May News

It really has been a crazy busy couple of months and ever since we went to the H+H trade fair in Cologne at the end of March I feel like it has been weeks since I was properly able to focus on my workload. With yarn shows, the new print run of my new book, Easter, bank holidays and family events in the mix it is not surprising that I feel a bit out of control work wise.

It has been amazing seeing you all up and running with the rerelease of the Spirit of Flora patterns. There are so many fabulous versions of the design cropping up on our social media platforms and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those of you who have been in touch to say how much you are enjoying the project.

One of the reasons I chose to split the design up into bite size pieces so that each pattern will be available separately is so that crocheters can cherry pick the parts they like. This week I have seen a blanket made using the Tudor Rose motif with Gillow and it is incredibly effective. Seeing crocheters create alternative layouts for the design is also really exciting and I received some fabulous pics from Gera in The Netherlands who has made a fabulous blanket using her own colour palette and layout.

We have been working on the second set of patterns for the Spirit of Flora design and these will be available from the 19th June. The next set will include patterns for 4 more motifs and we are going to release the border patterns as a free download on the website to coincide with this set. If you haven't got involved with the project already, but fancy dipping in, you can find more information on the website here.

The Complete Crochet Handbook is back in stock following its reprint. We have signed or unsigned copies for sale on the website now as we have sent out all the copies ordered on a presale basis over the last six weeks - you can find them here. We only have a limited amount of stock as we had to compete against the likes of Amazon who didn't mange to fulfil their orders after the last print run sold out. We have another set of copies coming next week, so if the copies we have in stock sell out over the weekend we will make the book available on a presale basis once again ready for dispatch from the middle of next week.

In theory we should have a smoother flow of stock from the beginning of June once the third print run comes into stock. It's been a bit bonkers if I am honest and Andy has been working incredibly hard to get the book orders out to everyone, but I am so proud of the way it has been received since the first edition back in February. 

The book is written in UK terms and the copy written in US terms is called The Perfect Crochet Finish. You can find it for sale on Mary Maxim by following this link.

We sold a lot of kits at the Wonderwool yarn show recently so Andy has been busy making sure that our stocks are topped up again. We still have kits for the newest version of my Persian Tiles Blanket design 'Peppercorn' which was inspired by the colours used in the Sandalwood version, but made using natural yarns from the fabulous West Yorkshire Spinners range. You can find a free yarn substitution document for this colourway here and you can find more information by following this link.

If you would like to make the original navy and orange colourway of the Persian Tiles blanket using natural yarns, then check out our West Yorkshire Spinners version.

Last week I appeared on John Scott's morning show on Sewing Street TV to chat about The Complete Crochet Handbook and items from the Emma Ball range. I had prepared lots of demos, but only actually managed to show one - adding a neat border to the edge of a crochet piece. We had a great time though and you can find the show by following this link - the show starts at about the half way mark and you can find the next hour long part here.

If you haven't already listened to the interview recorded by the lovely Claire Waite Brown on Creativity Found, you can listen by following this link, or by clicking on the image above. Claire and I had a really interesting chat about creativity in general and my crochet career and it brought up a few things I haven't talked about for many years! ​

Due to a cancellation there is one space available on my workshop trip to West Yorkshire next month. The trip was originally sold out and next year's trip is also full, so this could be a good chance to come along if you fancy it. You can find more information by following this link - you can see the information if you change the number of passengers to 1 as the default is 2.

There are still places on the trip to Peru in July. Peru has the longest continuous history of textile production in the world, going back almost 10,000 years. Invented long before pottery and just as humans started agriculture, Peruvian fibre manipulation began with simple spun fibres but by 500 AD this rudimentary craft had developed into complex techniques. On our travels we’ll explore the processes involved in the production of textiles, including the most characteristic garment, the chullo, a knitted hat with an earflap and a calendar waistband that depicts the annual cycles of ritual and agricultural life, and we'll meet local artisans whose traditions have been passed down through the centuries.

Switzerland - April 2025
Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, lies at the north end of Lake Zurich. During our stay here, you'll enjoy two full-day workshops with me, spend a day exploring Old Town Zurich with a local guide, and sail on Lake Zurich to the home of Lindt chocolate. The Swiss Yarn Festival is the event for all wool and yarn enthusiasts! Knitting, crocheting, spinning and weaving are all represented, and you’ll enjoy a full day here.

The latest copy of Inside Crochet Magazine includes a really lovely article about why so many crochet designers are drawn to creating floral designs. The piece has been written by Lindsey Harrad and I really enjoyed reading it and finding out how other designers feel about adding flowers to their work.

I am particularly happy that the peonies in the front garden are absolutely loaded with buds this year and can't wait to see them burst into flower within the next couple of days. I think this time of year is probably my favourite in the garden, with foxgloves, allium, irises and peonies taking centre stage before the heat of the summer gives way to the plants that can cope with less water and more sunshine. ​

I am forever taking images on my phone of the garden, but also spent some time this weekend saving some tear sheets of flower images from the spring interior magazines. I appear to have saved quite a few images of auriculas and just love the colours of them, so maybe these will inspire something floral to appear on my hook over the next few weeks.....

Lizzie Hooper sent me her recommendation for a good book. It is called 'Four Thousand Weeks' and is written by Oliver Burke. Lizzie says:

'The synopsis is a time management book, but it's so much more than that. I raced through it and felt a renewed optimism for life after reading it. I even coppied out relevant lines from it to refer back to as it was that good! I think you'd really enjoy it as it's in easy to read sections and is more factual than fiction based.'

I also have two books recommended by the Janie Crow team: Sarah recommends Rural Hours - The Country lives of Virgina Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann by Harriet Barker and Gemma recommends the novel The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings. The review for this book taken from the Good Reads website is as follows:

'Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, and Octavia Butler, a biting social commentary from the acclaimed author of Lakewood that speaks to our times--a piercing dystopian novel about the unbreakable bond between a young woman and her mysterious mother, set in a world in which witches are real and single women are closely monitored.'

Andy and I have not been big meat eaters for the the last 30 years, partly because Andy has followed an arthritis diet since his diagnosis in the mid 90s. We have been fully vegetarian for 4 years now, eversince lockdown when we decided to follow our son Charlie's lead. To begin with I really missed fish and seafood in particular and every now and again I get a craving for salami or cured meat. Preparing vegetarian food from scratch is much more time consuming than a meat diet thanks to all the chopping, but it has lead us to discover some really great recipes.

As Charlie is not a fan of cauliflower we tend to save it for meals when he is away, so a few weeks ago we were excited to have one of our favourites - Creamy Cauliflower Korma by the Happy Foodie. You can find the recipe here.

To coincide with the Korma making, I decided it was time to clear out my baking cupboard. As a general rule this is one of those kitchen cupboards that I open, quickly pick something out, then wedge shut before anything else falls out. To use up some flour (I found 3 opened bags of both self raising and plain) I decided to make naan bread using just three ingredients - flour, Greek yogurt (we use the Pure Nature one as it comes in a glass jar, not plastic) and salt. I used this recipe by Arman Lieu, but didn't brush them with butter. They were incredibly quick and easy to make and they tasted delicious - the perfect accompaniment to the Korma! ​

Last week we had a lovely time celebrating the Diamond Wedding Anniversary of my lovely Mum and Dad, with the highlights of the day being posh afternoon tea and a card from the King! We also had a fabulous evening last Saturday at the hen and stag party held in honour of our niece Abby and her lovely partner Charlie who are getting married in July. The event had a Wild West theme and I had a lot of fun with colouring pens and glue making myself a cardboard sheriff badge, pistol and cowboy boots to wear as part of my costume! ​

We were incredibly lucky to see the northern lights from our garden last Friday night. I honestly didn't believe Charlie and his girlfriend Ellie when they said the lights were predicted and was incredibly sceptical when they first said they could see them, but with the help of the phone cameras we got to see a really fabulous (probably once in a lifetime) display here in North London.

Today is our daughter Summer's 26th Birthday and my Dad's 90th! We will be celebrating with a joint birthday lunch today and a big party for Dad tomorrow. We are so proud and thankful to have such a fantastic close knit family and fabulously supportive friends who are bound to make the day so special.

I hope that whatever you have planned for the next few days that you will be able to nab a little bit of hooky time! The new series of Bridgerton started on Thursday evening, so I am hopeful that I will be able to catch up with it at some point over the next couple of days - a perfect background to a bit of restorative crochet!

Janie x