Happy New Year from Janie Crow

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