It's a tad chilly here in North London today but the sun is shining and the local countryside is looking so pretty with all the frost, so you find me upbeat as we head into another weekend. The weeks are passing at such a rate and I am flabbergasted to realise that Christmas is now less than a month away. Only a few preparations have happened here so far, but I have popped a wreath on the front door and sorted some food orders at least! 

Despite the rather slow start to getting Christmas ready at home, we have had a very productive couple of weeks here at Janie Crow, with a few new pattern releases and a festive workshop in the mix! ​ 

A few weeks ago we released the Glitzy Stocking project which originally featured in Inside Crochet magazine. ​

Magic Circles Scarf ​

​Summer Palace Wrap

We had a lovely time at our workshop in Bournemouth last weekend, despite the best efforts of Storm Bert, and our group really embraced the projects that Debbie and I had prepared for them. Here are a few images of work in progress on the Halley Beaded Pouch pattern. Quite a few of the group changed their bead colours and swapped about the yarn shades. Aren't the results just fabulous! ​

Over on Instagram this month Jane was getting very excited about the ever expanding range of Emma Ball/Janie Crow products. You can watch the reel here. The Spirit of Flora tape measure is one of our favourites. You can find all of the products over on the website, including some lovely gift bundles, which would make great presents.  ​

Gemma realised that it had been ages since we had a show and tell over on Facebook and lots of you took the time to comment with photos of your amazing work. Here are just a few of our very favourites. We particularly like seeing some of the projects that don't appear so often, such as the Blue House Blanket and the Indian Roses Blanket. Thank you to all of those who shared your work with us. ​

​Sarah Reaser's Blue House Blanket in progress

Kellie Bright, who plays Linda in Eastenders, was at the show making granny squares in aid of the Solving Kids Cancer Charity with £235 being raised for the charity too through the sale of raffle tickets. ​

Gemma popped along to the yarn show on Sunday, braving the awful weather of torrential rain and strong winds and look what she spotted - Rachel has used the Indigo Dreams pattern to make the most amazing cardigan, absolutely perfect for this time of year. Thanks for stopping for a chat and to pose Rachel, you looked great, with or without the lipstick! ​

Well, not setting a target is definitely the way to go for me - I made good progress this month! Perhaps it has been something to do with the miserable weather or the time of year but I've really wanted to get on with my blanket over the last few weeks. I have managed to complete all four of the Trinity motifs that border the central nine floral motifs and join in the little Omega squares to complete the corners. 

Threading the 91 Pewter beads onto the yarn for each of the Trinity motifs felt endless, but once it occurred to me that each of the 13 fans took 7 beads, I then threaded them on in groups of 7 and it seemed much less overwhelming! I was getting a bit nervous by the time I started the fourth motif as there didn't seem to be all that many beads left in the bag but all was well and there are even a few left to go into my stash. I might try making some of Jane's lovely Festive Crochet Decorations and use the remaining beads for those. ​

This month's biggest challenge was joining the Omega squares into the corner spaces formed when the Trinity motifs were complete. I found it really tricky to get the alignment correct while working the hook through the dc stitches of Omega and the slip stitches worked along the edge of Trinity, from the reverse side! In fact, confession time, after three attempts and some very painful fingers later, I actually made the decision to sew them into place. That meant that I could work from the front side of the blanket, which helped me to see that I was matching stitch to stitch correctly and the overall appearance of the join is the same as if I had used a dc join from the reverse side.  ​

I'm tempted to adopt the same approach this coming month with no target setting but I'm sure I'll be able to complete at least a couple of the motifs that are still on the list to make. I still need 4 Virginia motifs, 3 Fitzroy and and 2 Bloomsbury (the long striped ones that will form the outer square along with the remaining 4 Omega motifs). Of course, this time of year is very busy and with all good intentions I am hoping to still make a couple of hand-crafted gifts, so let's see how it goes.

Wishing you all a warm and happy festive month and I'll see you back here in a few weeks' time.   ​

This week's recommended recipe from Gemma is for Cinnamon Rolls, her ultimate comforting treat at this time of year. The thing with Cinnamon Rolls is that they take quite a bit of time to make and that's possibly part of the reason they are so good when they are finally ready and you get to sample your hard work! Gemma uses her breadmaker for the dough part so she can just leave it to get on by itself, but you can use a stand mixer as suggested in the recipe or knead by hand. They're great with or without the cream cheese icing! ​

You can read more about the world record attempt by clicking on any of the images. We are particularly loving the gingerbread cottage below! ​

I have been working on a few new projects over the last couple of weeks. I really like to have a few things on the go, so I have been doing some step-by-step photography for a pattern which will be re-released with two new versions in the new year and I have also been working on a couple of new blanket designs. I have finally started work on a garment design using my Mystical Lanterns motif too, so it's been great to dip into so many things. Working on a few projects at the same time helps me keep my focus and I tend to mix things up so that I can work on simple things when my brain is finding harder designs taxing!

I am still enjoying my knitting project, which I am working on in front of the TV in the evenings, so I am hopeful that my weekend plans will allow a bit of time for me to settle down on my cosy sofa! I hope that whatever you have planned you will have a lovely weekend too! ​

​Beaded Decorations

Festive Decorations

Festive Mini Stockings

Twinkle Bunting

​Persian Tiles - Peppercorn

As I said in the introduction, I have been embracing the colder weather and longer evenings and have been enjoying some time with my knitting in the evenings. Having my blankets around me is bringing me a lot of joy and I just adore seeing them piled up by the sofa ready to warm anyone who's feeling a bit chilly! In the image above you can see (top to bottom) Mystical Lanterns, Spirit of Flora, Persian Tiles Marrakesh, Skimming Stones and another Spirit of Flora at the bottom. My original Royal Garden blanket is on the chair - watch out for a couple of new versions of this blanket in the new year! ​

I was so lucky to tutor an amazing textile workshop trip to Peru during the summer. It is a truly incredible country, and I adored it! When I was designing the project for the workshops I was very mindful of not copying traditional patterns and I wanted to keep it relatively simple.  ​

When designing Spirit of Flora I thought it would be good to create a half motif that would enable crocheters to make either triangular projects, such as shawls, or a square blanket with a fancy edge, made from the half motifs. The Pair of Roses motif leant itself really well to also becoming a half motif and I am really pleased with how it turned out. 

You can find a free download document that contains guidance on how to make the Festival of Flowers shawl by clicking on the image above and you can find more information about the Spirit of Flora collection by following this link. You will need three of the Spirit of Flora patterns to make the shawl - they are Leaf Trellis, Evelyn and the Pair of Roses motif, which also includes the half motif instructions. ​

Last weekend I tested out this one pot lentil vegan version by So Vegan. It is really easy and the vegan 'cheese' (which is made from tofu) is not too bad, which is quite the compliment coming from me as I am usually not a fan of cheese replacements. I think my version could have done with a little more olive oil and (as I used pre soaked lentils and not tins) I also think I should have cooked it a tad longer - but none the less, a good recipe that I will definitely repeat! You can find it by following this link. ​

You can find more information about the trip by following this link - ignore the date in the header and in the http address as it says 2023! Dates for next year are 10th through to the 24th January. 

Having tutored this workshop quite a few times I can really recommend India in January. The warm weather, fabulous food and incredible sites set you up fabulously for the year ahead and the price of the holiday includes a donation to the charity, so you can feel ultra good about that too! ​

I joined my friends Jo and Suraya for a visit to the Make Joy yarn festival in Woolwich, London last weekend and had such a lovely time! We attended a couple of talks, the first by the amazing knit designer Sylvia Watts-Cherry and another by the fabulous crochet designer Helda Panagary.  ​

Janie x

I love designing crochet projects that use different shaped blocks to create blankets. My Persian Tiles design, for example is made using octagons and squares. Delft, The Blue House, Climbing Rose Wrap and Frida's Flowers are made using hexagons and Royal Garden is created by working diamond and triangle shapes. Creating tessellating blocks is something I really enjoy, but as a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the finished shape of my projects, I often end up designing half and quarter motifs to ensure that they can have (at least two) straight edges. It is a personal preference of course, and I know many designers who like their projects to have shaped edges created by the motif contours, but too many wavy edges, or oddly shaped borders don’t really sit well with me.

​My most recent CAL projects (The Fruit Garden, Indigo Dreams and Spirit of Flora) have all been based on square shapes. Making projects using squares means that crocheters can easily adapt a design to suit them. They can make it bigger or smaller, square or rectangular by making just a few simple changes to my plan and differences in tension (compared to my pattern) are not the end of the world. 

​When designing my most recent CAL, Spirit of Flora, I thought it would be good to create a half motif that would enable crocheters to make either triangular projects, such as shawls, or a square blanket with a fancy edge, made from the half motifs. The Pair of Roses motif leant itself really well to also becoming a half motif and I am really pleased with how it turned out. 

You can find a free download document that contains guidance on how to make the Festival of Flowers shawl by clicking on the image above and you can find more information about the Spirit of Flora collection by following this link. You will need three of the Spirit of Flora patterns to make the shawl - they are Leaf Trellis, Evelyn and the Pair of Roses motif, which also includes the half motif instructions. 

I think it would be great to see the shawl made in alternative shades and you could always choose two other motifs to accompany the Rose edging pieces instead of those I have used. Or, if you want to make something a little plainer, you could use one of the free plain motifs for the main part of the shawl and just use the Half Pair of Roses motif for the edging? 

I look forward to seeing what you can come up with!

We had a bit of a blip with our stock of Della Q makers bags as the distributing company we get them from changed their shipping methods which resulted in our order being held up in customs for ages. The stock we have received is probably the last shipment we will get this year, so again, if you have been waiting for something to come back into stock, do take a look here to see if it's in! ​

I know we are only one day into November, but as the weeks fly by so fast and because making festive projects is time consuming, we will be releasing the pattern for my beaded Glitzy Stocking next week. The pattern will be available in UK and US terms, via download or as a paper copy. ​

October was Menopause Awareness Month here in the UK and as most of the Janie Crow team are in that stage of their lives Emma wrote a blog piece about it, which you can find here if you haven't read it yet and would like to. The blog post is full of tips to help manage the myriad of symptoms and also just celebrating the fact that we are starting to talk about it and don't feel that we have to suffer in silence. ​

Then of course there was the hugely exciting news that Stylecraft Special DK is coming home, with the addition of twenty gorgeous brand new shades to the already extensive colour range. The JC team had great fun making the teaser video. Gemma has finally recovered from someone being on the other side looking through when she took the library book off the shelf and Emma has decided that, much as she loves yarn, the apple was tastier! If you're wondering what on earth we are talking about, you can watch the video by clicking here and you can see the new shades below. ​

As always, it's hard to believe that another month has passed by already! We've launched full throttle into autumn and although the temperature here in North London is still quite mild, the trees are losing their leaves quickly now. The colours that nature gives us this time of year are quite something. I love all the russets, copper, orange and yellow shades and I think when the leaves are laying on the ground it's somehow easier to notice all the wonderful shapes they have. 

Anyway, on to the subject in hand, it has been another slow month for me and Bohemian Blooms. Spreading my time over many commitments is challenging and yet somehow I seem to get more done that way than when I do (occasionally) have spare time on my hands. Last month I had managed to join the central 9 squares of the blanket and was ready to start adding the Unity motifs. I managed one! ​

I've decided that I'm not going to make any plans for what I might achieve on the blanket this forthcoming month, I'm going to take the pressure off myself and see where that takes me! Hopefully I will have some progress to show you next month. Until then, stay warm and well. ​

Have you ever noticed an Innocent Smoothie bottle in the shop with a little woolly hat on top? Well the company have just relaunched their Big Knit campaign again and are asking for crafters to knit or crochet the little hats to go on the Smoothie bottles in Autumn 2025. For every behatted bottle sold, Innocent Smoothies donate 25p to Age UK and since they started the Big Knit back in 2003 £3.2 million has been raised! You can find out more including how to join in here or by clicking on the image below. ​

October has been another busy month with lots going on here at Janie Crow. Within the next couple of hours you will be able to find our 'This was October' reel over on Instagram by following this link.

We had a fabulous evening yesterday with lots of trick or treaters coming to the door to celebrate Halloween. Honestly it was a tad crazy at times - I thought I had over done it with the treats, but in the space of about an hour the whole lot had gone! It was lovely having the little ones dressed up and excited on the doorstep though, and brilliant to know that a lot of kids will still choose a satsuma over a chocolate! Andy laughed at me for including them in my big bowl of treats, but he was proved wrong as they were a big hit and were chosen long before all the sweets had gone!

Emma is a really big Halloween fan and you can find the blog she wrote about it last week by following this link.

We live in a fabulously multicultural town here in North London, so it was fantastic to have Halloween coincide with Diwali celebrations. Last night there were lots of fireworks and our neighbours were busy preparing for family members to visit, with the little lights out by the door and in the windows too. I love it!

I found this brilliant link to a Diwali orientated online colouring book yesterday and managed to loose about an hour playing around with it - such a lovely thing to do and I really recommend it! One of my resulting pieces is below: ​

Can we talk about decorating because really that’s my second favourite part. My first favourite part is buying all the sweets for the trick or treaters, eating them, and then buying them all again!

There are LOADS of gorgeous Halloween crochet projects out there and still time to make them if you fancy a little seasonal side-hustle from your current big make! 
​
Let’s start here, with a Janie Crow adapted project.  We used a traditional Halloween pallet and re-made some of the beaded decorations. Honestly it was a little bit addictive! ​

Patterns are still in good demand and this week Andy has added an option to purchase the complete set of Spirit of Flora paper pattern brochures to the website. The full set, which includes 12 motif patterns and the Getting Ready document, is available for £29.95 from the website here.

I was tagged into the image above on Instagram recently by Sanne at Chaicrafts who made the most amazing version of the Spirit of Flora blanket and gifted it to her sister as a wedding present - isn't it just beautiful! ​

It is always a frustration when yarns get discontinued and it means we can no longer make up yarn kits to accompany my designs. Keeping on top of discontinued shades and ranges can be really time consuming, so sometimes we make the decision to drop some of our kits. This week however, I have some good news in regards to my Summer Palace Wrap design as Baa Ram Ewe have reinstated their lovely yarn Pip Colourwork 4 ply, which means we now have kits back in stock! ​

These major advances mean that Stylecraft can be more efficient with resources, using less water and energy and so reducing their carbon footprint. By manufacturing in Yorkshire, they are also reducing transport distances, cutting both fuel consumption and pollution. 

The new yarn range officially launched yesterday and you can find some teasers on our Instagram feed.
The yarns will be in stock with stockists from today and, if you want more info, you can find my blog post here. ​

Gemma's book of the month recommendation is not so much escapism as a busman's holiday as, ever keen to improve her knitting skills, she recommends Patty Lyons' Knitting Bag of Tricks: The Official Workbook. ​

All members of the Janie Crow team (except Andy obvs!) are at various stages of our perimenopause and menopause journey and so Emma has written a great piece about it. You can find it on the blog here.

I am so thankful to live at a time when we talk about menopause and can access help if we need it. It is no longer a taboo subject and there is so much research going on. I listened to this podcast on the Zoe platform on YouTube yesterday and I found it quite interesting to hear about the things we can do to help ourselves, such as making better decisions with food and getting more exercise. ​

Here at Janie Crow we have been struggling to keep a BIG yarny secret! None of us have let the cat out of the bag, and we didn't squeal under pressure over the last few days, but it is still a huge relief to finally be able to tell you this exciting news:

Spa Mill, the home of Stylecraft Yarns in the heart of West Yorkshire, has been home to spinning for well over one hundred years and it is so incredibly exciting to see them bringing state of the art technology back home to Yorkshire to produce their yarns in the UK.

The investment at Spa Mill includes a new dye house for acrylic and wool and new drying machinery for both. There are other new machines that are used to 'stretch break' the acrylic and 're-break' it, as well as a standard drawing line, a new assembly line, new twisting machines and a completely new balling plant. A combined heat and power plant, which produces electricity more efficiently than a normal gas fired power station and reuses the heat from the exhaust gases in the dye house, has also been invested in. The plant is also already hydrogen ready so it can move away from the use of natural gas in time.

These major advances mean that Stylecraft can be more efficient with resources, using less water and energy and so reducing their carbon footprint. By manufacturing in Yorkshire, they are also reducing transport distances, cutting both fuel consumption and pollution. 

The new home-made Special DK yarn is exactly as it has always been (although I think it might be even softer and squishier), with the weight and meterage the same as in the past. The really exciting thing for me is that the new yarns come in 20 extra shades that will join the existing range of 100 colours. I am already totally in love with Mistletoe, Purple Smoke, Pink Rhubarb and North Sea - they are just sooo good!!

Spectrum Yarns, the parent company of Stylecraft, have been producing worsted yarns for sports apparel (think golf sweaters and tank tops) for many years, so Spa Mill is already producing tons of yarn every year - a great thing given that so much of the UK's textile industry has gone abroad over the last few decades. Bringing the production of Special DK to the UK means that Stylecraft are the only acrylic manufacturer in Western Europe and they have taken a really big step by investing in British Industry. 
 
Andy and I were lucky enough to visit the mill a few weeks ago to see the production of the new Special DK colours in full flow and you can find some of my pics of the production line below. Doesn't that pink yarn look like candy floss? Or maybe a pink Mr Whippy ice cream? Yummy either way!

The twenty shades in the new Special DK collection have been chosen by Creative Director Annabelle Hill and the Stylecraft design team, as well as Lucy at Attic 24 who has a great eye for colour. The team looked at emails from consumers who recommended the type of shades they would like to see and then a final set of twenty were cherry picked from a broad range of one hundred shades. I love the fact that lots of the colours have names that link to Yorkshire, such as Mushy Peas and Pink Rhubarb, a name especially affiliated with the county as Yorkshire is famous for the quality of its rhubarb and back in its heyday there were 200 producers in the area!

Seeing the yarns in production was really interesting and I LOVED watching the really cleaver splicing machines that fix broken threads and the machines that slide the ball bands onto the balls of yarn - it was pretty mesmerising and I adored being surrounded by all that yarn and colour! Above you can see Poppy and below is Aquamarine - aren't they lovely!

Stylecraft hope that this new line of home-made yarn will pave the way for them to produce more yarns here in the UK and I would love to see some of the yarns with wool content coming through, such as my favourite Life DK.

As a designer I find choosing the yarns for a project is a bit of a juggling act. I want to source lovely colours that work in my designs (something that a huge palette like that of Special DK lends itself to brilliantly), whilst also considering the cost to my customers and the impact of it from an environmental perspective.

I see my projects as heirloom pieces and hope that home-made items such as my blankets will passed down through the generations. I hope that my choices do not align with those of fast fashion brands or throw away society and I am relieved to see that there has been a shift in perspective amongst the yarn buying community over the last few years, with more knitters and crocheters considering the environmental impact of their choices. Yarns like the UK produced Special DK are a big step in the right direction towards a more environmentally conscious yarn industry with lower transport costs, less waste and cleaner production at the heart of its production.

I have already started to use some of the new shades in the projects I am currently working on and I am looking forward to showing you what I come up with soon. If you want to get in on the act and source yourself some of the new yarns you will find the new range of Special DK colours in stock at your favourite yarn store from Friday 18th October. You can find stockists worldwide by following this link to the Stylecraft website and clicking on the map. 

I hope you will love it as much as I do! 

​October is Menopause awareness month in the UK. Some of us here at Janie Crow are more than aware of menopause, every month! Whether that’s the unseasonable heat we carry within us, the obvious spikes and dips of hormones or a months-absent menstrual cycle roaring back into life with no warning. Yes, menopause makes itself very much known around here.

​There is now, thankfully, much more information available to us and it is a subject which is now openly and frequently discussed and this can only be a good thing. We are not about to even dip our toe into the myriad of science papers and opinions and remedies and any of that, believing firmly that everyone is unique and will choose the path that works best for them to navigate this astonishingly complex time in our lives. There are podcasts and books and TV shows and all sorts and we could spend a month listing resources here but we won’t.  This post really is to let you know that “women of a certain age” (and we don’t know whether to love that gentle description or be outraged by it’s patronising tone – hormones again) make up a large and much-loved part of the Janie Crow community and are also well represented in the company itself!
 
There are dozens of recognised menopause symptoms ranging from the ones we all know (THE HEAT, OH THE HEAT!) to the less frequently recognised things like anxiety and brain fog. There are some things we think crochet can do to help.  We are NOT of course suggesting that it is appropriate to not seek specialist medical opinion in favour of picking up a hook, not at all, but let’s look at some of the things we know it brings us:

​PEACE OF MIND​


​We’ve said it so many times but sitting quietly and mindfully with hook and yarn is a tonic for so many things: a busy mind, anxious thoughts, low mood. All these things can be eased, even if only a little, by the repetitive action of making those familiar movements to create stitches. 

​REGULAR SELF-CARE
​
Taking time out of a busy schedule for yourself is essential. Very often, at this time of life, we still have children at home that we have to look after and also, we are starting to take on more of the “parent” role to our own parents. We have the responsibilities both up and down the generations.  It is a lot.  I speak from experience and my advice here would always be this:  if help is offered, take it.  In whatever form that may be.  TAKE THE HELP! Offer of a babysitter to have a few hours to yourself, yep. Offer of someone else making the trip to the supermarket for the parents, yes please.  It is not a failing to put your own oxygen mask on first. Remember that if you’re the hub of things, your falling down helps no one.  I am sorry to lecture but I’ve been there, done that and not been able to wear the t-shirt because I found it too hot. Sorry I digress…

​Crochet is a brilliantly portable hobby.  Waiting rooms, waiting in cars, swimming lessons and all those things are a good place to sit and just connect a bit with your own brain for your own – seemingly trivial – reasons. There is nothing at all better for you than doing something which benefits no one at all except you!  It’s the best tonic. Knocking up a granny square might seem ridiculous to some but to us who know what the feeling of hook and yarn does to a stressed head, it’s not ridiculous at all. Use your skill in a way you’d perhaps not considered: as a means to bring yourself back to you.

HOW TO COMBAT THE HEAT
​
Well yes, its unavoidable really but a lot of us make blankets don’t we? Many of us (me) would actually love to need to sit under a blanket.  We still make them. So what does that tell us? It’s not the end result, it is the action itself we crave.  If however you would like to still make something you could use, consider working with cotton or bamboo, both of which are lovely if you get hot handling yarn. Make smaller projects – bags or pouches or decorations. You have our fullest permission to have a smaller thing on the go as well as a bigger thing.  The difference in size means it doesn’t really count as not finishing one thing before starting another (that’s just science, we don’t make the rules).

You can find a selection of smaller projects by Janie here :

Again, having a bag of something small and fun in the car (no, not chocolates although this does also work and definitely NOT gin miniatures) is such a good way to remind you that you are YOU. Your pass times and hobbies and self care matters.  Have you ever just driven somewhere to be alone and have 5 mins thinking time? I have. I would have loved to have a bit of crochet to focus me when I sat in the car park at Asda but I was too muddle headed to sort it!

Finally, although it’s been a huge challenge to me as it is to many, menopause has also quite unexpectedly been a way of reaffirming the beauty and companionship of womanhood. I have navigated some huge life changes while also grappling hormones: bereavement, caring for elderly parents, divorce and subsequent single motherhood. Throughout all of this, an army of wonderful women have sweated and sworn and laughed and cried with me. The physical changes I’m going through are – to me – worth the richness I’ve been gifted at this time of my life.
 
So crank the aircon up, go get a sneaky coffee and sit for a few mins in the car park, hooking your way to a bit of calm. We wholeheartedly support you and appreciate all of you.

At the beginning of September we challenged our followers on Instagram and Facebook to create an Aster motif in a lovely, summery colourway and show us their creations using the hashtag #janiecrowastercompetition. The Aster is the birth flower for the month of September and, being determined to hang on to summer vibes for as long as possible, we were excited to see your entries. As expected, you did us proud with some wonderful colour schemes. Here is just a small selection of entries: ​

As always, it was really hard to choose winners, but that's what we have to do. There were two goody bag prizes available, one for an Instagram entry and one for a Facebook entry. So, here they are! The top photo (below) is from @dani_poppies, our Instagram winner and we particularly liked the combination of colours on this motif, especially the red picot edging to the flower. ​

Our Facebook winner is Caroline Foulkes. We were bowled over by Caroline's choice of colours, in particular the combination of the green and pink, and we loved how she took inspiration from the dahlia arrangement. Those lovely cats look like they approved of it all too! ​

It's nice to be back writing about my Bohemian Blooms blanket project again. September has been an incredibly busy month for me with my crochet classes beginning again and a new routine of driving my daughter to college four days a week. 

From a motivational point of view I decided that I would focus on finishing all the motifs needed to create the central square of the blanket, which could then be joined. There's nothing quite like getting to a joining stage to feel like you're making some progress. So this month was all about the Vanessa production line. I had three more Vanessa motifs to make, in order to have the full set of nine needed for the centre. Do you remember those sewn bullion stitches that I was struggling with last month? Well, I'm pleased to report no trouble this month and I think they could actually become a bit addictive! ​

Before I started the joining process I made sure that all the corner stitches of the motifs were correctly marked with stitch markers and then I joined motifs so that I had three strips of three, leaving two long joins along three motifs at a time to complete the centre panel. Ta dah! ​

The beady-eyed amongst you will notice a few stray ends that need dealing with but that's a mere detail. I'm thrilled to have reached this stage and it will definitely spur me on. It's beginning to look like a blanket! ​

This coming month I am looking forward to working the Unity motifs on to the sides of this central panel and adding the little Omega squares made right back in the beginning to the four corners. Have a fabulous October and I'll see you back here in a month's time. ​

​Gemma x

Gemma's recipe recommendation this week is for Mushroom & Stilton Wellingtons via the BBC Good Food website. ​

Knitted Knockers UK are a charity that provides knitted and crocheted breast prostheses for women in the UK who have undergone a mastectomy or lumpectomy and alongside the standard prostheses can even make versions suitable for swimming and other sports. They can also provide display packs for organisations and other health care professionals. What a fantastic organisation. You can read more about the services they provide by clicking here or on the image below. ​

If you are in London and looking for something to do, the 'Outlaws' exhibition opens at The Fashion and Textiles Museum today. The show focuses on the work of Leigh Bowery and you can find more information by following this link.

I came across a funny video whilst scrolling through YouTube this week. It is by Foil, Arms and Hog and you can find it here if you fancy a laugh! If you want to see a Friday specific one by the same guys (which is also pretty funny) you can find it here! ​

Emma has been busy on Instagram showcasing your projects and Gemma has been doing the same over on our Facebook page. Don't forget there are motif and border patterns, including the Flower Tile border that Gwyn has used on her blanket, free to download from the website. ​

I have been working on a new design inspired by large flowers painted in the Chinoiserie style. I am a huge fan of hand painted frescos and wallpaper and recently saw this great article by Diane Hill, an artist I admire, about the recently discovered painted walls in Queen Victoria's bedroom at Brighton Pavilion. I am nowhere near to finishing my design, but hopefully the images of the interior of the pavilion and the style of Diane's work will give you a few clues about what to expect.

I am also hoping to design some garments using some of my black catalogue of blanket designs as the basis. Over on Instagram, Emma has recently asked what kind of garments you would like to see within a collection and you can see some replies here. 
 
Don't forget that the Complete Crochet Handbook is back in stock following its reprint. We have signed or unsigned copies for sale on the website now and you can find them by following this link. ​

I love flowers - you may have noticed! And although I keep trying to design crochet projects that don't feature them, I am constantly drawn to them. ​

One of my favourite things about trips to Greece is the delicious food, with fresh salads and tasty meze at centre stage. This year I became totally addicted to Dakos salad - a Cretan dish that mixes dry barley rusks with black olives, tomatoes, capers and feta. The salad has been part of the diet in Crete for centuries and as it’s so delicious I totally understand why. 

You can find recipes for it easily (there is a good one here) and it is a great way of using up stale bread if you can’t find the rusks. I’ve been trying to add a bit more protein to my diet lately so have been replacing the feta cheese with tofu and a tablespoon of Greek yogurt. Ooh yum! ​

I am never quite sure how I feel about yarn bombing. Visually I love it and think it is great that crochet in particular is given a public stage because of it, but I am not totally convinced about the environmental impact of yarny installations that have no real use. That said, it pales into insignificance in relation to the waste produced by fast fashion, take away food and supermarket packaging.....

I recently came across 'Yarn Bombing in Trivento' on Instagram and just love the vibrant colours, scale, skill and sense of humour that the crochet pieces evoke. ​