January News

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! ​