Life away from crochet has meant that I am once again a little late with this quick Catch Up email, which, for various reasons, is also much shorter than usual. I hope you have a couple of minutes to read this short, hopefully sweet and definitely speedy catch up and I hope that things will return to normal by the time I am back in your inbox in a couple of weeks time! The Royal Garden pattern was first released in 2018 and is one of four designs inspired by my trips to the Green Hotel, Mysore. There are lots of areas within the hotel and its surrounding grounds to sit and relax, but one of my favourite places is the coffee shop, situated towards the back of the building within a lovely atrium, that features a terracotta tiled floor and a central open garden of vines and shrubs. I have been working on two new versions of the blanket design over the last few months. One of them has been made using Stylecraft Special DK and the second one has been made using their 100% recycled yarn ReCreate DK. The design is based on two aspects of the hotel gardens; the floor tiles found within the atrium coffee shop and the formal, quilt like layout of the main garden, which sits to the front of the hotel. The main garden provides another lovely place to relax, and it features walled flowerbeds full of lovely gold, orange and pink marigolds, fresh green lawns and smartly pruned bushes. In the evening, the garden takes on a magical quality when thousands of fairy lights twinkle in the foliage. The pattern for this project was originally written for yarns from the Rowan and Scheepjes Yarn ranges, but many of these have now been discontinued, so the new yarn listing brings the design bang up to date and gives you the choice between a smooth DK weight yarn and slightly textural, tweedy one. I used a traditional patchwork quilt design as the inspiration for the layout of this project and have added two diagrams to the pattern that show alternative ways of piecing the motifs. If you squint slightly when looking at the layout above I hope you can see interlocking circles. If you do the same when looking at the image below then hopefully you can see the difference between the two. The layouts use the same number of motifs and instructions for joining are included in the pattern. Emma has made a free Youtube video that shows the Flat Braid Join technique used in this pattern, which you can find here and we also have a free technique download for surface crochet, which is used to add some definition to the tile motifs, by following this link. The image above shows a section of the blanket made using Stylecraft ReCreate DK. You can find kits for this version by following this link. The image above shows a section of the Stylecraft Special DK blanket. We hope to have kits for this version in stock soon.
If you want to use yarn from your own stash or fancy swapping the shades about a little, instead of purchasing a kit, you purchase the stand alone pattern to guide you. It is available in UK and US terms and we hope to have a Dutch language pattern available soon. The 16 page pattern is available as a paper brochure via our website here, or you can get a download version via Ravelry or Etsy. Patterns are £8.95. I am really pleased to finally be able to show you my revamped versions of this design and hope you like the look of it. The pattern uses mostly UK treble crochet (US double crochet) so although it is a big blanket that sits flat on top of a king size bed, it does grow pretty quickly. I hope you have some nice plans for your weekend and that you might be able to find some time for a spot of knitting or crochet over the weekend too!
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Welcome to the first ‘new look’ JANIE CROW newsletter of 2025! I am a little later than usual because of a small technical hitch, but I hope this email finds you well and that you are settling into the new year nicely! It has been a busy start to 2025 for us and we are looking forward to some exciting things over the next few months, including the release of two revamped versions of my Royal Garden blanket design, which we hope to release by the end of the month. I have a few other things to tell you about this week, so I hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow! I really enjoy this time of year when it feels like the slate has been wiped clean and it is the chance for a new start, so I made sure that a lot of projects that I had been working on in the lead up to Christmas were ‘put to bed’ before we took some time off for the holidays. As I have told you so many times recently, I love list writing and planning and always find that January and February are a great time to get everything sorted. I have been working on some new designs including one based on the Chinoiserie style of painted wallpaper that incorporates large, multi layered crochet flowers. I am really looking forward to showing it to you in a few months time, so long as everything works out the way I want it to! I would really like 2025 to be a crochet along year, especially as it marks the tenth birthday of my Lily Pond CAL, which was released in 2015. I have created a Pinterest board with some ideas for a new CAL and have been playing around with some stitches, so hopefully all will go to plan and we will be able to launch the project in the autumn. Thank you to all those of you who made the most of our recent pattern sale. It was really interesting to see which patterns you were all choosing and it was great to receive such great support over the week long discount offer. I know quite a few people who have decided to go on a yarn diet this year and I have already had a rummage through my own stash in order to start a cardigan that I bought the yarn for at least three years ago! Even if you don't already have a project in mind, sorting through your yarn and keeping a tally of what you have is a great way of saving a little money, and it makes it much easier when you are project shopping as it can help you identify what yarn you might need, especially if you like getting yarn at shows. You can use your account in Ravelry to list your stash and I think you can also do it using the Yarn Buddy app. It seems that quite a lot of you are using the start of the year to revisit projects that have been left part completed. We have seen a surge in crocheters working on my Spirit of Flora design in particular and it is nice to see some of these nearing completion. I adore designing blankets, but I do appreciate that it is not always easy to decide what to do with them once they are completed. After all, you can only use a few blankets at once and most of us have homes with limited storage space! That said, I do find a huge amount of joy in making carefully folded piles of my blankets and we always get a really good response to any images we post on our social media of project stacks. I know that the Japanese have a word (Tsundoku) to describe piles of books that have been purchased but are waiting patiently to be read, so I am wondering if we can create another fabulous word for towers of folded blankets! The Japanese language has lots of words that relate to futons and even have a word (Oshiire) for the specific cupboard that the layers of bedding are packed away into during the day, so I am sure we must be able to come up with a great word that will help justify my piles of crochet throughout the house! Let me know if you can think of any! At this time of year, when so many businesses have been closed for a few weeks due to the festive holidays, it can take a while for our stock levels to come back up to good levels. We currently have quite a few kits out of stock, but Andy tells me that the kits listed below all have healthy stock levels, so do take a look if any of these take your fancy. It has been quite a challenge keeping yarn kits in stock over the last few years, possibly because the global demand for yarns has grown so rapidly since lockdown. Unfortunately if one shade used in a design goes out of stock at a yarn company it affects our ability to make up the whole kit. This is one of the reasons why we have started adding kits made up of yarns from lots of suppliers, such as West Yorkshire Spinners, Baa Ram Ewe and Eden Cottage to our shop, rather than keeping all our yarny eggs in one basket. We know it can be frustrating to constantly find the kit you want is out of stock. If you are in hurry for a kit it is always worth checking to see if other stores have it - sometimes they are able to swap in an alternative shade or even use a different brand of yarn to find a close equivalent, which is not something we are able to do. If you are prepared to wait for things to come back into stock with us, you can type in your email address and click on the ‘notify me’ button on the product listing so that you will receive an automated email when the item comes back into stock here at Janie Crow. Emma and Gemma came up with the idea of running a team Janie Crow temperature blanket crochet along project over the course of 2025 and they have been very busy creating blog posts and social media content about it over the last six weeks or so. It has been brilliant to see how many of you have taken on the challenge of creating a project using the free motif designs from the Spirit of Flora collection, which you can find by following this link. You can click on the image above to see the blog posts about the temperature blanket project. Over on Instagram we have been trying to keep our feed bright, colourful and upbeat since we stepped into 2025 and this week Emma is featuring the three, free crochet along projects I have designed for Stylecraft over the last decade. I can't quite believe that it's been that long since Lily Pond made its debut and it can be scary to reflect on how fast ten years has flown by, but I am still incredibly proud of all these designs and feel they are as enticing and exciting now as they were when they were released. As I told you in my last email, I’m heading into 2025 with the quotes shown above in mind as I believe that we have the chance to start over every day and decide when we wake up who we want to be and how we want to behave. I hope to keep happiness, positivity and love at the forefront of my thoughts and will be mindful of negativity and destructive behaviour as I navigate this new year. After posting my quotes on Instagram a few weeks ago, I asked what inspirational quotes you carry in your minds and hearts and what words have helped you through tough times or simply made you laugh out loud with joy? It was great to read through the responses and I have listed a few below as you might find they strike a cord with you too. If you’re wondering about the yarn pegs, they are made using Yarnsmiths Merino DK from Wool Warehouse. Aren’t they just amazing! I have been working on two new versions of my Royal Garden blanket design over the last few months. One of the blankets has been made using Stylecraft Special DK and the second one has been made using their 100% recycled yarn ReCreate DK. We hope to have the kits in stock within the next fortnight. The pattern will be available in UK and US terms and in the Dutch language and it includes written instructions, step-by-step images, crochet charts and layout diagrams. I find it quite difficult to revisit old designs and tend to do it when yarns have been discontinued so that we can offer an alternative listing. I find it a challenge partly because it can take ages, but also because I don't find it particularly creative. Pattern writing and checking is such a lengthy process that involves lots of people, so now that Royal Garden is almost ready I am so eager to get on with new designs. I have pinned the following note to the board above my work desk in my studio: Have you already planned any trips or holidays for 2025? We made the most of a sale on Eurostar at the end of December and have booked a train journey for a couple of weeks in the summer. We have always wanted to visit Spain's ‘Golden Triangle’ and spend time in the Andalusian cities of Seville, Granada and Cordoba. I'm especially excited about seeing the Alhambra Palace and, as we have planned a stop-over in Barcelona on the way, I am also looking forward to visiting Gaudi's famous cathedral, Sagrada Familia, as it is many years since we have been. I know that Andy and I are incredibly privileged to have been able to travel so much and I am aware that many of the trips I have tutored with Stitchtopia, especially the one to Peru last year, are not within financial reach of many. However, if you have been able to save for a big trip, then you might be interested to know that there are two Peruvian textile trips planned for 2026. You can click on the box above for more information about Anna Nikipirowicz's yarn orientated trip. You can see my blog post about our trip last summer by clicking here. When the weather is cold and murky and it gets dark early in the day I find myself craving spicy, sauce-rich meals like a curry or chilli. Meals that I can make in a big batch and pop in the slow cooker to warm up during the day ready for dinner are perfect, especially if I can pair them with a generous serving of tasty carbohydrate like rice, pasta and potatoes! I haven't made this Butter Cauliflower recipe by So Vegan yet, but I have saved the recipe so that I can do so soon. I love cauliflower and all the ingredients in this recipe sounds so tasty. I will use dairy yoghurt and butter, not vegan, and will definitely pair it with some lime pickle for a little extra spice and naan bread for added the extra carb factor! We will be exhibiting at Waltham Abbey Wool Show on Sunday. It is a really nice, day-long show with a great vibe and I am really looking forward to catching up with lots of yarny folk! There are still some tickets left for sale and you can find them by following this link. I have managed to stick to my walking and gym habits over the last couple of weeks even though some of the early mornings have been really dark and freezing cold! It can be really hard to get out of the front door and harder still to get out of bed in the first place, but it always feels great to start the day knowing that my good habit has been completed. I find it even harder to squeeze a bit of exercise into my schedule over the weekend, but hopefully the next couple of days will include a walk even if I don't make its to the gym! I will be settling myself on the sofa, in front of the TV, with my knitting at some point over the weekend. I am really enjoying working on another knitting project after completing a garter stitch waistcoat project just before Christmas. I am trying to resist starting work on the Kaleidoscope knitted butterfly hanging designed by the wonderful Phil of Twisted Thread, shown above. It is an incredibly clever pattern as the butterflies are knitted in the round. I am intrigued to see how they are made and think it will be really fun to choose my butterfly colours!
I hope you have some nice plans and that you will also be able to find some time for a spot of knitting or crochet over the weekend too! As we take our first few tentative steps into 2025 I hope this email finds you well and happy and that you have managed to enjoy some, or perhaps all, aspects of the Holiday season. We had a really quiet time, with lots of rest and recuperation, and for the first time in many years we didn't get poorly - so that already feels like a big win! I have found myself in a reflective mood over the last few days as I think back over the last year. I will remember 2024 with fondness as it held some big life events for me, but I am also looking forward to what 2025 might have in store. I like to go into a New Year with my 'house in order' and so most of the Christmas decorations are down and the studio has received a much needed sort out. I find it very cathartic to have good clear up at this time of year and I often change things around in the house so that it has a fresh look. I even had a rummage through my yarn stash and have started a new knit project to work on during the winter evenings. I find that writing lists and making plans helps me to keep focussed and positive. These days I don't really make resolutions, but I do find a list of wishes and plans helps keep me on track during the New Year. In 2024 I challenged myself a little and made a few plans that got me right out of my comfort zone, and although these things felt pretty terrifying at the time and I very nearly backed out, having some scary plans in the mix felt incredibly character building and ended up being really positive for me. When planning my working year for Janie Crow I often download (free) printable calendars. I have already printed off a few versions of this one, which shows the whole of 2025 as an A4 layout (click on 'Download the 2025 Year Planner') and I also print the monthly versions which you can find here. If you don't like the idea of a written list then you could create a vision board. I think using Pinterest to do this would be great and I might well have play with my own board over the next few days. You can find information on how to create your own vision board by following this link. Here at Janie Crow we tend to come up with a series of social media posts that run across the twelve days of Christmas and this year we have created a list of ideas that focus on things you can do to give yourself a little bit of TLC each day. Some of our suggestions will take just a few minutes and some will take longer, but most are free and (we think) relatively easy to slot into busy lives. We have already posted the majority of our suggestions on our social media channels, but if you want to take a look at all of them in one place you can find them in this blog post. On New Year's Day Emma and Gemma officially launched a new Janie Crow team crochet along project in the form of a temperature blanket made using the free patterns from the Spirit of Flora project. It isn't too late to join in and you can find more information by following this link to the blog. We will be holding a week long pattern sale from this Sunday 5th January. You can get a 20% discount on download patterns via Ravelry and Etsy and on print patterns via the website by using the code HNY2025 at checkout. The code will be live until Midnight (GMT) on Saturday 11th January. We also have a 20% discount on a limited number of kits for the Magic Circles Supernova project which you can find here. Over the festive period we watched the movie 'Red One' on the TV. It was good fun to watch a very Christmassy film before the big day, when our excitement was high and the thought of Santa hurtling through the skies with his reindeer was thrilling! The movie was all about a boy who didn't believe in the magic of Father Christmas and I was struck by two sayings quoted in the film, so much so that I have written them down on post-it-notes and have stuck them on the pin board in my office: 1: Every day, every decision is an opportunity. 2: We choose everyday who we want to be. I did a search online and found a YouTube video on the Jim Rohn channel called 'learn to act as if each new day is an opportunity'. You can find it here. It is quite a long video (20 minutes or so) but I think it is a very positive watch/listen if you want to head into the New Year feeling like you are in control of your ship! Happy New Year! PS: I will be back in a couple of weeks with the January Newsletter, which I hope will have a new look as we are aiming to change our mail host. If all goes to plan you will all receive the new look emails and won't drop off our mailing list when we switch over, but if you don't hear from me for a while it might be worth resubscribing via our homepage. Thank you so much for your ongoing support x
As we head into the last few weeks of 2024 we are looking forward to the holiday season and the chance to enjoy a break. This year Andy and I have less planned that usual - we have kept it that way on purpose to try to avoid getting poorly as we always seem to pick up some kind of a bug or illness over the festive period. I like to be busy and often overload our time off with lots to do, so it seems a bit strange to have fewer plans than usual this year, but hopefully it means we will stay well and that the lurgy will leave us alone! Before we break up for our annual leave next week there is still a lot going on here at Janie Crow as we put the finishing touches to a few new projects and get everything shipshape for the new year. There are still five days until the last UK postage date for second class mail, so if you are still looking to start a festive project, or you want to grab a yarn kit so that you can start a new project over the break then read on for more information. We still have a few kits left for my Beaded Pine Winter Mitts. I made the mitts for a festive workshop last year and we have updated the pattern to include three sizes instead of just one. You can find the kits for sale by following this link, or you can purchase the pattern separately if you want to source your own yarns and beads. If you want to work from download copies of the pattern you can find them via Etsy here and Ravelry here. I first saw an example of my Mystical Lanterns design made into a pelmet at the wonderful Folklore Yarns in Belfast, while visiting during a Stitchtopia workshop trip en-route to Iceland a couple of years ago. It looked amazing among the yarny treasures there. This week my friend Ros sent me the fabulous image above that shows her version of the design decorating her festive candelabra. Ros says she still has some holly to add - but doesn't it look great already! Emma has written a blog post that explains how to make the Mystical Lanterns pelmet and you can find it by following this link. We have lots of patterns for festive projects, many of which are fabulous stash busters and won't take too much time to make, so if you are still in the crafty mood you can find them by following this link or by clicking on the images below: Beaded Decorations Festive Decorations Festive Mini Stockings Twinkle Bunting Halley Pouch Glitzy Stocking We have kits in stock for the Summer Palace Wrap, which includes yarns from the gorgeous Baa Ram Ewe range of Pip Colourwork which is a 4ply British wool and those for the Magic Circles Scarf, both of which are shown in the image above. The Magic Circles scarf is made using Eden Cottage's gorgeous Bluefaced Leicester and Silk DK weight yarn called Milburn, which is just gorgeous to work with. Emma and Gemma have spent the last couple of months working on an exciting new project which is coming very soon. The project involves crocheting pieces over the course of next year and all the information about it will be released next week, so do keep an eye on our blog and social media channels. Maybe the image above will give you the tiniest clue of what Emma and Gemma have planned! I was so lucky to tutor an amazing textile workshop trip to Peru during the summer. It is a truly incredible country, and I adored it! When I was designing the project for the workshops I was very mindful of not copying traditional patterns and I wanted to keep it relatively simple. The Catalina pouch is mainly worked in panels so that the project is portable and easy to work on while travelling. Crocheting just a few stitches in rows can be quite quick to do and using stitch markers will help you keep track of your row count. Peru has an amazing heritage of textile and yarn production, so I decided it was suitable to use a beautiful yarn that includes alpaca fibre from Rowan Yarns. I also used some lovely beads from the Debbie Abrahams range which, I think, give the project an extra special quality. The project uses 7 shades of yarn, but you could use fewer, or make it a stash busting project and use as many colours as you fancy! You can find more information by following this link. For the last few years Emma and I have devised a social media plan to cover the period between Christmas Day and Epiphany, which falls on the 5th January - this is the period commonly known as the twelve days of Christmas. This year we have put together a plan that we are calling The Twelve Days of TLC, which basically means that we have come up with suggestions for a series of activities that we hope will help you feel relaxed and well looked after over the festive period. Almost all of the items on our list are free to complete. Some will take a while and may involve you heading outside, but many of them only take a little bit of time and are home based so that you can squeeze them into your busy schedules. The Twelve Days of TLC list will go live on the blog next Friday (20th December) so that you can forward plan any that you fancy doing, but we will also be posting each of them daily on our social media channels. I hope there will be something on the list that will bring you joy and solace over the festive period. We will be exhibiting at two yarn shows quite early in the New Year so you might want to add the dates to your diary! We will be at Waltham Abbey Wool Show on Sunday the 19th January. You can find more information about this day long show and also a list of the workshops that are available by following this link or by clicking on the image above After, what I think might be a six year absence, we will be returning to the Unravel show in Farnham in February. Tickets for the show are £12 in advance and £16 on the day. You can find more information by following this link. I made a really good Ottelenghi recipe at the weekend, but had no luck whatsoever with a Paris Brest! I love aubergines and have a bit of a thing for cheese, so I just knew that the recipe for aubergine and ricotta dumplings cooked in a tomato sauce would be a winner - and it sure was delicious! You can find the recipe by following this link. The only change I made was to oven bake the dumplings before adding them to the sauce rather than frying them in (even more) olive oil! Paris Brest is a desert made with choux pastry and whipped cream and I had planned to make one to take to a friend's festive get together last Sunday. I have always been successful with choux pastry, but I ended up over thinking the process last week and the result was a greasy ring of batter pudding, rather than a lovely crispy choux ring! The batter went in the bin (I hate doing that!) and I made a pear, stem ginger and whipped cream sponge to take to the get together instead, but I will be having another go at Paris Brest over Christmas as I hate to be beaten by a recipe! We have got a bit more organised on the book suggestions front and so going forwards Gemma will be reviewing a book a month. She has kicked off by reviewing 'Learn to crochet Gansey Dishcloths' over on the blog, so do head over to take a look at what she thought of it. The book is widely available online, but if you are in the UK you can purchase it via Search Press and receive a 20% discount and free delivery, by using the discount code DD88 and We will be taking some annual leave from Thursday 19th December through to Thursday 2nd January. The website will be open for orders during this period, but items will not be dispatched until we return from our break. You can find a list of the last postage dates before Christmas on the Royal Mail website by following this link. Wednesday the 18th December is the last posting date for UK second Class mail - this will also be our final mail pick up date before Christmas here at Janie Crow. Anything ordered after the 18th will not be sent until we return from our annual leave in January. We are so excited to have been nominated in two categories of this years’ Yarn Industry Awards hosted by Craft World. Thank you so much to all those of you who took the time to nominate us. We are beyond proud to be listed in the Best Independent Pattern Designer category and the Best Online Personality one. If you would like to place your votes for your favourite designers, yarn stores or brands then follow this link or click on the image above. Just by placing your votes you can be in with the chance of winning a fabulous yarny prize! I love knowing that my designs have been the catalyst for people wanting to learn to crochet and this week I received a fabulous email from Monique. I have asked her permission to share her story with you guys as I think it is just so great! Dear Janie, My name is Monique, I am 57 and live in Amsterdam. I want to thank you for your incredibly beautiful design of the Fruit Garden blanket. I started the project in March this year and finished it last month, in November. It was such a joy to crochet these beautiful motifs, and the result is absolutely stunning! I am so pleased with it and enjoy the sight of it on my sofa every day. I would like to tell you how I found you, because it is a nice little story. It was about two or three years ago, on a vacation in France, when in this little french town I saw a handicraft shop window that displayed a beautiful crafted tapestery (with a ticket: not for sale) with all sorts of flowers. I was fascinated by it. I thought it was a crochet piece, and at that moment I decided I wanted to learn crochet. I had been knitting for some years but here I saw these beautiful creative motifs that were never to be achieved by knitting. Unfortunately the shop was closed, and I could not find out more about this work. I started learning the basic stitches and made two potholders granny-style. After that, I was looking for a project that would teach me more. Still curious about the french tapestry, I uploaded the picture that I made of it to Google, and that is how I found your website. I was immediately captured by the Fruit Garden blankets. At first, I hesitated, for this was not intended for beginners. However, I started watching the first video, and tried the first motif with some scrap yarn. That gave me confidence to order the yarn and start with this journey, which I could not have done without your clear and extensive video instructions. It was only when I had put the inner panel together, that I noticed that this was exactly the blanket that I had seen in the french shop window. I have enclosed a picture of that blanket, and one with myself on my own blanket. Again, thank you so much! I have learned so many things on this crochet journey with you. I have bought your Fruit Garden crochet book and my husband gave me as a birthday present your complete crochet handbook with autograph. I am looking forward with confidence to start a new project. Best wishes, Monique Jelmorini' I am looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend, and hope to make some progress on the Christmas shopping and gift wrapping front over the next few days. I think I am nearly there, but it will definitely be a case of making a list and checking it more than twice as there is always stuff I have forgotten to do!
I am hoping to squeeze in a bit of knitting as my garter stitch waistcoat projects has been very sadly neglected over the last few weeks! The weather is so dismal, but at least it is the perfect backdrop for a bit of cosy crafting on the sofa! I hope to be back in your inbox in a couple of weeks time when we will be in that confusing Twixmas period when we don't really know what day it is and definitely don't fancy any more sprouts! Don't forget to look out for the information about Emma and Gemma's new project and check out my Twelve Days of TLC list from Friday 20th. As usual I hope you have a great weekend planned and that the festive holidays will also bring you good cheer! Janie x It is feeling really festive here at Janie Crow HQ and, as the last postage dates start to loom, I decided to squeeze in an extra email to let you know about a few things that might take your fancy in the lead up to Christmas. Yesterday we released another new pattern called Beaded Pine Winter Mitts. I made the mitts for a festive workshop last year and we have now updated the pattern to include three sizes instead of just one. We have created some kits for this design as they would make a perfect project to work on in the lead up to Christmas and you could always give them away as a gift if you get them completed in time! You can find the kits for sale on a pre-order basis by following this link, or you can purchase the pattern separately if you want to source your own yarns and beads. If you want to work from download copies of the pattern you can find them via Etsy here and Ravelry here. I designed Mystical Lanterns back in 2016 and the blanket, scarf and shawl continue feature within the list of our most popular designs here at Janie Crow. Last week Emma decided to showcase another iteration of the much-loved motif, this time in the form of this gorgeous pelmet. I first saw an example of this in the wonderful Folklore Yarns in Belfast, while visiting during a Stitchtopia workshop trip en-route to Iceland a couple of years ago. It looked amazing among the yarny treasures there. During a subsequent workshop in France in October last year, our lovely friend Rosemary made the version that you see in our pics. She used Stylecraft Organic Cotton DK in multiple colours (we think there are eight in the design) and adorned it with some gorgeous bells and elephant charms that she bought on Knit For Peace trip to India, as well as the little mirrors in the centre for added twinkle! Emma has written a blog post that explains how to make this lovely Mystical Lanterns pelmet and you can find it by following this link. We are so excited to have been nominated in two categories of this years’ Yarn Industry Awards hosted by Craft World. Thank you so much to all those of you who took the time to nominate us. We are beyond proud to be listed in the Best Independent Pattern Designer category and the Best Online Personality one. You can vote for all your favourite designers, yarn companies, websites, shops and brands by following the link here. By submitting your votes you could win a yarn bundle worth £450! Last week we released a beaded pouch design called Halley, named after the famous comet. Emma suggested the name after seeing just how many sparkly beads I have managed to squeeze into this crochet bag design! I chose three yarn shades for my bag and two bead colours, but you could simplify things by using one yarn and fewer bead colours, or you could really glitz things up by making each beaded hexagon a combination of yarn and bead colours, or you could just make a couple of the beaded hexagons and use them to decorate your Christmas Tree! You can find a reel that shows the bags in close up over on our Instagram feed and you can find more information here. We now have kits in stock for the Summer Palace Wrap, which includes yarns from the gorgeous Baa Ram Ewe range of Pip Colourwork which is a 4ply British wool. We also have kits for the Magic Circles Scarf, which is made using Eden Cottage's gorgeous Bluefaced Leicester and Silk DK weight yarn called Milburn. This is a really high end kit, so you may want to add it to your Christmas list! Don't forget we have lots of patterns for festive projects, many of which are fabulous stash busters and won't take too much time to make. You can find them by following this link or by clicking on the images below. Glitzy Stockings Beaded Decorations Festive Decorations Festive Mini Stockings Twinkle Bunting There are still twelve days until the last postage date for UK Second Class, but we know that the post can start to slow down as we get towards the big day, so if you are in the UK we recommend that you order from our site a few days before the 18th December in order to try and guarantee that your items arrive in time. For other countries we suggest you take a look at the Royal Mail Last Postage Dates before making an order.
We will be closed for annual leave from Friday 20th December through to January 6th, but you can still order from our site and our post will recommence in the new year. Despite being officially 'off' work, our social media platforms will be busy as we have lots of posts planned, so hopefully you won't miss us too much! I heard about this fun project on the radio this week and thought you might also like to find out how and why a group of knitters chose to make a Festive Sweater for a huge salt gritter! I will be back in your inbox next week with my December newsletter and hope that you have a nice weekend planned.... It's a tad chilly here in North London today but the sun is shining and the local countryside is looking so pretty with all the frost, so you find me upbeat as we head into another weekend. The weeks are passing at such a rate and I am flabbergasted to realise that Christmas is now less than a month away. Only a few preparations have happened here so far, but I have popped a wreath on the front door and sorted some food orders at least! Despite the rather slow start to getting Christmas ready at home, we have had a very productive couple of weeks here at Janie Crow, with a few new pattern releases and a festive workshop in the mix! A few weeks ago we released the pattern for the crochet project I designed for the Peru Trip I was lucky enough to be a part of back in July. The project is called Catalina and you can find more information by following this link. Yesterday saw the release of a brand new design called Halley, named after the famous comet. Emma suggested the name after seeing just how many sparkly beads I have managed to squeeze into this crochet bag design! When I am on a night out, I find large bags cumbersome, and I always worry about putting it down and forgetting about it. I tend to travel light and often just pop my bank cards, a couple of keys, my phone and maybe a lipstick into a bag before heading out. A small pouch is the perfect size for me, and I especially like cross body bags with long straps which mean I don’t have to worry about taking it off and losing it! I have a few bags that fit my needs, but I wanted to create a special little pouch that would be just the thing for a sparkly evening out or party – the perfect little accompaniment to that extra special outfit and I am so happy with how this project turned out. I chose three yarn shades for my bag and two bead colours, but you could simplify things by using one yarn and fewer bead colours, or you could really glitz things up by making each beaded hexagon a combination of yarn and bead colours. I am excited to see what you come up with. You can find a reel that shows the bags in close up over on our Instagram feed and you can find more information here. Next week I will be releasing another new pattern called Beaded Pine Winter Mitts. I made the mitts for a festive workshop last year and we have now updated the pattern to include three sizes instead of just one. We have made some kits for this design as they would make a perfect project to work on in the lead up to Christmas and you could always give them away as a gift if you get them completed in time! You can find the kits for sale on a pre-order basis by following this link, or you can purchase the pattern separately if you want to source your own yarns and beads. Patterns and kits will be dispatched towards the end of next week. We have lots of patterns for festive projects, many of which are fabulous stash busters and won't take too much time to make. You can find them by following this link or by clicking on the images below. A few weeks ago we released the Glitzy Stocking project which originally featured in Inside Crochet magazine. Beaded Decorations Festive Decorations Festive Mini Stockings Twinkle Bunting Persian Tiles Peppercorn Andy has once again been busy building some of our kits and we now have the Persian Tiles - Peppercorn, kit in stock, featuring yarns from the West Yorkshire Spinners range. Magic Circles Scarf We also have kits for the Magic Circles Scarf, which features the gorgeous Milburn DK by Eden Cottage Yarns and we hope to have kits for the Summer Palace Wrap, which includes yarns from the Baa Ram Ewe range in stock next week. Summer Palace Wrap We had a lovely time at our workshop in Bournemouth last weekend, despite the best efforts of Storm Bert, and our group really embraced the projects that Debbie and I had prepared for them. Here are a few images of work in progress on the Halley Beaded Pouch pattern. Quite a few of the group changed their bead colours and swapped about the yarn shades. Aren't the results just fabulous! Gemma and Emma have both been very busy over the last couple of weeks and have been working on a brand new project that they plan to release on New Year's Day, so make sure you set a reminder about that if you like the idea of a crochet along project for next year. Emma has also been really industrious making more technique videos for our YouTube channel and I am very grateful to Gemma for putting a lot of interesting information into the rest of this email. I hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow! Over on Instagram this month Jane was getting very excited about the ever expanding range of Emma Ball/Janie Crow products. You can watch the reel here. The Spirit of Flora tape measure is one of our favourites. You can find all of the products over on the website, including some lovely gift bundles, which would make great presents. Gemma realised that it had been ages since we had a show and tell over on Facebook and lots of you took the time to comment with photos of your amazing work. Here are just a few of our very favourites. We particularly like seeing some of the projects that don't appear so often, such as the Blue House Blanket and the Indian Roses Blanket. Thank you to all of those who shared your work with us. Hannie Bouwericks' Spirit of Flora Sarah Reaser's Blue House Blanket in progress Vicki Wheeler's Indian Roses - great colour choices! The Wool-in Garden City festival took place in Welwyn Garden City from 18th November, culminating in a yarn show on the 24th November at Oaklands College. There was a week of woolly events, including a Pop-Up Shop in the Howard Centre, and workshops covering a wide range of techniques, from rag-rug making and arm knitting, to drop spindle spinning and amigurumi! Kellie Bright, who plays Linda in Eastenders, was at the show making granny squares in aid of the Solving Kids Cancer Charity with £235 being raised for the charity too through the sale of raffle tickets. Gemma popped along to the yarn show on Sunday, braving the awful weather of torrential rain and strong winds and look what she spotted - Rachel has used the Indigo Dreams pattern to make the most amazing cardigan, absolutely perfect for this time of year. Thanks for stopping for a chat and to pose Rachel, you looked great, with or without the lipstick! Well, not setting a target is definitely the way to go for me - I made good progress this month! Perhaps it has been something to do with the miserable weather or the time of year but I've really wanted to get on with my blanket over the last few weeks. I have managed to complete all four of the Trinity motifs that border the central nine floral motifs and join in the little Omega squares to complete the corners. Threading the 91 Pewter beads onto the yarn for each of the Trinity motifs felt endless, but once it occurred to me that each of the 13 fans took 7 beads, I then threaded them on in groups of 7 and it seemed much less overwhelming! I was getting a bit nervous by the time I started the fourth motif as there didn't seem to be all that many beads left in the bag but all was well and there are even a few left to go into my stash. I might try making some of Jane's lovely Festive Crochet Decorations and use the remaining beads for those. This month's biggest challenge was joining the Omega squares into the corner spaces formed when the Trinity motifs were complete. I found it really tricky to get the alignment correct while working the hook through the dc stitches of Omega and the slip stitches worked along the edge of Trinity, from the reverse side! In fact, confession time, after three attempts and some very painful fingers later, I actually made the decision to sew them into place. That meant that I could work from the front side of the blanket, which helped me to see that I was matching stitch to stitch correctly and the overall appearance of the join is the same as if I had used a dc join from the reverse side. I'm tempted to adopt the same approach this coming month with no target setting but I'm sure I'll be able to complete at least a couple of the motifs that are still on the list to make. I still need 4 Virginia motifs, 3 Fitzroy and and 2 Bloomsbury (the long striped ones that will form the outer square along with the remaining 4 Omega motifs). Of course, this time of year is very busy and with all good intentions I am hoping to still make a couple of hand-crafted gifts, so let's see how it goes. Wishing you all a warm and happy festive month and I'll see you back here in a few weeks' time. Gemma x This week's recommended recipe from Gemma is for Cinnamon Rolls, her ultimate comforting treat at this time of year. The thing with Cinnamon Rolls is that they take quite a bit of time to make and that's possibly part of the reason they are so good when they are finally ready and you get to sample your hard work! Gemma uses her breadmaker for the dough part so she can just leave it to get on by itself, but you can use a stand mixer as suggested in the recipe or knead by hand. They're great with or without the cream cheese icing! Andy made the Roasted Grape and Boursin Tart, which features in the new Waitrose food magazine this week. You can find the recipe by following this link. It was really delicious, and Andy says it was easy to make, but we think it needs to be a bit of a treat and not a regular on our menu as it includes quite a lot of cheese! To keep the calories down a little Andy used the reduced fat, ready made puff pastry that Sainsbury's have recently added to their range! We have just learned that a new Guinness World Record category has been created entitled 'the largest display of textile post box toppers in one place', and the group St Albans Postboxes are hoping that their collection of 102 festive themed toppers will set the record! Since 2018 the group, who meet not far from us here near the Hertfordshire border, has raised a whopping £130,000.00 for charity and this year they will be supporting Up on Downs and Gaddesden Place Riding for the Disabled. You can read more about the world record attempt by clicking on any of the images. We are particularly loving the gingerbread cottage below! I love decorating our front door with seasonal wreaths, so this week I swapped my autumn one for a new festive one. It seems that people are decorating for Christmas earlier than they used to and quite a few of our neighbours already have their festive lights up, so I am hoping that we will be able to get everything down from the loft tomorrow and find time to get a few lights up too. We are going to visit Grayson Perry's 'The Vanity of Small Differences' tapestries at Pitshanger Manor and Gallery on Sunday morning. The exhibition is heading into its final week, so if you're in West London and fancy visiting the show before it closes, take a look at the website for more information. I have been working on a few new projects over the last couple of weeks. I really like to have a few things on the go, so I have been doing some step-by-step photography for a pattern which will be re-released with two new versions in the new year and I have also been working on a couple of new blanket designs. I have finally started work on a garment design using my Mystical Lanterns motif too, so it's been great to dip into so many things. Working on a few projects at the same time helps me keep my focus and I tend to mix things up so that I can work on simple things when my brain is finding harder designs taxing!
I am still enjoying my knitting project, which I am working on in front of the TV in the evenings, so I am hopeful that my weekend plans will allow a bit of time for me to settle down on my cosy sofa! I hope that whatever you have planned you will have a lovely weekend too! We have been really busy getting quite a few patterns ready for release in the lead up to Christmas. A few weeks ago we released the Glitzy Stocking project which originally featured in Inside Crochet magazine and this week we have released the pattern for the crochet project I designed for my recent trip to Peru - I have named it Catalina after the monastery we visited in Arequipa. Emma has been busy getting some technique videos sorted over the last few weeks and she has made one that shows how to work the flat braid join - a technique I have used in the pouch. You can also find videos for beading and more information about the project by following this link. This week I have been putting the finishing touches to my project for the festive workshop which I will be tutoring with Debbie Abrahams in Bournemouth this time next week. I have gone full on bling and used almost 600 beads in the project, so it promises to be really sparkly! I have ordered plenty of patterns, so will be releasing it to everyone in a few weeks time once the workshop is over. We will also be releasing the beaded mitts pattern that I designed for the same workshop last year, so do look out for these over the next few weeks. We have lots of patterns for festive projects, many of which are fabulous stash busters and won't take too much time to make. You can find them by following this link or by clicking on the images below: Beaded Decorations Festive Decorations Festive Mini Stockings Twinkle Bunting We have a relatively good stock level of project kits and you can find them by clicking on the drop down menu on our home page. On the whole, stock of kits that contain Stylecraft Life DK (my favourite!) are pretty healthy, but we are waiting for quite a few shades of Special DK, so any kits that contain that will be back in stock soon. Persian Tiles - Peppercorn Andy has been busy prepping kits for the West Yorkshire Spinners 'Peppercorn' version of Persian Tiles and you can find those here. As I said in the introduction, I have been embracing the colder weather and longer evenings and have been enjoying some time with my knitting in the evenings. Having my blankets around me is bringing me a lot of joy and I just adore seeing them piled up by the sofa ready to warm anyone who's feeling a bit chilly! In the image above you can see (top to bottom) Mystical Lanterns, Spirit of Flora, Persian Tiles Marrakesh, Skimming Stones and another Spirit of Flora at the bottom. My original Royal Garden blanket is on the chair - watch out for a couple of new versions of this blanket in the new year! I was so lucky to tutor an amazing textile workshop trip to Peru during the summer. It is a truly incredible country, and I adored it! When I was designing the project for the workshops I was very mindful of not copying traditional patterns and I wanted to keep it relatively simple. The Catalina pouch is mainly worked in panels so that the project is portable and easy to work on while travelling. Crocheting just a few stitches in rows can be quite quick to do and using stitch markers will help you keep track of your row count. Peru has an amazing heritage of textile and yarn production, so I decided it was suitable to use a beautiful yarn that includes alpaca fibre from Rowan Yarns. I also used some lovely beads from the Debbie Abrahams range which, I think, give the project an extra special quality. The project uses 7 shades of yarn, but you could use fewer, or make it a stash busting project and use as many colours as you fancy! You can find more information by following this link. The patterns from the Spirit of Flora Collection can be used to make a myriad of projects. You can make bags, cushions and blankets and I just love seeing what you all come up with so please continue to post your makes on social media using the hashtags #spiritoffloracal and #janiecrow or #janiecrowpattern so that we can see them. I love designing crochet projects that use different shaped blocks to create blankets, but as a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the finished shape of my projects, I often end up designing half and quarter motifs to ensure that they can have (at least two) straight edges. It is a personal preference of course, and I know many designers who like their projects to have shaped edges created by the motif contours, but too many wavy edges, or oddly shaped borders don’t really sit well with me. When designing Spirit of Flora I thought it would be good to create a half motif that would enable crocheters to make either triangular projects, such as shawls, or a square blanket with a fancy edge, made from the half motifs. The Pair of Roses motif leant itself really well to also becoming a half motif and I am really pleased with how it turned out. You can find a free download document that contains guidance on how to make the Festival of Flowers shawl by clicking on the image above and you can find more information about the Spirit of Flora collection by following this link. You will need three of the Spirit of Flora patterns to make the shawl - they are Leaf Trellis, Evelyn and the Pair of Roses motif, which also includes the half motif instructions. When we were children my brother and I would place hessian sacks at the end of our beds on Christmas Eve 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 on Christmas Day, probably at some ridiculously early hour. We would rummage through them and tear open some small gifts and find satsumas and nuts right at the bottom that we would eat during the day. These decorative crochet stockings are not large enough to hold lots of presents, but they would make the perfect addition to the fireplace nonetheless and are large enough to fit a few small gifts. 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 celebration and people arriving to make merry with us. you can find the pattern for my Glitzy Stocking by following this link. Is there any food more comforting than a yummy hot lasagna? I don't think there is and so I am always excited to see recipes for variations. I used to love traditional lasagna made with beef mince and I also used to make a show stopping chicken version that included lots of roasted garlic and a hint of mushroom. It was just so yummy! Thankfully, now that we are vegetarian, there is no shortage of fabulous lasagna recipes and I recently found out how easy the deconstructed speedy 'one pot' versions are. Last weekend I tested out this one pot lentil vegan version by So Vegan. It is really easy and the vegan 'cheese' (which is made from tofu) is not too bad, which is quite the compliment coming from me as I am usually not a fan of cheese replacements. I think my version could have done with a little more olive oil and (as I used pre soaked lentils and not tins) I also think I should have cooked it a tad longer - but none the less, a good recipe that I will definitely repeat! You can find it by following this link. This time of year many of us find our thoughts turning to warmer climbs and I know the weeks around Christmas see a big upturn in people booking holidays. If you are thinking of booking a yarny get-away and fancy something a little exotic, how about joining the amazing designer Debbie Bliss in Mysore, where she will be tutoring the Knit For Peace workshop at The Green Hotel. You can find more information about the trip by following this link - ignore the date in the header and in the http address as it says 2023! Dates for next year are 10th through to the 24th January. Having tutored this workshop quite a few times I can really recommend India in January. The warm weather, fabulous food and incredible sites set you up fabulously for the year ahead and the price of the holiday includes a donation to the charity, so you can feel ultra good about that too! I joined my friends Jo and Suraya for a visit to the Make Joy yarn festival in Woolwich, London last weekend and had such a lovely time! We attended a couple of talks, the first by the amazing knit designer Sylvia Watts-Cherry and another by the fabulous crochet designer Helda Panagary. Sylvia Watts-Cherry I am sure many of you will know Helda's crochet design. She has a great eye for colour and designs a lot of her projects for Inside Crochet Magazine. If you don't know her work, please head across to her Instagram feed and give her a follow. If you do know her work and think you already follow her, please head over to instagram and double check as she has recently had her account hacked, which means she has had to start a new one. Whilst at the show I tried really hard to resist all the lovely yarn that was for sale at the various stands, but of course I succumbed to purchasing some in the end! I fell in love with a knitted waistcoat called Pelica by Rosa Pomar which was on display on the Kettle Yarn Co stand. I haven't knitted for a while as it tends to be a winter pass time for me, but I am completely addicted to this knit already - I find working garter stitch so satisfying! With a little under six weeks to go until Christmas it always surprises me how early the festive ads start on the TV and radio and I am always a bit reticent about getting involved in all the commercial side of things too early, but that said I have been enjoying the Waitrose adverts which feature many familiar faces and I am intrigued to find out who stole the red velvet cake! You can find part one by following this link. I have supported Shelter, a charity that supports the homeless, for quite a few years and they have also just released their Christmas ad. It puts the Waitrose one into perspective, but it is a very clever advertisement and I hope it might make you want to support them in some way. Andy and I hope to join the Shelter 'Walk Home For Christmas' walk in a couple of weeks time. You can find more information by following this link. I was sent the images above by Jan, one of the amazing volunteers who moderates the Spirit of Flora CAL Facebook group. The blanket has been made by Steffi Böhler who used the colours of the flowers in her garden as the inspiration for her amazing palette. Isn't it just lovely! I really like her use of the flat braid join to put the pieces together too. I am looking forward to the weekend. We are heading into town with some friends tomorrow and have a quiet day planned for Sunday, so I am hoping to squeeze in some more knitting time! I hope you all have a lovely weekend too! Janie x
I have had a really nice time playing with crochet stitches and beads over the last week and am pleased to have a prototype project for the upcoming festive weekend workshop in Bournemouth completed. Just a few tweaks and I will be ready to make my final version so, with three weeks to go before the workshop, I am feeling nicely in control. Just hoping now that I haven't tempted fate by typing that!! Playing with crochet stitches and techniques and working out how colours go together is probably one of my favourite things to do - and when beads are also added into the mix I find it totally absorbing and can totally loose track of time. It can be frustrating when the crochet doesn't work quite like I expect it to and it doesn't always go to plan, but that is one of the reasons I tend to have quite a few design projects on the go at once. As soon as something is eluding me, or not going right, I tend to put it down and work on something else instead. At the moment I am working on a new floral blanket project, as well as a tessellating one with a very different feel to the floral one. I have also been working on the sampling for the garment collection that I hope to release next year and the aforementioned workshop project. Andy has been busy getting some kits back in stock and I am pleased to tell you that we now have the kit for the Peppercorn version of Persian Tiles ready for you. This colourway, shown above, echoes the colours of my Sandalwood one, but it is made using a beautiful selection of West Yorkshire Spinners natural yarn shades. If you have been waiting for this to come back into stock, you can find the kits and more information by following this link. We sold out of the Summer Palace Wrap kits when I mentioned them in my last email a couple of weeks ago, so Andy has made ten more. The kit includes all the yarn you need to make this lovely wrap using Baa Ram Ewe's Pip Colouwork 4 ply - another fabulous British yarn! You can find more info here. We had a bit of a blip with our stock of Della Q makers bags as the distributing company we get them from changed their shipping methods which resulted in our order being held up in customs for ages. The stock we have received is probably the last shipment we will get this year, so again, if you have been waiting for something to come back into stock, do take a look here to see if it's in! I know we are only one day into November, but as the weeks fly by so fast and because making festive projects is time consuming, we will be releasing the pattern for my beaded Glitzy Stocking next week. The pattern will be available in UK and US terms, via download or as a paper copy. Next week we will also be releasing guidance on how to make the Festival of Flowers shawl, which uses crochet motifs from the Spirit of Flora collection. I plan to put the guidance document on the website as a free download next Friday, so make a note in your diary if you fancy taking a look at it. This time of year, as the winter evenings draw in, I tend to find myself thinking about holidays. If you are like me and fancy getting some dates in the diary for next year, why not take a look at the Stitchtopia website for information about crafty trips? I will be going to the Swiss Yarn Festival in April if you fancy joining me. Whenever the weather turns, I enjoy bringing out these glorious mitts and I love the mix of crochet and knitting and the general patchwork appearance of them. This week, over on Instagram, Emma put together a great post about our combined love of mitts here at Janie Crow. You can find it by following this link. We have a few more things to tell you about this week, so I hope you have a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow. October was Menopause Awareness Month here in the UK and as most of the Janie Crow team are in that stage of their lives Emma wrote a blog piece about it, which you can find here if you haven't read it yet and would like to. The blog post is full of tips to help manage the myriad of symptoms and also just celebrating the fact that we are starting to talk about it and don't feel that we have to suffer in silence. Lots of you shared your experiences with us both on Instagram and Facebook and here are just a few of the your words. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and let's keep talking. Then of course there was the hugely exciting news that Stylecraft Special DK is coming home, with the addition of twenty gorgeous brand new shades to the already extensive colour range. The JC team had great fun making the teaser video. Gemma has finally recovered from someone being on the other side looking through when she took the library book off the shelf and Emma has decided that, much as she loves yarn, the apple was tastier! If you're wondering what on earth we are talking about, you can watch the video by clicking here and you can see the new shades below. As always, it's hard to believe that another month has passed by already! We've launched full throttle into autumn and although the temperature here in North London is still quite mild, the trees are losing their leaves quickly now. The colours that nature gives us this time of year are quite something. I love all the russets, copper, orange and yellow shades and I think when the leaves are laying on the ground it's somehow easier to notice all the wonderful shapes they have. Anyway, on to the subject in hand, it has been another slow month for me and Bohemian Blooms. Spreading my time over many commitments is challenging and yet somehow I seem to get more done that way than when I do (occasionally) have spare time on my hands. Last month I had managed to join the central 9 squares of the blanket and was ready to start adding the Unity motifs. I managed one! I've decided that I'm not going to make any plans for what I might achieve on the blanket this forthcoming month, I'm going to take the pressure off myself and see where that takes me! Hopefully I will have some progress to show you next month. Until then, stay warm and well. Gemma x t's that time of year when the temperature drops as soon as the sun goes down, much earlier in the day now that British Summer Time has come to an end. I don't know about you but lovely warming homemade soups at lunchtime and hearty evening meals are what appeal and Gemma has recommended this Spicy Root & Lentil Casserole recipe from the GoodFood website. Have you ever noticed an Innocent Smoothie bottle in the shop with a little woolly hat on top? Well the company have just relaunched their Big Knit campaign again and are asking for crafters to knit or crochet the little hats to go on the Smoothie bottles in Autumn 2025. For every behatted bottle sold, Innocent Smoothies donate 25p to Age UK and since they started the Big Knit back in 2003 £3.2 million has been raised! You can find out more including how to join in here or by clicking on the image below. October has been another busy month with lots going on here at Janie Crow. Within the next couple of hours you will be able to find our 'This was October' reel over on Instagram by following this link. We had a fabulous evening yesterday with lots of trick or treaters coming to the door to celebrate Halloween. Honestly it was a tad crazy at times - I thought I had over done it with the treats, but in the space of about an hour the whole lot had gone! It was lovely having the little ones dressed up and excited on the doorstep though, and brilliant to know that a lot of kids will still choose a satsuma over a chocolate! Andy laughed at me for including them in my big bowl of treats, but he was proved wrong as they were a big hit and were chosen long before all the sweets had gone! Emma is a really big Halloween fan and you can find the blog she wrote about it last week by following this link. We live in a fabulously multicultural town here in North London, so it was fantastic to have Halloween coincide with Diwali celebrations. Last night there were lots of fireworks and our neighbours were busy preparing for family members to visit, with the little lights out by the door and in the windows too. I love it! I found this brilliant link to a Diwali orientated online colouring book yesterday and managed to loose about an hour playing around with it - such a lovely thing to do and I really recommend it! One of my resulting pieces is below: It has been really nice to have a run of weekends at home and I am pleased to have another couple of home based days this weekend. We have an 80th birthday celebration to go to this evening and an afternoon tea for my cousin's 60th birthday tomorrow. I am thinking it is definitely time for a Sunday Roast in a nice cosy pub too, so hopefully we will be able to find time to do that! there is nothing like a roast when the days are colder and shorter.
I hope you all have a great plan for the next few days too and that you might just get a chance to enjoy that extra bit of TLC with your yarn and a hook! Until next time! We had a fabulous time at the Yarndale show last weekend and it was so lovely to see so many of you on the stand. It was especially good to hear how many of you enjoy the Janie Crow newsletters and mail outs - I hope you will enjoy this week's Quick Catch Up as I have some things to tell you about. Thanks to varying stock levels at our suppliers and discontinued yarn shades it hasn't been easy keeping all our kits in stock over the last few months, but Andy has been able to do quite a big restock since coming home from the show last weekend. We have quite a healthy stock of the Original Persian Tiles kit as well as the Light Blue one which use Styelcraft yarns - you can find them here. We also have a few Sandalwood kits and the original Persian Tiles in West Yorkshire Spinners yarns. Our yarn packs for my Sunshine and Showers project proved a real hit at Yarndale and Andy has managed to put more of them into stock on the website this week. This project was designed as a learning tool, with each section of the design echoing the changing seasons - the autumnal parts are some of my favourite as I tried to represent falling leaves and pumpkins (made my working crochet bobbles) sitting in the fields waiting to be picked for Halloween! This is perhaps my only project worked in rows, so it is great for getting to grips with basic stitches whilst achieving straight edges! You can find more information here. We have good stock of both the colour ways of the Summer Palace blanket and hope to have kits for the wrap in very soon as Baa Ram Ewe have reinstated their Colourwork Pip yarn range. Two of the shades that I used in the original pattern for the Summer Palace Wrap have been dropped, but I have found a couple of great substitutes and listed them on the website here. After a long absence we have kits in stock for the Indigo Dreams blanket (shown above) and its red companion Crimson Dreams. I think this is a perfect project for the colder months and the Crimson version is particularly festive, so it might be a brilliant autumn make! You can find more information here. And finally - in terms of kits any way - we have yarn packs in stock for the Spirit of Flora CAL. It was brilliant to see so many pics of your projects at Yarndale at the weekend and I was especially chuffed to see that so many of you had raided your stashes and come up with your own lovely versions. We are hoping to have more kits in stock over the next few months, including some of the higher end projects, such as the Magic Circles Wrap using Eden Cottage's range of beautiful wool and silk yarn and the Peppercorn version of Persian Tiles which is made using yarns from the West Yorkshire Spinners range. If you are interested in either of these you can request to go on the 'notify me' list by entering your details on the website pages. Emma has been really busy coming up with a very busy work schedule for the next few months and she has already planned some new technique videos for Youtube. She has some great ideas for autumn projects - so do keep an eye out for those! I am also trying to be ultra organised with my workload and am really looking forward to hunkering down with some crochet as the autumn progresses. At the beginning of September we challenged our followers on Instagram and Facebook to create an Aster motif in a lovely, summery colourway and show us their creations using the hashtag #janiecrowastercompetition. The Aster is the birth flower for the month of September and, being determined to hang on to summer vibes for as long as possible, we were excited to see your entries. As expected, you did us proud with some wonderful colour schemes. Here is just a small selection of entries: As always, it was really hard to choose winners, but that's what we have to do. There were two goody bag prizes available, one for an Instagram entry and one for a Facebook entry. So, here they are! The top photo (below) is from @dani_poppies, our Instagram winner and we particularly liked the combination of colours on this motif, especially the red picot edging to the flower. Our Facebook winner is Caroline Foulkes. We were bowled over by Caroline's choice of colours, in particular the combination of the green and pink, and we loved how she took inspiration from the dahlia arrangement. Those lovely cats look like they approved of it all too! Thank you all so much for taking part in our little September challenge. We hope you enjoyed it and congratulations again to our winners. We will get your prizes sent off to you as soon as possible. It's nice to be back writing about my Bohemian Blooms blanket project again. September has been an incredibly busy month for me with my crochet classes beginning again and a new routine of driving my daughter to college four days a week. From a motivational point of view I decided that I would focus on finishing all the motifs needed to create the central square of the blanket, which could then be joined. There's nothing quite like getting to a joining stage to feel like you're making some progress. So this month was all about the Vanessa production line. I had three more Vanessa motifs to make, in order to have the full set of nine needed for the centre. Do you remember those sewn bullion stitches that I was struggling with last month? Well, I'm pleased to report no trouble this month and I think they could actually become a bit addictive! Before I started the joining process I made sure that all the corner stitches of the motifs were correctly marked with stitch markers and then I joined motifs so that I had three strips of three, leaving two long joins along three motifs at a time to complete the centre panel. Ta dah! The beady-eyed amongst you will notice a few stray ends that need dealing with but that's a mere detail. I'm thrilled to have reached this stage and it will definitely spur me on. It's beginning to look like a blanket! This coming month I am looking forward to working the Unity motifs on to the sides of this central panel and adding the little Omega squares made right back in the beginning to the four corners. Have a fabulous October and I'll see you back here in a month's time. Gemma x Gemma's recipe recommendation this week is for Mushroom & Stilton Wellingtons via the BBC Good Food website. Gemma says that one essential that is always in her fridge is ready made puff pastry, so these were relatively quick and easy to prepare and perfect for a warming family dinner now the nights are a little bit on the cooler side. If you're not a fan of blue cheese I'm sure that could be swapped for something a bit more to your taste - maybe a bit of Boursin would be good? We were fascinated to read about the recent discovery, in an attic, of a crochet blanket made by Queen Mary (the late Queen Elizabeth the Second's mother). Apparently, during the 1930s/40s Queen Mary would occasionally donate these small cot blankets to help London families. You can read more about the blanket and its history here or click on the image below: Knitted Knockers UK are a charity that provides knitted and crocheted breast prostheses for women in the UK who have undergone a mastectomy or lumpectomy and alongside the standard prostheses can even make versions suitable for swimming and other sports. They can also provide display packs for organisations and other health care professionals. What a fantastic organisation. You can read more about the services they provide by clicking here or on the image below. Our poor little house has once again been majority neglected over the last few weeks and so this weekend will be one where we stick pretty close to home. We have quite a few outside projects to do as we need to get the garden furniture packed away and do some autumnal pruning. I think it will also be a weekend of cooking and I am weirdly excited about the prospect of a meal with mashed potato and gravy!! I will be at The Knitting and Stitching Show with the Stylecraft team next week. You will find their stand in the main hall and I will be there all day on Thursday and Saturday and on Friday and Sunday I will be there in the afternoons - it would be great to see you if you are able to come and say Hi! If you are in London and looking for something to do, the 'Outlaws' exhibition opens at The Fashion and Textiles Museum today. The show focuses on the work of Leigh Bowery and you can find more information by following this link. I came across a funny video whilst scrolling through YouTube this week. It is by Foil, Arms and Hog and you can find it here if you fancy a laugh! If you want to see a Friday specific one by the same guys (which is also pretty funny) you can find it here! Sending big yarny hugs.
As I have said so many times before, it has been fabulous seeing all your Spirit of Flora projects out in the wild over the last few months. I have especially enjoyed seeing different layouts and colourways such as the one shown below made by my friend Gwyn. Emma has been busy on Instagram showcasing your projects and Gemma has been doing the same over on our Facebook page. Don't forget there are motif and border patterns, including the Flower Tile border that Gwyn has used on her blanket, free to download from the website. Frustratingly we have been experiencing an issue with our Spirit of Flora pattern listings on Ravelry as a volunteer editor decided to remove them due to 'invalid sources'. Gemma has been working really hard over the last week or so to get them reinstated, but unfortunately Ravelry are notoriously bad at replying to emails or correcting these kind of mistakes. For now only pattern bundle one is available, so if you want single patterns, or wish to purchase the other bundles for the Spirit of Flora project I suggest you take a look within our Etsy store here. Victoria's Bedroom at Brighton Pavilion (c) Diane Hill I have been working on a new design inspired by large flowers painted in the Chinoiserie style. I am a huge fan of hand painted frescos and wallpaper and recently saw this great article by Diane Hill, an artist I admire, about the recently discovered painted walls in Queen Victoria's bedroom at Brighton Pavilion. I am nowhere near to finishing my design, but hopefully the images of the interior of the pavilion and the style of Diane's work will give you a few clues about what to expect. I am also hoping to design some garments using some of my black catalogue of blanket designs as the basis. Over on Instagram, Emma has recently asked what kind of garments you would like to see within a collection and you can see some replies here. Don't forget that the Complete Crochet Handbook is back in stock following its reprint. We have signed or unsigned copies for sale on the website now and you can find them by following this link. The book is written in UK terms and the copy written in US terms is called The Perfect Crochet Finish. You can find the US copy for sale on Mary Maxim by following this link, where you will also find a brand new kit for my Mystical Lanterns blanket on sale. I love flowers - you may have noticed! And although I keep trying to design crochet projects that don't feature them, I am constantly drawn to them. (c) Floret Flowers Aster is the birth flower for September and as I have motif design called Aster, which featured within the Fruit Garden Cal back in 2020, we decided to have a bit of fun and challenge our social media platform followers to come up with their own colourways of the motif keeping in mind the colours of summer when choosing their palettes. If you want to take a look at some of the amazingly colourful Aster motifs made already follow this link to Instagram where crocheters have used the hashtag #janiecrowastercompetition The pattern for the Aster Flower can be downloaded for free via the Stylecraft web site here, or, if you want a physical copy, you can find it in the Fruit Garden Blanket book, which includes all the patterns used in the project and charts by following this link. I have been working with Arena Travel, who provide tailor made trips for textile enthusiasts under the heading of Stitchtopia, for many years and felt incredibly privileged to tutor the recent trip to Peru in July and the West Yorkshire trip back in June. For next year I suggested two new holiday destinations and am so pleased that my trips to Switzerland and Morocco are now live to book on the Stitchtopia site. You can now find the information about my trip to the Swiss Yarn Festival in April and the details of the Yarn Inspirations of Morocco trip, which is scheduled to take place in October 2025. I am especially excited about the trip to Morocco as I fell head over heals in love with Marrakesh when I visited last year and have worked with Helen Warrington at Arena to create a really exciting itinerary that includes stops in Marrakesh, Rabat, the Atlas Mountains, Fez and Casablanca, to name a few. Next year's 'Yarn Inspirations' trip has already sold more than half the places, so if you fancy coming along, do take a look at the details here. We are incredibly lucky that my fabulous cousin, Bev, did a bit of a Shirley Valentine and went to Greece on holiday forty years ago and never really came back home again! Instead she married a Greek man called Christos and stayed on a tiny little island to raise her children, thus giving us the most ideal holiday destination! Going to Bev's island has been a part of our lives since our children were little and although we don't go every year we all feel the pull of a trip there every couple of years. One of my favourite things about trips to Greece is the delicious food, with fresh salads and tasty meze at centre stage. This year I became totally addicted to Dakos salad - a Cretan dish that mixes dry barley rusks with black olives, tomatoes, capers and feta. The salad has been part of the diet in Crete for centuries and as it’s so delicious I totally understand why. You can find recipes for it easily (there is a good one here) and it is a great way of using up stale bread if you can’t find the rusks. I’ve been trying to add a bit more protein to my diet lately so have been replacing the feta cheese with tofu and a tablespoon of Greek yogurt. Ooh yum! We are really looking forward to making our annual trip to Skipton to show our wares at the fabulous Yarndale show, which is one of the highlights of our work diary. If you are planning to come along please drop onto the stand to say hello - we are on stand J12, which is in the usual position. We will have kits, patterns, accessories and our Emma Ball items on display alongside almost all the Janie Crow blankets and projects. Tickets for the show are still available and you can find them by following this link - tickets are timed to ease congestion around the show. Since we returned home from our summer holiday on Tuesday the house looked like a bomb had dropped on it for a few days, with washing and empty suitcases at every turn. Our son Charlie and his girlfriend will return from Bev's island later on this evening, so I am sure that the suitcases and drying washing will be a big feature over the next couple of days too. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will be all sorted and back to normal - totally ready for a proper fresh start and our exciting trip to Yarndale next week. We are hoping to get some time in the garden over the next few days. It has all got a bit wild and out of control while we have been away and many plants are in need of their late summer prune. We will also be making time for some walks in the local countryside and, as Andy and I are both on a bit of a health kick after a bit of an indulgent time away, we will be doing some healthy meal preparation. I am never quite sure how I feel about yarn bombing. Visually I love it and think it is great that crochet in particular is given a public stage because of it, but I am not totally convinced about the environmental impact of yarny installations that have no real use. That said, it pales into insignificance in relation to the waste produced by fast fashion, take away food and supermarket packaging..... I recently came across 'Yarn Bombing in Trivento' on Instagram and just love the vibrant colours, scale, skill and sense of humour that the crochet pieces evoke. If you are into crochet as an art form then I suggest you also look at the work of Kate Jenkins whose work I really love. I first came across Kate when she created a crochet and knitted fish counter which was on display at The Knitting and Stitching Show. Since then she has worked on lots of collaborations and has really built her incredible inventory of crochet items, which now includes fabulously funny bakery goods and fast food.
Kate was one of the first designers to produce beautifully detailed, tongue in cheek, crochet items and I am really excited that her newest show opens today in London's Soho. I am hopeful that Andy and I will manage to get there either tomorrow or Sunday. You can find all the details by clicking on the image above or here. Hope you all have a lovely weekend Janie x |
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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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