February News

My workshop trip to Peru has been confirmed this week, so I have started to look at design inspiration for the projects I am going to create for participants to make while we are away. The itinerary for the holiday in July includes visits to all the incredible sites, such as Machu Picchu and Lake Ticicacca, as well as outings to textile related businesses.

The tour is entitled 'Knitting Traditions of Peru', but it seems to me that the trip will be just as exciting for crocheters as it will for knitters, as much of the focus is on textile production and the creation of beautiful alpaca yarns. I have therefore decided to create a knit and a crochet project for participants to make and have created a Pinterest board to help kick start my design process - you can find it here. I have already done a little bit of sampling with some fabulous bright yarn shades.

This really is a trip of lifetime so Andy and I have raided our piggy bank so that he can come with me. There are still a couple of spaces left on the trip, which is held at last year's price at £1000 cheaper than other trips to Peru on the Stitchtopia site. There is room for more 'plus ones' if you want to bring a friend or partner too, and you don't have to start your journey from the UK, so it is open to everyone. If you are interested in joining me please follow this link for more information.

Thank you for the brilliant response to the new Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles. The kits went out of stock almost immediately, so I apologise to any of you who were disappointed not to have nabbed one. Keeping good stock levels has been incredibly challenging over the last year especially, due to lots of different factors affecting global yarn production, but we will have more kits in stock soon, so do keep an eye on the store page.

You can source the yarn for this project from other Stylecraft stockists and some of them have made up kits too. You can find a list of yarn stockists here and the free download yarn substitution document here.

On Sunday the 4th February I appeared on Stuart Hillard's birthday weekend show on Sewing Street TV. I had a fab time with Stuart showcasing my new book The Complete Crochet Handbook. The UK edition of the book was due to be published on 29th February, but it has proved so popular that it has already sold out at trade and many places no longer have it for sale on a retail basis either. Our own stock sold through in less than a day, which is totally bonkers! 

The reprint of the book is not likely to arrive until early May so we have added it to the website on a pre-sale basis. You can find it here. Please note that your order will not be dispatched until early May. 

If you are in the US you will find the book under a different title. It is called The Perfect Crochet Finish and is due to be published early March. You can find it available for pre-sale on US sites.

You can see the recorded Sewing Street Show by following this link. My slot starts at about the 3 hour 38 minute mark. I demonstrated how to add beads to crochet, how to create a neat ring and how to do a quick joining method when making granny squares, so there might be something of interest to you within the programme, where we also talked about some of the new Emma Ball items.

Which leads me nicely on to say that we now have some lovely new things in stock from the Emma Ball range, including new tins, cards, glasses cases and even a new 1000 piece jigsaw. Follow this link to see all our Emma Ball stock, or click on the images below to see specific items.

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but I am not sure who 'they' are and, after my recent experiences with copy cat crocheters, I am not sure I agree! Over the last few months we have discovered a Spanish translation of all the Spirit of Flora patterns being offered for sale by a lady in Argentina, a printed Persian Tiles top for sale on a fashion site and dresses made using the Mystical Lanterns motifs for sale on the webstore of a high end knitwear company. Oh, and a copy of the Persian Tiles blanket on the cover of a Spanish craft magazine - and that's just within the last six weeks or so!

I find these copies incredibly upsetting. Not because I seek to profit financially from the sale of items, but because the people putting selling them have not put the background work in and, by copying, have not shown due diligence to making sure that they are creating something original. In the case of the 'designer' in Argentina translating the Spirit of Flora patterns and selling them under the radar via WhatsApp Business it is pure theft - no more, no less.

If you see any copies of my work that appear to be unauthorised, please let us know about it. You can reply to this email, or in the case of Spirit of Flora, you can also let Inside Crochet magazine know. If you do email us, please include as much information as possible and some links. Thank you!

I have been nominated in two different categories in the Yarn Industry awards for 2023. I am really proud that my name appears in the 'Best Independent Designer' section and within the 'Best Online Personality' category. I am up against some true giants of the yarn world, many of them with many more followers than me, so I am flattered simply to have been nominated, but if you do want to vote for me, or any of the other fabulous nominees, please follow this link. Voting closes on the 22nd February.

Before lockdown I was an avid sourdough bread maker. I used to prepare it in the evening, prove it over night in the fridge and bake it in the morning. When bread flour became scarce during the pandemic my poor starter (Keith) died and I sadly haven't made a sourdough loaf since.

Last weekend I saw a video on Instragram showing a no knead technique for making Focaccia and felt it was time for me to dust off my bread making kit and have a go!

It was a great tasting loaf and I had fun making it. If you fancy having a go too, you need to be around to play with the dough pretty much all day and I would suggest going a little easier on the oil - it was delicious, but boy was it calorific! You can find a link to the recipe video here.

What have you got planned for the weekend? After a relatively quiet one last weekend we have a slightly busier couple of days ahead.

We are going out to see a music concert tonight in Camden Town and I am booked on to a workshop on Sunday afternoon, which I am really looking forward to. It is an embroidery on knitting workshop tutored by Judit Gummlich who I have wanted to meet for a while as I really admire her work. Judit has a really beautiful feed on Instagram and you can find it here. The workshop is at the Wild and Woolly yarn store.

I have been struggling with (what my Osteopath tells me is) a twisted pelvis for the last month or so. After a session with him last week it has eased, but I am still in quite a lot of pain with it at times and will be heading back to see him again early next week. I have found that walking really eases my lower back and is beneficial in other ways too.

My lovely friend Sarah Moran recommended a great book to me called 52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets. The book is a lovely one to dip in and out of and suggests a different way of walking for each week of the year (hence the title), so with the gym out of bounds for me for a while, I am really making the most of this gem of a book and am really enjoying my daily wander.

Next week is shaping up to be a relatively quiet one, with more work on the re-release versions of the Spirit of Flora patterns for me and the team, but I am looking forward to the Stitches trade show at the NEC next Sunday. If you're going to be there too, please do say hello if you spot me!  

Janie x