March News

March has brought some wonderful weather and it has been so good to finally feel the sunshine on our faces! The last couple of days have been a touch colder again, and there is a bit of rain around here in North London, but there is blossom on the tress and the light has much improved, so I am a happy bunny!  
 
It has been a really busy couple of weeks since I was last here and I will admit to being a little tired after a trip to Cologne at the weekend and a back to back jaunt to Scotland from Monday to late evening on Wednesday. I am hoping to have a good bit of rest at the weekend so that I can catch up with my sleep a little, but it is exciting to have so much going on. I hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up with all my news in this month's newsletter.

This year marks ten years since I released the Lily Pond CAL design in association with Stylecraft Yarns, so over the next few months we will be celebrating a decade of design by posting images of my back catalogue of projects in release date order on our social media channels.
 
We will be kicking off by featuring the Imogen blanket, which was one of my first stand alone crochet patterns, and then we will work right through to present day, hopefully in time to coincide with the release of new projects for the autumn. I could not have ever imagined the amazing response that my designs would create and I am so grateful for all your incredible support ever since.
 
I am hoping there will be a new CAL design this year, and some stand alone project patterns, including a those for a few garments, but the crazy thing is that as my business has grown, I seem to be getting less and less time to crochet. Hopefully 2025 will be another year of great designs though, so long as I can get myself in gear! 

Andy and I headed off to Cologne on the train last Friday to visit the H+H textile and handicrafts trade show. We had originally decided that we wouldn’t visit this year as we were there last year, but then we found out that crochet designer, Shelley Husband, aka Spin Cushions, was planning to be there and Emma Ball also took on a stand in order to showcase all her lovely products, including those from the Janie Crow brand, so we decided we just had to go! 
 
Travelling by train is one of my favourite things and living in London means that it is easy for us to use the Eurostar. We were lucky to miss the disruption at Paris on Friday, which was caused by an unexploded WW2 bomb and arrived in Cologne early evening after a train change in Brussels, which meant we managed to grab a refreshing pint of beer and buy some Belgian chocolate in the supermarket between trains!
 
The show is unlike anything we see in the UK. It spans three floors of the Koelnmesse exhibition centre and there is so much yarn, fabric and accessories on display that it is really hard to decide where to start! 

We saw some great yarns, including a fabulous new range from West Yorkshire Spinners, which launches in the autumn. I can’t wait to tell you more about it soon, as the palette is just a dream and the inspiration behind it is totally my kind of thing.
 
The show is a great place to see the trends for the forthcoming seasons. There are still lots of self striping and ‘space dyed’ yarns, as well as fluffy, mohair styles and lurex appear to be making a big come back. The Lang Yarns stand had some fabulous garments on display and many of the stands focussed on crochet as well as knitting, which was great to see.

I have long admired the work of Australian crochet designer Shelley Husband. I love the textural element of her designs and she is so driven and prolific that she puts me to shame! I am really hoping to make it to her side of the world one day, but the fact that she made the big decision to take on a trade stand at the show provided the perfect opportunity to catch up with her a little closer to home. You can find Shelley’s website by following this link and her Instagram profile is here.

We spent a little time with Emma Ball on her stand on the Saturday afternoon of the show and it was great to hear how many people admire her work. For me, it was also a real treat to see the Janie Crow branded items on display. I am so grateful to Emma and her team for their incredible support over the last couple of years.
 
Emma has created some new items, including draw string bags, tins and mugs, that feature my crochet flowers, so I will let you know when these come into stock – the new mugs are especially fab! 
 
You can find the current collection of Emma Ball and Janie Crow goodies over on the website by following this link.
 
As well as walking the show floors we were able to catch up with some of our friends from within the industry and it was good to spend some time walking around Cologne, especially as the weather was so kind to us. 

We are so honoured to have been named as the runner up in two categories of the Yarn Industry Awards 2024. Thank you for voting for us in the Best Independent Pattern Designer category and the Best Online Personality one. We are really proud to have made the list this year and it means a lot to all of us here at Janie Crow.

Andy and I have taken on a bit of a challenge and have signed up to an eight-week diet and fitness programme, so we have been more aware of the ‘macro’ element of our food choices over the last couple of days. Cake, crisps, sugar and alcohol are out of the window, so I have been searching the web for food that is higher in protein and lower in carbohydrate so that we can stick to the plan.
 
Getting a good balance of protein can be harder when you’re vegetarian, so we already monitor our diet to some extent and, as we also try to avoid over processed food, I have stocked up on some veg and pulses that are naturally a higher source of protein.

I know that green peas and tofu are a both really good sources of protein and I wanted to find a recipe for a dip or that I can use as a tasty addition to a salad, but all of the recipes I found had avocado in them, something I want to avoid for a while as they are such a water thirsty crop and there is a lot of evidence to suggest that we should eat fewer of them from an environmental point of view.
 
I found this recipe on the Veggie Desserts web site but replaced the chickpeas with smoked tofu and it is really delicious! 

Due to a couple of cancellations there are now two places on my residential workshop in West Yorkshire with Stitchtopia. The trip is in June and you can find more information by following this link.

Our daughter and son in law's puppy, Stoick, continues to be a ball of joy, but he is growing by the second and becoming more and more brave, inquisitive and boisterous as the days go on, meaning that Summer and Chris now have quite a lot of puppy craziness to deal with! I had the pleasure of pup sitting a couple of weeks ago and Andy had him on Wednesday when I was away. We can really recommend having a grand pup, as it's great to play for a day, but also a bit of a relief to hand him back to mum and dad when its time to go home! 

My lovely friend and fellow designer Debbie Abrahams is heading down to stay with me this weekend and so I am really looking forward to some, shopping and yarny chat. We haven't caught up properly for ages, other than for tutoring workshops, so I am really looking forward to seeing her. 
 
We recently launched a joint workshop with Debbie and myself, which will take place at Nunsmere Hall in Cheshire next year and there are still a couple of places left. You can find more information by following this link to the Inspired Minds website. The rooms left in stock are the Executive Twins, which are based on two people sharing, so make sure you select that from the drop down menu, otherwise you won't be able to book.
 
The next couple of weeks are looking relatively calm, so I am looking foreword to being at my desk with my hook and yarn. I hope that you can also find some time for a bit of hook or needle action! The forecast is looking a little wintery here in the UK, so the colder weather is a great excuse to curl up on the sofa with a lovely project.