Got The Friday Crochet Feeling?

Janie's Friday Feature 
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Welcome to this week's Friday Feature Newsletter - the Janie Crow equivalent of a Sunday supplement magazine....

I am on my way to the Stylecraft Mill in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire today in order to attend a Blogstar meeting on Saturday and to teach a beaded crochet workshop at what is expected to be a very exciting Purl Anniversay party on Sunday. I will do my best to get some pictures onto my IG account over the weekend and I am sure Stylecraft will be very busy on their social media platforms, so do keep a look out!

Last week I revealed the name of my new CAL design alongside a teaser image, so it might have come as a surprise to those of you who were looking out for the yarn packs to go on sale on Monday, that the name of the project had suddenly changed from Rambling Rose Wrap to Climbing Rose Wrap. The name change is as a result of my discovery that fellow crochet designer Pippin Poppycock already has a CAL design of that name, so I have had to do a quick bit of name changing! I hope it hasn't caused any of you too many problems.

The yarn kits for the project are now on sale via the 3 Janie Crow flagship stores. You can find them at Just Knots, Black Sheep Wools and Deramores. More images and information will be revealed soon.....

This week I have finally been able to reveal the winners of the Delft competition. I plan to feature this in more detail next week, but if you want to have a look at the winners and the free downloadable colour substitution documents for my Delft Blanket design you can do so by following this link. Just Knots have kits for all 5 finalist colour-ways in stock already and other stockists will follow suit soon I am sure!
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We got a lot of feedback about last week's crochet tip, so I have left it in this newsletter and added a few extra tips that relate to it.

As always, I hope you are looking forward to a lovely relaxing weekend and that you are healthy and happy wherever you are....
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Help! I need somebody....
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I am at a stage with Janie Crow where I could do with a bit of help!

I am looking for someone in the North London area who can crochet well, understands all crochet terminology, can proof read, is good at social media and PC related things and who has good organisational skills. Currently I cannot guarantee how many hours of work I can offer and I know I am asking a lot, but if anyone is able to get to High Barnet easily and fancies coming along for a relaxed chat about what you might be able to do for me then please hit reply.

Tip of the Month
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​Last week I featured a tip on how to stop a long foundation chain from twisting before you join it with a slip stitch. A lot of you emailed to say how much you liked the tip and two of you had suggestions as to how it could be further improved or used.

Joyce Grove suggested using a small elastic band to hold the first chain in place down the shaft of the hook. Joyce says she has tried this and it works really well.

Lenore Rhodes also emailed suggesting that this technique would be a great way of keeping track of your count when you have a very long chain to make, even if it doesn't need to be joined with a slip stitch to form a ring. Lenore suggests that you re position the chain that sits on the shaft of the hook at regular intervals, say every 50 stitches, so that you never have to go back and recount from the very beginning.

I think these are both great tips and I will definitely be using them in the future.

If you missed last week's tip, here it is:

If you are doing a crochet project that requires you to make and then join a long foundation chain it can be difficult to join without accidentally adding a twist or two to your chain. A few years ago someone on a workshop showed me a really neat trick for keeping the chain untwisted, so this month I am going to share it with you.

Imagine you need to make a project that requires a very long foundation chain. Instead of making all the chain and then struggling to not get a twist when you make the slip stitch join, just make a few chain to begin with. In my image below I have made 10 chain.
 

Slip the last chain off the hook making sure it doesn't unravel.
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Insert your hook through the first chain you made and push it onto your hook. It doesn't matter whether you put your hook through from the back or from the front of the chain.
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Place the last chain you made back on the hook, making sure you haven't twisted the chain.
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Push the first chain down the shaft of your hook so that it sits out of the way of the hook end.
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Continue to make your chain, then, when you have reached the right number, draw the stitch at the hook end through the one lower down the shaft to create your slip stitch join.
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It can take a bit of practice to feel comfortable working the chains when you have 2 loops on the hook, but once you get the hang of it this tip is a real time saver and you will be safe in the knowledge that you won't have any twists in your chain.
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