are totally hooked - we are only one season in, so we will probably be watching it for the next 5 years! I am always on the look out for good TV and love to hear recommendations, so I would love to know what your favourite shows are to knit and crochet along to! I know that many of you listen to podcasts and book readings, so I would love to be able to pass on your recommendations for these too. We have been keeping an eye on our plastic use in the home for the last couple of years and have managed to drastically reduce the amount that goes into our recycling bin, but we still have a way to go, especially as the figures suggest that only 9% of household plastic gets recycled in the UK and because plastic cannot be recycled infinitely. If you are also on a mission to reduce your plastic consumption then you might want to take part in 'The Big Plastic Count', which will take place for a week between 16th & 22nd May. You can get more info and sign up by following this link.  As the war in Ukraine continues, we will be looking at ways to continue our fundraising over the next couple of months. There are still many knitters and crocheters out there doing their bit to raise money, so do have a look around for ways that you can support them. Amanda at Little Box of Crochet is asking for crocheted squares made in blue and yellow to make blankets that will become part of a big raffle. You can find more info on Amanda's Instagram feed.  Before I leave you I just want to ask a small favour. My good friend Emma has had her Instagram account blocked, which means she can no longer access it. Despite being a beautiful middle aged woman, the IG bots believe Emma to be underage for an account and, despite her providing all the required information to reinstate her account, she continues to be blocked. Over the years Emma had gained a really good following of more than 10,000 people on Instagram, but now she has had to start all over with a new account. So, my appeal is for you to take a look and follow her if you fancy - I guarantee you will not regret it as she is a lovely, funny human with a great big heart who will not fail to give you a giggle! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend whatever you have planned and I look forward to popping back into your inbox in a couple of weeks time. Thank you all again for your incredible support of our Ukraine appeal - you're all amazing! Janie x
   Thank you for your incredible response to our appeal to raise funds for the charity UNHCR, who are doing their best to support refugees. Throughout Ukraine's history sunflowers have been a symbol of peace and solidarity. The national flower is being adopted by protesters - some are carrying bouquets at rallies, others are displaying the flower emoji to show support on line. We will be donating the profit from the pattern for my sunflower blanket design Fields of Gold to UNHCR for the duration of March. I have no idea how much we have raised already as I have not had a chance to tally it all up, but I would really love it if we could manage to raise £1000. Please consider purchasing a pattern if you can - you can choose a paper copy or a download via Etsy or Ravelry. You can find more information here. The charity Good Gifts, a sister charity to Knit For Peace, are raising funds for medical supplies for Ukraine. The emergency health packs are dispensed by health professionals in clinics set up at the borders, as refugees arrive from Ukraine. The packs contain wound dressings, pain relief, antibiotics and medicines to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. The medicines will be dispensed by health professionals free to patients at the point of provision. The contents of the packs are donated by pharmaceutical companies, but funds are desperately needed to transport them. Please consider making a donation by following this link.  I managed to catch covid and had a week or so of feeling a bit naff. This week I have been struggling to concentrate on anything for very long, maybe in part due to the infection, so I have been dipping into quite a few different projects so that I don't get too frustrated by my fuzzy brain. I have completed some more pastel coloured beaded decorations which I am planning to decorate the house with this weekend. We had these on display at the Stitch Festival recently and have a limited number of kits for the project left to sell.   The kits includes 6 balls of Organic Cotton DK in the spring shades, a bag of Debbie Abrahams beads, a 4mm crochet hook and the printed pattern, which also includes a beading masterclass. The price for the contents of the kit work out at almost £30, but we have priced it at £24.95. I have made 12 decorations so far and possibly have enough to make at least 8 more depending on the order of yarn use. You can find the kits by following this link, where you will also find the pattern if you want to use yarn from your stash.  I have also been testing out my Tidings Wrap pattern using Stylecraft's 'Charm' yarn. Sarah is making one too, so we hope to have the pattern for this project ready soon. As soon as we do I will let you know.  As I am sure you are aware the price of pretty much everything is set to increase over the next few months if it hasn't done so already. At Janie Crow we have tried to keep our prices as reasonable as possible and have swallowed quite a few of our increasing costs over the last few years, however we are at a point now where we can no longer put off a price increase on our paper patterns. The cost of printing has almost doubled over the last few months and so we will be increasing the price of paper patterns as existing stocks sell through. The increase in price will be added to the next print run of all our brochure patterns, but for now our smaller 4 page folded leaflet style patterns will remain for sale at £3.95. Going forwards 8 and 12 page patterns will increase in price to £6.95 each and 16 page patterns will be priced at £8.95. If you want to stock up on paper patterns before the price increase starts you can find a link to all our paper patterns here.  If you are looking for a project kit we now have Primavera yarn packs back in stock. The packs have a yarn substitution in place for the Organic Cotton Shade 'Bone', which is out of stock at Stylecraft. We did a couple of tests and replaced the shade with Ecru from the Naturals ReCReate range. I really love this yarn and think it is a great alternative to the cotton - it has a fabulously long length too, so you need fewer balls, which in turn means the kit is £5 cheaper than it was. You can find all our yarn packs and kits by following this link.  It has been amazing to see some completed Indigo Dreams projects popping up on social media. I have really enjoyed the CAL and hope that it has brought those of you who followed it some joy too. I have been working on a new colourway of the project which will be released in the autumn when the pattern reverts to me.  As the sun has been making its debut for 2022 in our house this week I have been noticing the odd spider's web and the fine layers of dust in places that it has gone un-noticed since the summer. Over the course of this week I have been starting a bit of a spring clean and this weekend I will take it a step further and put some of my spring-time decorations up. If you follow Lucy at Attic 24 you will know that she rearranges her mantel piece at home to reflect the changing seasons and has a collection of lovely crochet wreaths that all have a seasonal theme too. Lucy has been working on a winter garland lately but I think it looks beautifully springy! You can find some lovely images and more information about her projects by following this link.  I found a lovely 'Hello Spring' cushion cover by Two Little Birds on Etsy. You can find the pattern here. There are also patterns for bunny and flower cushion covers on there.  While searching through Etsy I also found these ready made crochet tulips by La Fleur Creations. Aren't they fab! You can pick your colour and create your own bouquet!  If you fancy making some crochet flowers to brighten up your home and make it feel lovely and springy then you could use this pattern, which you can download via the Knit For Peace web site - obviously I would love it if you would also make a donation to the charity while you are there!  I have a few exciting events on the horizon that you might fancy joining me for. You can find information about an afternoon tea event and a couple of workshops that I am doing at Black Sheep Wools lower down this email, but I have a few other things I want to tell you about. We are really looking forward to exhibiting at Wonderwool Wales next month. The show has not happened since 2019, so we are particularly excited about returning. You can find more information by following this link. I will be tutoring two workshops for Arena Travel as part of their Stitchtopia programme. I will be accompanying a group on a cruise to Iceland in May and then will be going on a tour of Finland in June. You can find more information about the trips by following this link. I have been invited back to Yarn Lane TV on May 2nd. I hope you can join me.   I will be at Black Sheep Wools for a couple of days in early April. I will be hosting a Fruit Garden Blanket Tea Party at the store on Wednesday 6th of April. The event is a chance for you to come along and hear about my design process for the project, how we launched it as a CAL over the pandemic and how I set about creating the dedicated book last year. I will be bringing along lots of my own projects and hope that participants will also get involved in a show and tell and talk about their own Fruit Garden projects. You can find more details about the event by following this link. The following day (7th April) I will be tutoring 2 beaded flower mini workshops where I will demonstrate how to make a lovely beaded flower using a motif from the Fruit Garden project as inspiration. You can find more information about this event here. I hope you might fancy joining me!  Do you fancy a relaxed weekend away in the Hertfordshire countryside with specialist knitting and crochet teachers, gorgeous yarn kits and likeminded people? If so, the WoollyAway could be the answer.   A weekend of woolly fun starts in just over a week on the 26th of March and the event includes 2 days of crafting and relaxation in beautiful surroundings. With workshops being led by Natalie Warner, Andrew Kite, Deb Cunningham from Crates of Wool and Diana Bensted from The Crochet Chain. If you book a place you will get to stay in the beautiful Manor of Groves hotel, choose between a knitting or crochet class each morning and immerse yourself in your crafts for two blissful days. Meals are provided and you get access to the hotel's leisure centre if you feel the need for a change. You will also receive an amazing tool kit with some exclusive luxury yarns and patterns for all 4 workshops with a value of approximately £95. You can find more information about the event by following this link and you can book a spot here. I have to admit I am VERY tempted!  I was banished from the house for a week while I was infectious with covid recently. Thankfully my symptoms didn't include loss of taste and smell, which I was really pleased about as Andy was a total star catering for my every need. Breakfast, Lunch and Tea were delivered to the door of our garden room without fail for a week and I was treated to some really lovely home cooking.  s a thank you to Andy for his amazing attentiveness I gave him a copy of the first ever book from Dishoom called From Bombay with Love. It really is a gorgeous book, full of really tasty recipes. This is what the authors say about the book: 'Dishoom: From Bombay with Love, is an eccentric and charming cookery book, with over 100 recipes for the Bombay comfort food and drink that we love. Through the course of the pages, you will be taken on a day-long tour of south Bombay. Starting at breakfast, through to lunch, dinner and nightcaps, we share recipes for beloved dishes such as Masala Chai, the Bacon Naan Roll and House Black Daal.' The book is a really lovely read, with lots of stories, anecdotes and information about the origins of some of the recipes therein. The images are so incredibly enticing. I visited Mumbai in 2015, but this book is really making me want to go back again!  We already love this recipe for Kejriwal - fried eggs on chilli cheese toast - which we discovered a couple of years ago. It used to be our favourite Dishoom recipe, but now that Andy has the book he is working his way through some more - all of which have been delicious so far!   When I looked back at last month's newsletter I saw that I was waiting for my Amaryllis to flower, so I thought I would show you what it looked like a few weeks ago. It really was stunning and flowered for about 3 weeks. I have only just moved it off the kitchen table and cut it back. This weekend I am planning to replace it with some twigs and cuttings form the garden which I will decorate with my spring inspired beaded decorations.  I am hoping to get into town next week to do a bit of design research. It is ages since I have been to the V&A or an exhibition or even to some of the larger stores like Anthropologie, which I always find so inspiring. A bit of window shopping sounds like a great plan!  I recently came across this amazing cardigan by The Peruvian Connection, which reminded me a little of my Frida design - isn't it amazing? It has a price point far beyond my pocket, but the work involved in it is really intricate and I love the style. You can find a few more gorgeous crochet garments on the site such as the Saltillo and Millefiore tops below.   I have always designed items for the home as I am not sure my skills are up to creating garments, but seeing these on the Peruvian Connection web site have me inspired. I would love to know how you guys feel about crochet garments - should I stick to blankets and cushions? We have had a real mixture of weather this week - we had torrential dirty rain on Wednesday, which left the windows and cars covered in a fine red dust thanks to a Saharan dust cloud that travelled up to us through Spain over the last week or so. A bit frustrating that we now need to give everything a good clean, but the sun is shining and we are set for a lovely weekend weather wise so we can't stay cross for long! I actually made it back to the gym this week for the first time in a while, so after months of ignoring my membership I am hoping to make it back there over the next few days and will also get a bit of a workout by cutting the grass - my life is so rock and roll! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend whatever you have planned and I look forward to popping back into your inbox in a couple of weeks time. Janie x
  At Janie Crow we are supporting the UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency). We have a link to donate via our homepage, or you can follow this one if you want to make a contribution. Over the last couple of weeks we have also made donations to The Disasters Emergency Committee and to The British Red Cross. Many other charities are doing vital work, however I have noticed that many of them have stopped asking for items such as blankets and warm clothes and are now focusing on monetary contributions as this will have the fastest impact on the people of Ukraine. I know that it can be really hard to find some spare money to give away, especially as we are constantly being told about how the cost of living is set to soar, but even the smallest contributions make a difference.  Sarah mentioned to me that a friend of hers is making some crochet sunflowers which she plans to put on a wreath to display in her front window. Throughout Ukraine's history sunflowers have been a symbol of peace and solidarity, so creating something which involves them is a great idea. The national flower is being adopted by protesters - some are carrying bouquets at rallies, others are displaying the floral emoji to show support online.  For the month of March we will be donating the profit on the download and paper patterns for my sunflower design, Fields of Gold to the UNHCR as well as continuing to make our own donations. You can find more information about the design by following this link. Looking at my sunflower design has got me thinking that a single flower motif would make an amazing mandala, which I could hang on the front door. I had planned to make a new pompom wreath, but maybe this is a nugget of a new idea.... If you don't fancy making something as big as my sunflower, perhaps you could make some small brooches and sell them to friends and give the proceeds to charity, or maybe you could make a wreath of them to display to your neighbours like Sarah's friend Linda. You can find some patterns and ideas by following this link to Etsy. Some of the sellers have patterns or readymade items that include a charitable donation, so do take a look.  The team at Love Crafts have suggested making crochet or knitted hearts using the blue and yellow shades of the Ukrainian flag. You can find a free pattern by Annemarie Bentham by following this link or by clicking on the image above.  On both Etsy and Ravelry you can sort designers based on the country they are in. Ravelry have provided a link for Ukrainian Designers here.  Etsy have created a Ukraine landing page, which you can find here and they have also waived all balances for Ukrainian based sellers. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman wrote in a recent blog post: 'Being part of a community means that when one part is suffering, the rest of us must step up and offer our support'. According to Etsy, it is waiving a total of around $4million in fees, which includes listing, advertising and transaction fees. If you want to directly contribute to citizens of Ukraine you can do so as follows: Go to the Etsy home page. Click the 'All Filters' button and scroll down to 'Country'. Click 'Custom' and type Ukraine into the box. The results you get will include all digital files created and sold by Ukraine based Etsy sellers. Digital download file transactions allow Ukrainians to earn money without having to produce anything new or process physical orders during this unbelievably tough time. When I did my search I found a lot of downloadable cards and postcards, like the one shown in the image above which I chose, but there are also lots of knit and crochet patterns on there too.  We are all aware of the sanctions being imposed on Russian businesses and individuals and so I was interested to read how many UK based supermarkets have made the decision to remove Russian produce items from their stores. It seems that this mostly means vodka, which is predominantly made in Russia, but there are a few other items that we could avoid too, such as Russian grown sunflower seeds and charcoal. If you shop at a certain store then you might want to check their policy. It made me smile to read that Sainsburys have also changed the name of their Chicken Kievs to Kyivs - the preferred way of spelling the Ukrainian name. Many yarn companies, shops and designers have come out in support of Ukraine and lots of them are offering to donate profits from sales to the charities involved in helping. Below I have highlighted a couple that Sarah and I have found over the last few days: Love Crafts are donating 100% of profits from Debbie Bliss pattern sales on a selection of reduced designs.  Quinton & Chadwick are holding a raffle for the beautiful sweater shown above. Tickets are £10 each - The retail price of the sweater is £190!   Knit and crochet designers Arne & Carlos are supporting Save The children and have a dedicated pattern sale. If you are shopping around for anything else and want to be sure you are doing the right thing then you might want to check out the following article, which I found 'These Brands Let you Support Ukraine Just by Shopping.  You can write to your MP and ask them to put pressure on the Government to provide more support for the people of Ukraine. If you want to find your local MP's details follow this link and you can find a template letter here via the Ukrainian London website. There is a petition you can sign asking the Government to provide more help to refugees - you can find it here. When posting on social media use the hashtag #StandWithUkraine  There are lots of events planned for the weekend, both nation and world-wide. If you are interested in joining a march, then check out the following sites for some guidance: Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Stop The War Coalition Stand with Ukraine  As we head into the weekend I am praying that we start to see some calmer times. Hopefully by the time I am sending my usual style newsletter next Friday we may have seen a de-escalation of aggression, but in the mean time I hope that your knit and crochet is bringing you some peace and that you can find solace in knowing that you have helped in some way. I hope you all understand the reason for my break away from a usual Janie Crow news heavy email and that you will understand that my motive is humanitarian and not political. Stay safe   NEW IN! BLANKETS LIFESTYLE BLOG VIDEOS EXPLORE  I have been working on a couple of cushion cover designs for Inside Crochet magazine. The covers are very pretty and have a floral theme, which includes some beading. It has been so nice to add beads to a design again as I do so love a bit of bling! You can find beading technique videos on my YouTube channel and free technique download documents on the web site. The cushions will appear in the magazine soon!  Working on a beaded design made me want to revisit my Beaded Christmas Decorations pattern, so I have grouped together some lovely 'springy' pastel shades of Stylecraft's Organic Cotton to make a new set. I am hoping to add in an egg shaped decoration in the hope that they will be ready for Easter. I will share some images when I have finished them. We have been able to put together some more kits. Yay! We now have yarn packs available for the following designs:     We also still have kits in stock for the following designs: Frida's Flowers - Primavera, Frida's Flowers, Sunshine and Showers, Lily Pond and Lily Pond Cherry Blossom, Eastern Jewels and Fruit Garden Night & Dusk and Red House colourways.  The final pattern set for my Indigo Dreams crochet along will be published in the next copy of Inside Crochet magazine. It has been fabulous seeing your crochet blankets taking shape on social media. I am so pleased to hear how many of you have enjoyed the project. Over the next few weeks we will be doing a bit of work on the Janie Crow website. It has needed a bit of attention for a long time, so I will be working with my fabulous graphic designer, Steph, to bring it up to speed and make it look lovely! I hope you will like the changes we have planned. As I said in the introduction it has been really good to see some more events and plans on my forward radar - you can find more information about these a little lower down this email.  It has been really fabulous to see how many of you are planning to revisit my Frida's Flowers pattern. The blanket is featuring as the Stylecraft Make Along project for February and you can find more information about how to get involved here.   I have written a blog about the project, which includes some images of the blankets made in fabulous alternative colourways. You can find it by following this link. Images with thanks to Lita Johnathans.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to see if I can create a better base for my mental and physical health going forwards. I read a book called 'Atomic Habits', which is about creating small habits that build over time to create a big change.  In January I started walking daily and have really enjoyed getting out in the local countryside for a daily romp! The habit has slipped a little this week as my workload has grown a little, but I am still managing to get at least 10,000 steps a day - something I struggled to do previously. This month I have been trying to be a little more aware of what I eat and drink. That isn't to say that I am on a diet - the only thing I am doing differently is writing down every single item that I eat or drink in a note book. This practice has already made me far more aware about how much I eat without really thinking about it and has made me snack less. So far, I have no idea if this practice has made any difference to my weight as another of my small habits is to weigh myself just once a month - but I already feel better. I am definitely a convert to small habits rather than massive change and would love to hear if similar approaches have worked for you. If you want to sign up to James Clear's weekly newsletter you can do so by following this link.  Over the last few weeks we have had some great images sent in of projects out in the wild so I thought I would feature a few in this week's newsletter.  Rose emailed with an image of her Mystical Lanterns blanket which she gave to a friend as a gift. Isn't it lovely - I really like the way Rose has added another dimension to this blanket by blocking colours together.  The image above was sent to me by Jill 'in cold wet Adelaide'. She says: 'you called it Willow Blossom, I've christened my versions Field of Daisies'.  Jill Hill sent me the image above of her fabulous Imogen project made using shades of blue - Gorgeous isn't it!  I am often blown away by versions of Persian Tiles when they pop up on social media, but the version above, sent in by Marg McRae, made me gasp in delight when I opened the image. Marg says: 'Hi Janie, I am Marg McRae from Albury NSW Australian. My husband and I have been ex farmers for 30 years, I am his carer as he has a disability. I am writing to you to say I love all of your crocheted blanket patterns, also enjoy reading your newsletters. In our 1st lockdown last year, I got my crocheting hooks out and did your Persian Tile rug pattern. I chose 4ply pure Australian merino wool. I wanted to share a photo of my blanket, I love it. It has been 30 so years since I have done any crocheting, didn’t want to put my hook down. I do lots of quilting all by hand, which I find very relaxing also...Marg' Needless to say, we really love getting emails like Marg's one and all adore seeing your images. You can share them on our Facebook page by following the link.  I will be appearing on Yarn Lane TV this coming Sunday (13th February) at 12 noon. I will be chatting to Rebecca about some of my projects and will be doing some demonstrations. I hope you will be able to tune in! Next Tuesday evening there will be a talk about the work of May Morris on the William Morris Society website. I have a ticket and am really looking forward to it. You can find more information here. I will be on the Stylecraft stand at The Stitches trade show on Sunday 27th & Monday 28th February. Sarah and I will be on hand within the Knit & Crochet lounge at The Spring Stitch Festival on Thursday 3rd March. You can find more information about the show by following this link. We will have a few spring inspired kits for sale and will be demonstrating how to add beads to your crochet, so I hope you are able to drop by and see us. There are still a few spaces on my Iceland Cruise with Stitchtopia, which runs for 11 days from the 4th May. You can find more information here.  I have been busy baking today, making a chocolate fudge cake for a friend's birthday. If it all goes to plan I will show you some images next time, however it is the cake I made for my Mum's 80th birthday a few weeks ago that I am featuring today. The Sticky Ginger Lemon Drizzle cake was made using the recipe as a guide, but I split the batter into 3 cakes instead of 2 and added a tad more cream cheesy icing. I didn't make the lemon frosting but drizzled some fresh lemon juice over the cakes before I iced them. I used crystallised ginger to decorate it. It was super yummy!   We had a really lovely family day with Mum to celebrate her birthday - she says that the '80' balloons, that Summer and Chris got her, are the first balloons she has ever had. They have taken pride of place for the last few weeks!   Today marks the 20th anniversary of the BBC's children's channel CBeebies. Both my children were big fans of the channel when they were little and I have always loved the bedtime story segment, especially since famous people have started reading stories. As I am sure you are aware Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, will be reading a story to raise awareness of chidren's mental wellbeing on Sunday. You can find the Cbeebies YouTube channel here.  The weather has been really bright and sunny here today so I am hoping to squeeze in a few nice walks this weekend. Our local countryside is coming to life, with lots of daffodil bulbs and crocuses about to bloom. At home, we are on amaryllis watch as the bulb I planted in January is about to burst into glorious flower! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and that you have some lovely plans to look forward to. Sending yarny love.... Janie x 
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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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