December News

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 this link.

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