I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

We had a good, but slightly soggy time at the Fibre East Yarn Show last weekend. It was great to say hello to those of you who dropped onto the stand - thank you for braving the rain and coming along! 
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There are a few spaces left on my two hand knit workshops at Missenden School of Creative Arts in a few weeks time and you can find more information by following this link. I will be teaching finishing techniques and colour work and you can choose to come along to one workshop or to treat yourself to both!

Finally this week.....I am totally over the moon to announce that our beautiful daughter Summer Rose and her lovely boyfriend Chris got engaged at the weekend. Chris is a true romantic and proposed in the Lake District while they were away for the weekend - he had even organised for a photographer to be hiding in the bushes to capture the moment he proposed on film. Bless him!

Andy and I are really looking forward to being part of all the years that this lovely pair have ahead of them. CONGRATULATIONS to our little girl and her Knight in Shining Armour!
 

I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

We are heading off to exhibit at Fibre East Yarn Show this weekend, so we have our fingers crossed that the weather is going to stay nice and that the rain is going to hold off. If you are coming to the show make sure you come and say hello! We will be in the Cotswold Marquee and we will have lots of lovely new things on display including the new versions of my Delft Blanket design.
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The yarn kits for the project are now on sale via the 3 Janie Crow flagship stores. You can find them at Just Knots, Black Sheep Wools and Deramores. More images and information will be revealed soon.....

This week I have finally been able to reveal the winners of the Delft competition. I plan to feature this in more detail next week, but if you want to have a look at the winners and the free downloadable colour substitution documents for my Delft Blanket design you can do so by following this link. Just Knots have kits for all 5 finalist colour-ways in stock already and other stockists will follow suit soon I am sure!
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We got a lot of feedback about last week's crochet tip, so I have left it in this newsletter and added a few extra tips that relate to it.

As always, I hope you are looking forward to a lovely relaxing weekend and that you are healthy and happy wherever you are....
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I am at a stage with Janie Crow where I could do with a bit of help!

I am looking for someone in the North London area who can crochet well, understands all crochet terminology, can proof read, is good at social media and PC related things and who has good organisational skills. Currently I cannot guarantee how many hours of work I can offer and I know I am asking a lot, but if anyone is able to get to High Barnet easily and fancies coming along for a relaxed chat about what you might be able to do for me then please hit reply.

​Last week I featured a tip on how to stop a long foundation chain from twisting before you join it with a slip stitch. A lot of you emailed to say how much you liked the tip and two of you had suggestions as to how it could be further improved or used.

Joyce Grove suggested using a small elastic band to hold the first chain in place down the shaft of the hook. Joyce says she has tried this and it works really well.

Lenore Rhodes also emailed suggesting that this technique would be a great way of keeping track of your count when you have a very long chain to make, even if it doesn't need to be joined with a slip stitch to form a ring. Lenore suggests that you re position the chain that sits on the shaft of the hook at regular intervals, say every 50 stitches, so that you never have to go back and recount from the very beginning.

I think these are both great tips and I will definitely be using them in the future.

If you missed last week's tip, here it is:

If you are doing a crochet project that requires you to make and then join a long foundation chain it can be difficult to join without accidentally adding a twist or two to your chain. A few years ago someone on a workshop showed me a really neat trick for keeping the chain untwisted, so this month I am going to share it with you.

Imagine you need to make a project that requires a very long foundation chain. Instead of making all the chain and then struggling to not get a twist when you make the slip stitch join, just make a few chain to begin with. In my image below I have made 10 chain.
 

Slip the last chain off the hook making sure it doesn't unravel.
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Insert your hook through the first chain you made and push it onto your hook. It doesn't matter whether you put your hook through from the back or from the front of the chain.
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Place the last chain you made back on the hook, making sure you haven't twisted the chain.
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Push the first chain down the shaft of your hook so that it sits out of the way of the hook end.
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Continue to make your chain, then, when you have reached the right number, draw the stitch at the hook end through the one lower down the shaft to create your slip stitch join.
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It can take a bit of practice to feel comfortable working the chains when you have 2 loops on the hook, but once you get the hang of it this tip is a real time saver and you will be safe in the knowledge that you won't have any twists in your chain.
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I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

Can you believe that it is Friday again? The weeks are speeding by and I feel like everything needs to slow down a little to give me a chance to enjoy these summery days. I hope that wherever you are you are enjoying some sunshine too...

I had a great time chatting to Andrea and Andrew of Fruity Knitting last Saturday - if you are one of their Patreons you will be sent a link to an audio edition of our hour long chat where we talked about how to add simple crochet edgings to knitwear, how to read charts and where I find my design inspiration. You can find a link to the Patreon site here if you want to unlock past audio files.

We are really looking forward to the weekend, but also to next week when we will be taking a short break with the kids. I love travelling and enjoy planning trips, although I have made the decision to do fewer workshops away from home next year. The 2 trips I am committed to are the Knit For Peace trip to Mysore, which I talked about last week and an Arena Travel Stitchtopia trip to Iceland that will take place in June. The trip is not yet live on the Arena site, but you can register your interest by contacting them - a link to their web page is here.
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Places on the knitting and crochet trip to Mysore in January continue to book fast. You can make an enquiry by contacting Knit For Peace.

If you fancy a short knitting related break this year then it would be lovely to have you join me at one or both of my workshops at Missenden Abbey as part of their Summer School in August. I will be tutoring a colour workshop and one on finishing techniques and you can find more information by following this link.

I have been telling you over the last few weeks about the CAL I have designed for Inside Crochet magazine. Next week's newsletter will feature a sneaky peek image of the project and links to the 3 Janie Crow flagship stores who will have yarn packs in stock. Packs will go on sale on the 15th July. The project will be revealed in the July issue of Inside Crochet magazine, which goes on sale week beginning 22nd July. If you want to subscribe to the magazine (a bargain at just £5.99 a copy) you can find more info by following this link to their web site.
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I love getting images of your completed projects and especially liked the one I received from Toni Newnman this week. Toni's image is above and it shows a Kingsize version of my Persian Tiles design in the light blue colour way. You can find yarn packs (for a smaller size) on the Just Knots web site and via other stockists.

We have a relatively quiet weekend to look forward to. It is the Village Festival though and we will probably head down there on Sunday. Fingers crossed it stays sunny so that we can enjoy a few glasses of wine in the park!

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell me what is on your mind. I hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are....
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I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

We are enjoying a lovely warm afternoon here in North London and it looks like we are set to finally get some good weather. I am sure the garden and all the delights of the next few days are calling you, so this is just a speedy update that won't take you too long to read before your weekend gets under way...

We had a lovely time in Bournemouth last weekend for our Inspired Minds crochet workshop. Sarah and I had a group of 29 crocheters in our company over a 3 day period when we also enjoyed lots of good food, friendly chatter and a fabulous talk by Dedri Uys of Look at What I Made on the Saturday afternoon. Dedri brought lots of her projects with her, including Sophie's Universe and the Ubuntu blankets, so it was a real treat to see her. If you fancy coming along to another Inspired Minds hand knit or crochet weekend in 2020 you can sign up to the mailing list by following this link.

If you are a patreon of Fruity Knitting then you might be interested to know that I will be a guest on Andrea and Andrew's exclusive live chat tomorrow afternoon at 3pm GMT. I am really looking forward to the event and hope that there will be lots of interesting questions for me to answer! You can also see a recent interview with me on the Fruity Knitting podcast by following the links from my dedicated web page here.
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If you are a regular visitor to the Janie Crow web site then you may have noticed that a new Knit For Peace page has gone live this week. The page can be accessed from my home page and it contains lots of links to the charity's web site, including those to the forth coming holiday in Mysore, India in January 2020. Places on the trip are booking fast now so it might be wise to make an enquiry if you have been contemplating coming along. The new web page also features links to make donations to the charity and those to more information about raffles, how to get involved and to the Knit For Peace shop.

I told you a few weeks ago that I have designed a Crochet Along project for Inside Crochet magazine. The project will be revealed in the July issue, which goes on sale week beginning 22nd July. The patterns for the CAL will be featured in 4 issues from August through to November and not July to October as I previously said, so please note the change in schedule. I have also decided not to re-release the patterns myself until Autumn 2020 rather than the spring, so there is a little movement in timings here too. If you want to subscribe to the magazine (a bargain at just £5.99 a copy) you can find more info by following this link to their web site.
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I realised after I sent last week's email that I had not included an image of the new version of my Hollicarrs scarf, so I have put a couple in this time! The first image above is of the new version (dusky pink) and the second one is of the original design courtesy of Rachel Atkinson. The pattern originally featured in Rachel's book 'Daughter of a Shepherd Volume One' and was designed using her fabulous British DK wool 'Hebridean Zwartbles'. I have updated the pattern using Fyberspates Vivacious 4 ply. The design uses 2 skeins of yarn and 4 packs of beads.

The new version of the pattern can be purchased from my web site either as a 4 page paper pattern or as a download option. The pattern includes written and charted instructions and is available in UK and US terminology. Both versions of the pattern are £3.95.

The repeated beaded lace pattern of this scarf/shawl lends itself beautifully to any choice of yarn, be it 4ply or DK, but if you like the idea of using the lovely Vivacious 4 ply yarn and the Debbie Abrahams beads then Andy has put some kits onto the Just Knots web site and hopefully other stockists will start to stock the pattern as well. We think it would look great using Scheepjes Whirl too, although you may have to make the design a little longer to fit in the full colour spectrum of the yarn length.

If you are off to Woolfest in Cockermouth this weekend then I hope you have a lovely time. I am beyond excited to be going to see Pink in concert at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. I will be heading off to the show straight after the live chat with Fruity Knitting, so it is set to be a really fabulous Saturday. No doubt Sunday will be spent recovering in the garden with lots of tea and sunshine - fingers crossed!

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell me what is on your mind. I hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are....
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I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

We are in sunny Bournemouth today catching a bit of sunshine and sea air and getting ready for our Inspired Minds Crochet weekend, which kicks off later on this evening, but I am just dropping into your inbox to let you know that my 'Hollicarrs' scarf/wrap pattern is now live on my web site.

The pattern originally featured in Rachel Atkinson's book 'Daughter of a Shepherd Volume One' and was designed using Rachel's fabulous British DK wool 'Hebridean Zwartbles'. I have updated the pattern using Fyberspates Vivacious 4 ply. The design uses 2 skeins of yarn and 4 packs of beads.

The new version of the pattern can be purchased from my web site either as a 4 page paper pattern or as a download option. The pattern includes written and charted instructions and is available in UK and US terminology. Both versions of the pattern are £3.95.

The repeated beaded lace pattern of this scarf/shawl lends itself beautifully to any choice of yarn, be it 4ply or DK, but if you like the idea of using the lovely Vivacious 4 ply yarn and the Debbie Abrahams beads then Andy will be putting some kits onto the Just Knots web site next week and hopefully other stockists will start to stock the pattern too.

Thank you for all the feedback from last week's newsletter. I realised as soon as I had pressed send that I had forgotten to add in my Instagram of the Month recommendation, so will include this in next week's update.

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell me what is on your mind. I hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are....
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This week I have been looking at the summer time fashion trends. Crochet features quite heavily in beach fashion trends and this has led me to question the ethics of buying hand made crochet items, so I have written a quick article about this, which you will find lower down. I have also introduced a new feature entitled 'Discovery of the Month', which will focus on ethical 'everyday' items, as well as knit and crochet related things that I have found over the month. This newsletter also features some information on my upcoming Crochet Along project that starts is July and some news of an imminent new pattern release, so I hope that you are able to spend a few minutes in my company ahead of your fabulous weekend.....
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​I have been busy putting the final touches to my next CAL design, which will be a crochet wrap/runner that will be featured in Inside Crochet Magazine from July. The CAL is divided into 4 parts, so will run through until October. I am unable to reveal the design to you just yet, but I am incredibly excited about this project and cannot wait to show it to you.

I think it is really nice to work through a CAL project when it is brand new and when the majority of other people are also working through it at the same time. If you would rather work through the project at another time though it is worth noting that the patterns will revert to me some time in 2020 and will be available as paid for downloads from my web site at a price of somewhere in the region of £4/5 each.

Inside Crochet magazine is a monthly title available at many retailers. You can find more information about the magazine, including subscription rates and links to download the title, by following this link.  I think the magazine, which features lots of designs, is a real bargain at just £5.99 a copy.
 

A few years ago I designed a beaded scarf project for Rachel Atkinson's 'Daughter of a Shepherd Volume One' book. The design 'Hollicarrs' was originally made using a DK weight yarn, but I have now updated the pattern so that it can be worked using a 4ply. I will be releasing the revised pattern next Friday via the Janie Crow web site and hope that you will like it. I have popped an image of the original DK version (from Rachel's fabulous book) above.

As many of you will already know, I tend to release my patterns in paper form rather than as downloads. I have made this my policy in order to protect my own copyright and also to protect stockists who sell my patterns either on line or in their stores. Over the past year I have come under increasing pressure to release my patterns in download form and so I have decided that Hollicarrs will be the first pattern to be available either as a download or as a paper copy. The success of this will pave the way for all my patterns in the future, so it will be interesting to see how many of you opt for download over paper! After all, the less paper we use, the more trees we save, so watch this space!
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I am aware that I have been really neglectful of my Facebook page recently. I have been a bit lax on the Instagram front too as I started finding social media massively time consuming, so I am always pleased when amazing people volunteer to help me with this! Karen Citrine, the wonderful lady who already moderates the Persian Tiles Facebook group, messaged me this week to ask if she could alter the name of the Bohemian Blooms Group that she has been running for the last couple of years. The group has nearly 3000 members and so Karen has been finding that she is receiving pattern queries and getting general chatter about lots of designs and not just Bohemian Blooms. Sarah Hazell - our pattern query guru - is going to join the group so that she can keep an eye on the queries and help where needed and if you want to join the renamed group too, you can find 'Janie Crow (Jane Crowfoot) Crochet Help Group' by following the link or clicking on the image above.
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Finally in the 'What's New' feature this week I am going to do a shameless plug and ask that you vote for me in the 'Favourite Crochet Designer' category of this year's Let's Knit British Knitting and Crochet Awards. You can find a link to the voting form here or by clicking on the image of me and my fellow crochet designer pals above. The image shows all 3 finalists in last years awards, with Lucy of Attic 24 (centre right) winning the title and Dedri (right) and I (centre left beside magazine editor Sarah Neal) coming in as runners up.
 

A freind of mine asked me about the current fashion for net-like crochet items, which feature heavily in the trends for this summer. My friend is not a crocheter or a knitter, but she had noticed that the advertising for many of the crochet items currently on sale make a point of them being hand made, so her question to me was whether every crochet item was indeed hand made, even those she had seen in Primark for £8 each.

Crochet can be mimicked by machines - sometimes things are described as crochet when they are in fact a form of stitching and overlaying, a little like fake lace, but it is a sad fact that when you see a crochet item that says hand made it will have been. I say 'sad fact' because when you think about the price point on many hand made items in relation to the amount of time they have taken to make it doesn't take a maths genius to work out that the person who hand made the item will not have been paid adequately for their time.
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As I have been saying in a lot of my newsletters lately I have been looking at ways of lowering my carbon footprint. I have told you that my work creates lots of dilemmas in regards to making green choices and that I am conscious of making the right decisions about yarn and packaging going forwards. We have recently introduced paper packaging and have ditched the plastic mail bags for almost all of our post. We also reuse a lot of the packaging that comes in to the studio and I am hoping that download patterns might further reduce our use of paper, however it is at home that I have been making the biggest changes and I have to say that it has been incredibly gratifying to see the difference these are making.

Here in London we have large blue dustbins for our recycling and dark grey bins for our everyday waste. When we first got the blue bins, into which we can put paper, glass and bottles, I was flabbergasted by the amount of waste we were producing in a week - sometimes the bin would be completely full to the point where we couldn't properly shut the bin. What worried me the most was the amount of needless plastic we were throwing away. Things like shampoo bottles, liquid soap bottles, meat packaging and plastic bags.
 

Over the last year our recycling bin waste has gone down considerably. Where possible I try to buy items with as little packaging as possible and I am always on the look out for things that make green sense, so I was really pleased when my sister-in-law introduced me to Beauty Kubes, a great little cosmetic company based in Cornwall, whose aim is to produce products that create as little waste as possible.

We have tried the shampoo and conditioning cubes and I think they are fabulous. They smell great and although £9.50 for a box may seem like a lot of money, they really do last well. I have short hair so only need to use half a cube per wash. There are 27 cubes in a box so I will get a lot of washes out of it and there is not a single bit of plastic in sight as the cubes are wrapped in paper inside a small cardboard box.

The company do make body was cubes too, but it is far cheaper and more logical to buy a bar of soap! Just switching from liquid soap to a bar would make a massive difference to our plastic waste. Check out companies like Lush and L'Occitane for some really nice smelling products.
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We had a fair bit of feedback about the S & Z yarn twist piece I put in the newsletter a few weeks ago. Many of you were really pleased that the piece had given you a 'light bulb moment' as to why yarn seemed to untwist as you crochet, whilst others questioned whether or not the twist of a yarn could be 'changed' by swapping which end of the ball you work from. I thought, given all the emails we received on the subject, that it might be an idea to clarify a few things this week.

So, here goes....

An S is an S whichever way up you look at it and a Z is a Z in exactly the same way. If you have an S twist yarn, it will look like an S twist yarn whichever way up you look at it - whether it is drawn from the centre of the ball or from the oustide of the ball. Changing the yarn end you work from the ball will not alter the twist on the yarn - an S does not become a Z and visa versa.

BUT, What does happen is this:

If you draw your yarn from the outside of a ball the ball itself jumps about in order to accomodate your pull. This movement allows the twist on the yarn to slacken ever so slightly. However, if you draw your yarn from the centre, the ball does not move and stays in place, thus stabilising the twist on the yarn as you draw it out. The extent to which it does this is minimal and it might only be that you notice it once you are a fair way through the ball, but drawing from the centre does enhance the twist.

In case you missed it a fortnight ago, here is the original written piece. Towards the end you will find a list of Z twist yarns that a lady called Lynn Elms has found in her stash and I have added in a couple of links to Z twist yarns currently on the market:

Something that is actually quite important when choosing a yarn for crochet is whether your yarn of choice has been spun with an S twist or a Z twist, but what does that mean? Well, S twist yarn is one that has been spun anti-clockwise, whilst Z twist yarn has been spun in the opposite direction (ie clockwise). The image below should help you see why this is referred to as S or Z twist.
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S twist is the most common yarn - in fact I would be be prepeared to say that almost every ball or skein of yarn in your collection is S twist. It is the most readily available 'craft' yarn and it has been designed to be used for knitting, by right handed knitters. Knitting with an S-Twist yarn reinforces the twist and keeps the plies coherent and the strands stable.

Sadly though it seems that the opposite happens in crochet by right handed crocheters as a loosely spun S twist yarn can actually come undone in the crochet process. You may have noticed this already and might well have yarns that you find splitty and difficult to crochet with even though they appear to work fine if knitted.

I found a great piece by Doris Chan that you can also see by following the link.

'....Because the yarn is wrapped around the crochet hook (yarn over) in the opposite direction of the knit yarn over, and because crochet stitches have height and may contain multiple yarn overs each time, crochet tends to un-twist the S-Twist.  Eventually, if this continues throughout the length of a skein (exacerbated by the act of fixing mistakes, frogging and re-crocheting) then that S-Twist yarn will become seriously untwisted, splitty, lose coherence and begin to fall apart.  When the yarn is a loosely S-Twist product to begin with, crocheting it can result in disaster.'

Doris explains about adding twist as you work. This may be negligible in most cases, but if you find a yarn is opening up or splitting as you work, then it might be an idea to draw it from a different end of the ball. I tend to delve into my balls of yarn to find the end from the middle of the ball, rather than drawing from the outside end. I have always done this to prevent the ball from jumping about as I crochet and have never really thought about it in regards to the yarn twist, but I have heard that some yarns advise specifically whether to draw from one end of a ball or the other.

Linda Skuja, the fab crochet designer behind Eleven Handmade talked about S and Z twist yarns a few months ago on her Instagram feed. This is part of what she has said:

'I've seen people saying - there is no difference between knitting and crochet yarns. When in fact - THERE IS! And that difference is called YARN TWIST....
Z-Twisted yarns are more suited for crochet with the right hand because the crochet process itself is Z-twisting the yarn a little bit (but it can make a big difference on larger items). Your crochet piece will simply look better if you choose Z-twisted yarn. However - if you're a lefty - S-twist will be your friend. BUT the problem is - the majority of yarns are S-twisted and are produced with knitting in mind. I rarely see a Z-twisted yarn and what I would love to see is not only more Z-twisted yarns, but also labels that say "This yarn is Z-twisted'.

I hope this information has helped you understand why you might find some yarns more suitable for crochet than others and, if you have come across any Z twist yarns that are commonly available then I would love to have that information to share here for everyone another time, so do get in touch. In the mean time, if you are in the process of choosing an alternative yarn for a project and have a ball of yarn ready to work a tension piece, then it might be a good idea to work a small sample from both ends of the ball so that you can see if there is a difference in the look of the yarn once crocheted and in the feel of it as you work.

Lynn Elms emailed us with a list of Z twist yarns she had found, they are as follows:

King Cole ‘Curiosity’

King Cole ‘Riot’

James C Brett ‘Marble Chunky’

Louisa Harding ‘Pitturissimo’

Louisa Harding ‘Amitola’

Debbie Bliss ‘Rialto Luxury Sock’

I have just done a quick search on line for Z twist yarns and have found the following:

Lion Brand ZZ Twist - 100% Acrylic (this is probably a Worsted Weight yarn, so a little thicker than the UK standard DK weight). It comes in 100g balls.
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West Yorkshire Spinners Chunky Roving - Re:treat is a really lovely 100% British Wool Chunky Roving. It comes in a great range of shades too.
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There are quite a few yarn shows on this weekend including The Wool Monty, which takes place in Sheffield and Woollin in Ireland, which starts today. I hope that you have a lovely time if you are going to either of these events.

I am hoping to take a trip to see the sea in Aldeburgh so long as the forecast remains good and I am going to make a second attempt at yogurt making. Last week's effort was lovely and really easy, but I was a bit disappointed with the amount I ended up with once I had strained it, so this week I am going to add in some whole milk in the hope that I will get a thicker yogurt prior to straining. The plus points on last week's yogurt (tasty and no plastic waste) outweighed the negative, so it is definitely worth me persevering, especially as the left over whey has boosted the rise on my sourdough bread beautifully!

I hope that whatever you have planned you have a fabulous time this weekend and that you stay safe and happy. I will be back next week with a quick reminder about the updated Hollicarrs beaded scarf pattern so do look out for my email.

Sending yarny love and crochet kisses....
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I hope that this email finds you all well and that you are looking forward to the weekend!

I have just returned from a lovely couple of days at Black Sheep Wools in Warrington where I taught two day long workshops, covering the techniques of beaded crochet and designing a small crochet flower. I had a lovely time in the company of fellow crocheters and the fabulous team at the Black Sheep HQ. If you are anywhere near the store and have a bit of spare time on Saturday, then you might fancy popping along to their West Yorkshire Spinners event, or, if you fancy doing something towards the end of the month, they also have an afternoon tea event with Sue Stratford planned. You can find contact details for the store (which is also one of my 3 'Flagship' Janie Crow Stockists) by following this link.

The weather forecast is looking pretty dismal here for the weekend, so I am hoping to spend some time on the sofa with my crochet. I am also hoping to get a chance to make some yogurt as I stumbled across some videos on Youtube that show how to make it in the slow cooker. It looks really easy, so I am going to give that a go. I will let you know in my 'proper' newsletter next week, how I have got on. Who says life doesn't begin at 50!!!!

The reason for me dropping into your in box this Friday afternoon is to say a big thank you to all those of you who took the time to nominate me within the Favourite Crochet Designer category of the 2019 British Knitting & Crochet Awards. The full list of nominees can be found by following this link and simply by submitting your choices within a speedy survey you can be in with the chance of winning some goodies in the prize draw.

We had quite a lot of feedback about the S and Z twist yarn piece in last week's newsletter - I am glad that so many of you found it useful and I want to also say thank you again for all those of you who wanted to talk about the Dolce and Gabbana copyright infringement. I have replied to all your emails - your support means so much.

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell me what is on your mind. I will be back next week with June's Friday Feature Newsletter and hope that you have a great week between now and then....
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I will be teaching a day workshop in Norfolk tomorrow and will be at Black Sheep Wools in Warrington for 2 days next week, so I have been busy prepping some workshop kits. I am thinking of scheduling some day workshops closer to home in the future and hope to have some news of this later on in the year.

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell us what is on your mind, but for now, grab a cuppa, put your feet up and spend 5 minutes in my company before the excitement of the weekend ahead starts.....
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My crochet along style pattern book Bohemian Blooms is about to head off for a reprint. We have sold almost 3000 copies of the book, which is amazing and far beyond the number we thought we would ever print. I have been working on a new blanket layout using a different yarn brand and I have also had permission from another Stylecraft Blogstar to release her recoloured version of the design, which uses Stylecraft Special DK, as a downloadable document. The information on both of the new colour ways will be available via my web site later on in the summer.
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We have just 20 copies of the Bohemian Blooms book left in stock, so if you want to grab one while we still have them you can follow this link to the shop.
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I will be contacting the winners of the Delft Colouring in Competition over the next few weeks and the winning blanket designs will be revealed later on in June. We had a great response to the competition and I cannot wait to show you the lovely completed blankets. The colour swap documents for the winning entries will all be available as free downloads from my web site and stockists may well have yarn packs for you to purchase, so do look out for more information soon.

As I said in my introduction I have been working on some new CAL designs, one of which is a crochet wrap project that will be featured in Inside Crochet magazine, starting in the July issue. The crochet along will run for 4 months and I have used Stylecraft's Bellissima DK for the project, which has been inspired by the designs of a rather famous historical interior designer. I am really pleased with the design and I am really looking forward to being able to show it to you soon.

Whilst sitting in the hairdresser's last Saturday I stumbled upon a Dolce and Gabbana advert in a magazine that features the crochet bra top and skirt that I (and many of you) feel bear a strong resemblance to a few of my designs. You may remember me telling you about this a few months ago and many of you have been asking about it, so I thought I should update you.....
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I was extremely lucky to be given some free legal advice by some top Fashion IP lawyers and as a result I have decided not to take this copyright infringement any further. I have been advised that Dolce and Gabbana are a huge company who have a reputation not only for copying small designers, but also of counter suing people like me who make an attempt to challenge anything! This is a bit sad and it isn't right, but I feel it is now time to draw a line under this and move on as the last thing I want is to get tangled up in a legal mess!

I have decided that rather than feel bitter and twisted about the copying I should feel flattered and wear it as a badge of approval, after all, how cool is it to see parts of my Frida's Flowers, Lily Pond and Bohemian Blooms CAL designs on the catwalk and in national magazines! Going forwards I will be making sure that all my patterns carry a good copyright notice and of course I will also be keeping a firm eye on D&G designs in the future!

Thank you to all those of you who copied Dolce and Gabbana into tweets, Instagram and Facebook messages. Your support has been incredible.
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My Instagram favourite this week is Bryony aka 'Tickover' whose feed you can find by following this link. Bryony is a hand stitch designer who creates embroidery pieces that are designed to make you think about ethical issues within the fashion and textile industry. This is a subject that I keep coming back to and so I was really drawn to Bryony's clever pieces, which you can find for sale in her Etsy shop.
 

If you are interested in Instagram feeds like Bryony's then you might also want to take a look at the feed called Fashion Revolution, which you can find here.
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S twist is the most common yarn - in fact I would be be prepeared to say that almost every ball or skein of yarn in your collection is S twist. It is the most readily available 'craft' yarn and it has been designed to be used for knitting, by right handed knitters. Knitting with an S-Twist yarn reinforces the twist and keeps the plies coherent and the strands stable.

Sadly though it seems that the opposite happens in crochet by right handed crocheters as a loosely spun S twist yarn can actually come undone in the crochet process. You may have noticed this already and might well have yarns that you find splitty and difficult to crochet with even though they appear to work fine if knitted.

I found a great piece by Doris Chan that you can also see by following the link.

'....Because the yarn is wrapped around the crochet hook (yarn over) in the opposite direction of the knit yarn over, and because crochet stitches have height and may contain multiple yarn overs each time, crochet tends to un-twist the S-Twist.  Eventually, if this continues throughout the length of a skein (exacerbated by the act of fixing mistakes, frogging and re-crocheting) then that S-Twist yarn will become seriously untwisted, splitty, lose coherence and begin to fall apart.  When the yarn is a loosely S-Twist product to begin with, crocheting it can result in disaster.'

Doris explains about adding twist as you work. This may be negligible in most cases, but if you find a yarn is opening up or splitting as you work, then it might be an idea to draw it from a different end of the ball. I tend to delve into my balls of yarn to find the end from the middle of the ball, rather than drawing from the outside end. I have always done this to prevent the ball from jumping about as I crochet and have never really thought about it in regards to the yarn twist, but I have heard that some yarns advise specifically whether to draw from one end of a ball or the other.

Linda Skuja, the fab crochet designer behind Eleven Handmade talked about S and Z twist yarns a few months ago on her Instagram feed. This is part of what she has said:

'I've seen people saying - there is no difference between knitting and crochet yarns. When in fact - THERE IS! And that difference is called YARN TWIST....
Z-Twisted yarns are more suited for crochet with the right hand because the crochet process itself is Z-twisting the yarn a little bit (but it can make a big difference on larger items). Your crochet piece will simply look better if you choose Z-twisted yarn. However - if you're a lefty - S-twist will be your friend. BUT the problem is - the majority of yarns are S-twisted and are produced with knitting in mind. I rarely see a Z-twisted yarn and what I would love to see is not only more Z-twisted yarns, but also labels that say "This yarn is Z-twisted'.

I hope this information has helped you understand why you might find some yarns more suitable for crochet than others and, if you have come across any Z twist yarns that are commonly available then I would love to have that information to share here for everyone another time, so do get in touch. In the mean time, if you are in the process of choosing an alternative yarn for a project and have a ball of yarn ready to work a tension piece, then it might be a good idea to work a small sample from both ends of the ball so that you can see if there is a difference in the look of the yarn once crocheted and in the feel of it as you work.
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​As I have said already, I am teaching a workshop in Norfolk tomorrow, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a smooth drive there and some good weather. I think the forecast is pretty good for the whole weekend, so hopefully Sunday will include some time in the garden - the grass is looking like it is in need of a cut yet again!

I will be back on June 14th with the first of my monthly newsletters, but if I have any exciting things to tell you about before then I may well send you a cheeky little email one of the Friday's between now and then, so do keep an eye on your inbox.

I hope that whatever you have planned that you have a fabulous weekend.

Welcome to this week's Friday Feature Newsletter - the Janie Crow equivalent of a Sunday supplement magazine....

I have returned from the lovely trip to Ireland last week with a slightly slower frame of mind and so have spent the week pootling around at home and at the studio in a far more leisurely way than usual. It has been really good to take things a tad slower and appreciate more of the things around me.

It is another week with a big birthday in it as our daughter Summer Rose turns 21 today - she shares her birthday with my Dad (who is 85 today) so it is a double celebration. With all that we have planned for the weekend I think my calm frame of mind will be short lived, but who doesn't love an excuse to party?

I spent the first few days of this week looking through and replying to the email responses to the Friday Feature that we have received over the last few weeks. Sarah and myself have now replied to all of them, so if you have been expecting a response and have not seen anything it might be an idea to check in your spam folder in case our emails have landed there - this does happen from time to time.

We had a lot of feedback about the 'What's Milk Got to do with it?' piece from a few weeks ago, with many of you agreeing that small, continuous steps to change our habits have got to be the way forward in regards to helping our environment recover from the abuse mankind has given it.

One of the things that the article raised was a point about making your own decisions about what yarns you want to use in a project and it prompted a few emails from people asking how to substitute yarns within patterns, so I have decided to make this topic the focus for this week's main article, which you will also find further down this email, along with the usual features, such as Instagram favourite of the week.

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell us what is on your mind, but for now, grab a cuppa, put your feet up and spend 5 minutes in my company before the excitement of the weekend ahead starts.....
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I talked a few weeks ago about the importance of making yarn choices based on your own views and made the point that I am continuing to think a little more about the yarns I choose to use in my future designs. This prompted a flurry of emails that asked about how to make yarn substitutions when working from a pattern, so I hope that some of you will find the following information useful. I have written the piece in general terms so it does not specifically link to any of my designs and can be used for most projects (knit or crochet) that you come across....

Yarn Length: If you are substituting yarn it is important that you find an alternative that achieves the correct tension and has enough total length of yarn for the project.

The first rule is to not assume that every ball of yarn has the same length even if it weighs the same amount.
 
Yarn Weight (thickness): Most yarns on the market fall into set categories according to their thickness. In the UK we have the following standard weights:

1, 2, 3 & 4ply, Double Knitting (DK), Aran and Chunky.

In the US yarn weights differ so you might find this chart helpful, although I would be a little cautious of the information it gives on hook size and guage in regards to crochet.

The second rule is to source a yarn as close to the right weight as possible.

Tension (Guage): Yarns within each weight category should conform to the same standards, one of which is the suggested knitted or crocheted tension. Most ball bands will show you the suggested tension for knitting which is 22 stitches and 30 rows measured over 10cm [4in].
 
Yarns sit within the categories to make it easier to ensure that things come up the right size. This is especially handy when substituting yarn, as, in theory, a DK weight yarn should achieve more or less the same tension regardless of brand or fibre content. The ball band on the yarn should give you the suggested tension and also a needle or hook size that this tension is to be achieved on. For a standard weight DK this is usually a 4mm (US G/6) knitting needle or crochet hook.

If you have time to play about with a few yarn alternatives then it is a good idea to make a tension piece to see whether your new yarn can closely match the tension of the original yarn - it might be worth using different hook or needle size to do this. If you do not have time to do any sampling then you will have to rely on the information given on the ball band.

The third rule is check the tension.

Think about how yarn behaves: When looking for a substitute yarn it is worth taking a bit of time to analyse the yarn used in the original pattern. For example, if you have chosen a pattern that shows something made up in a mohair (hairy) yarn, it could look quite different made up in a smoother yarn and visa versa. Similarly, if you have chosen a pattern because the item in question looks light and drapey then it could look totally different made up in a heavier feeling yarn.

The fourth rule is to analyse the fibre content.

These four steps lead us into....

The Maths
 
but don't worry - it isn't scary!
Once you have taken all the steps above and have chosen your yarn it is time to do some simple maths, but you can only do this if you know the length of the yarn used in the original pattern. If the yarn length is not listed in the pattern then try to find the information on line or at your local yarn shop.

Step One: work out the total length of yarn used in the original design. You can do this in either metres or yards depending on what the pattern and ball band for the yarn is written for. (If you need to do a conversion from metres to yards or visa versa you can use the information on how to do this that is written at the end of this piece)

So, let's say that the yarn listed in the pattern comes in 100g balls that are 298 metres long and that you need 12 balls.

Multiply the length (298) by the number of balls (12)

298 x 12 = 3576

This is a total yarn length of 3,576 metres needed to complete the project.

Step Two: Divide this number by the length of your substitute yarn.

Let's say the new yarn comes in 50g balls that are each 125 metres long.

The total yarn length (3,576) divided by the substitute yarn length per ball (125)

2576 divided by 125 = 28.60

This means the yarn usage is between 28 and 29 balls.
(it is always worth over estimating and rounding to higher amounts rather than lower in case you run out)

So that's it - having followed the first four rules and then taken the next two steps you can work out how to successfully substitute one yarn for another. In my example, for a pattern that uses 12 x 100g yarn at 298 meters length, you would need 28 or 29 50g balls of yarn that is 125 meters.
 
Swapping metres to yards and visa versa
Metres are approximatlely a tenth longer than a yard, so in turn a yard is approxinately a tenth shorter than a metre, but to do the maths properly the magic number you need to remember is

1.09

To get metres to yards you need to multiply by this number and to get yards to metres you need to divide by this number.

So, if you have a pattern that quotes yarn amounts in yards multiply the amount by 1.09 to find the meterage:

eg: 200 yards of yarn divided by 1.09 = 183.4 meters

If, on the other hand you have a pattern that requires 100 metres of yarn, but your yarn label quotes yards, divide the amount by 1.09 to find the yards: 

eg: 100 meters of yarn x 1.09 = 109 yards
 

I have featured Lizzie Montgomery as my Instagram favourite of the week before. I love her artistic and inspirational feed and I adore the fact that she is an avid crocheter, so I don't really know how I have not stumbled across another of her accounts before this week - especially as the feed is already followed by Sarah!

The feed in question is called Fashion Textile Gallery and you can find it by following this link. I am in love.....
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The email below was sent to us by Jenny Stanistreet in response to our recent newsletter pieces about the sustainability of our yarn choices. I felt that Jenny's email made some valid points about using up your stash and so I asked her if it would be ok for me to share it - and she agreed:

'In your Friday feature (26 Apr) you talked about the modern-day phenomenon of 'stash'. Yes, we're all guilty. Maybe a way of easing the conscience (and storage angst) is to use some up in aid of charitable organisations.

A web search can bring up many charities etc that welcome knitted/crocheted goods. I crochet basic beanies and scarves for Knit for Peace (thanks to publicity you handed round at a Black Sheep Wools workshop a few years ago). They're quick and relaxing to do; they use up small balls; and I've found that box-loads are reasonably low-cost to send via Hermes. 
 

For really tiny oddments, the Innocent Smoothie Big Knit 'hats' can be great fun; there are crochet versions, too. Age UK charity shops take them, or I think you can post them to Innocent.

Just a thought!'  - Jenny Stanistreet
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I am always on the look out for talented crocheters to become part of my team of 'home makers' to produce my sample blankets and shawls. I am really lucky to have some really expert crocheters who always send me the most beautifully executed work and who I know I can rely on to produce absolute top quality pieces. Without the help of these expert crocheters I would never be able to create my designs in the time scales I do and to the same quality, so I am incredibly grateful to all of them for their help.
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Marina Kelly is one of my team. Her work is always incredibly neat and beautifully presented and so I was really excited when she told me that she wanted to show me some of her own design work. We finally had the chance to meet up at Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March where I was totally blown away by what she had brought to show me.
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I am now incredibly proud to have some of Marina's amazing crocheted necklaceson sale on the web site. Each of the beautiful designs is a one off piece and they are all made using incredibly fine threads and traditional methods to create fabulous contemporary pieces.
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Over the last 18 months I have sent out more than 70 Friday Feature Newsletters. The Friday Feature is really important to me. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing them and especially love getting your feedback, but I have decided it is time to make a few changes. The next newsletter will drop into your inbox in a fortnight's time and then, from mid June onward, the Friday Feature will be sent monthly instead of weekly. Smaller, more specifically focused emails will also be sent to you when I have new releases or special events to tell you about. These will also arrive on a Friday afternoon, so do continue to check your inbox as you head into future weekends.

The weather forecast is looking a little dismal for the weekend here in North London, but I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned you do have a great time.
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