 NEW IN! BLANKETS LIFESTYLE BLOG VIDEOS EXPLORE  I have been working on a couple of cushion cover designs for Inside Crochet magazine. The covers are very pretty and have a floral theme, which includes some beading. It has been so nice to add beads to a design again as I do so love a bit of bling! You can find beading technique videos on my YouTube channel and free technique download documents on the web site. The cushions will appear in the magazine soon!  Working on a beaded design made me want to revisit my Beaded Christmas Decorations pattern, so I have grouped together some lovely 'springy' pastel shades of Stylecraft's Organic Cotton to make a new set. I am hoping to add in an egg shaped decoration in the hope that they will be ready for Easter. I will share some images when I have finished them. We have been able to put together some more kits. Yay! We now have yarn packs available for the following designs:     We also still have kits in stock for the following designs: Frida's Flowers - Primavera, Frida's Flowers, Sunshine and Showers, Lily Pond and Lily Pond Cherry Blossom, Eastern Jewels and Fruit Garden Night & Dusk and Red House colourways.  The final pattern set for my Indigo Dreams crochet along will be published in the next copy of Inside Crochet magazine. It has been fabulous seeing your crochet blankets taking shape on social media. I am so pleased to hear how many of you have enjoyed the project. Over the next few weeks we will be doing a bit of work on the Janie Crow website. It has needed a bit of attention for a long time, so I will be working with my fabulous graphic designer, Steph, to bring it up to speed and make it look lovely! I hope you will like the changes we have planned. As I said in the introduction it has been really good to see some more events and plans on my forward radar - you can find more information about these a little lower down this email.  It has been really fabulous to see how many of you are planning to revisit my Frida's Flowers pattern. The blanket is featuring as the Stylecraft Make Along project for February and you can find more information about how to get involved here.   I have written a blog about the project, which includes some images of the blankets made in fabulous alternative colourways. You can find it by following this link. Images with thanks to Lita Johnathans.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to see if I can create a better base for my mental and physical health going forwards. I read a book called 'Atomic Habits', which is about creating small habits that build over time to create a big change.  In January I started walking daily and have really enjoyed getting out in the local countryside for a daily romp! The habit has slipped a little this week as my workload has grown a little, but I am still managing to get at least 10,000 steps a day - something I struggled to do previously. This month I have been trying to be a little more aware of what I eat and drink. That isn't to say that I am on a diet - the only thing I am doing differently is writing down every single item that I eat or drink in a note book. This practice has already made me far more aware about how much I eat without really thinking about it and has made me snack less. So far, I have no idea if this practice has made any difference to my weight as another of my small habits is to weigh myself just once a month - but I already feel better. I am definitely a convert to small habits rather than massive change and would love to hear if similar approaches have worked for you. If you want to sign up to James Clear's weekly newsletter you can do so by following this link.  Over the last few weeks we have had some great images sent in of projects out in the wild so I thought I would feature a few in this week's newsletter.  Rose emailed with an image of her Mystical Lanterns blanket which she gave to a friend as a gift. Isn't it lovely - I really like the way Rose has added another dimension to this blanket by blocking colours together.  The image above was sent to me by Jill 'in cold wet Adelaide'. She says: 'you called it Willow Blossom, I've christened my versions Field of Daisies'.  Jill Hill sent me the image above of her fabulous Imogen project made using shades of blue - Gorgeous isn't it!  I am often blown away by versions of Persian Tiles when they pop up on social media, but the version above, sent in by Marg McRae, made me gasp in delight when I opened the image. Marg says: 'Hi Janie, I am Marg McRae from Albury NSW Australian. My husband and I have been ex farmers for 30 years, I am his carer as he has a disability. I am writing to you to say I love all of your crocheted blanket patterns, also enjoy reading your newsletters. In our 1st lockdown last year, I got my crocheting hooks out and did your Persian Tile rug pattern. I chose 4ply pure Australian merino wool. I wanted to share a photo of my blanket, I love it. It has been 30 so years since I have done any crocheting, didn’t want to put my hook down. I do lots of quilting all by hand, which I find very relaxing also...Marg' Needless to say, we really love getting emails like Marg's one and all adore seeing your images. You can share them on our Facebook page by following the link.  I will be appearing on Yarn Lane TV this coming Sunday (13th February) at 12 noon. I will be chatting to Rebecca about some of my projects and will be doing some demonstrations. I hope you will be able to tune in! Next Tuesday evening there will be a talk about the work of May Morris on the William Morris Society website. I have a ticket and am really looking forward to it. You can find more information here. I will be on the Stylecraft stand at The Stitches trade show on Sunday 27th & Monday 28th February. Sarah and I will be on hand within the Knit & Crochet lounge at The Spring Stitch Festival on Thursday 3rd March. You can find more information about the show by following this link. We will have a few spring inspired kits for sale and will be demonstrating how to add beads to your crochet, so I hope you are able to drop by and see us. There are still a few spaces on my Iceland Cruise with Stitchtopia, which runs for 11 days from the 4th May. You can find more information here.  I have been busy baking today, making a chocolate fudge cake for a friend's birthday. If it all goes to plan I will show you some images next time, however it is the cake I made for my Mum's 80th birthday a few weeks ago that I am featuring today. The Sticky Ginger Lemon Drizzle cake was made using the recipe as a guide, but I split the batter into 3 cakes instead of 2 and added a tad more cream cheesy icing. I didn't make the lemon frosting but drizzled some fresh lemon juice over the cakes before I iced them. I used crystallised ginger to decorate it. It was super yummy!   We had a really lovely family day with Mum to celebrate her birthday - she says that the '80' balloons, that Summer and Chris got her, are the first balloons she has ever had. They have taken pride of place for the last few weeks!   Today marks the 20th anniversary of the BBC's children's channel CBeebies. Both my children were big fans of the channel when they were little and I have always loved the bedtime story segment, especially since famous people have started reading stories. As I am sure you are aware Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, will be reading a story to raise awareness of chidren's mental wellbeing on Sunday. You can find the Cbeebies YouTube channel here.  The weather has been really bright and sunny here today so I am hoping to squeeze in a few nice walks this weekend. Our local countryside is coming to life, with lots of daffodil bulbs and crocuses about to bloom. At home, we are on amaryllis watch as the bulb I planted in January is about to burst into glorious flower! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and that you have some lovely plans to look forward to. Sending yarny love.... Janie x 
  NEW IN! BLANKETS LIFESTYLE BLOG VIDEOS EXPLORE  As I have already said in the introduction above, we are very pleased to have a new project to tempt you with this week. The Frida's Flowers CAL was launched in 2016 and it has been fabulous seeing it made by people all over the world ever since. The original blanket, which features bright flowers on a black background, was inspired by the iconic costumes and personal style of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and it was made using Stylecraft Classique Cotton. As this yarn is now discontinued I decided it would be a good idea to update the yarn listing for the new Organic Cotton DK. You can find the newly updated yarn list here should you like the idea of making this original colour way. You can find more information about the CAL and yarn packs for this version by following this link.   A few years after the release of the original Frida blanket I asked Lucia if she would create a new colour way of the project and was really excited when she produced her version, which she named Primavera. Until now, the kit for this blanket has only been available as an exclusive kit from the Janie Crow web site, but now, to coincide with the release of the CAL project as the featured make along project for February, we have decided to give Primavera a wider release. Yarn kits should now be available via your local Stylecraft stockist and the yarn substitution document is available as a download. We have created some kits for the project, which include a printed yarn substitution document, by following this link. You can find more information by following this link.   I have written a blog post about Frida and Frida Primavera, which includes lots of ideas for alternative colourways, by following this link.   It has been quite grey and gloomy here in North London and very chilly, so we sent out a plea on Facebook for followers to show us photos of their colourful crochet work to brighten the days. Here are just a few of the wonderful makes that were shared with us: Below is Gay Horne's Sunshine & Showers blanket - nearly finished!  Elizabeth Beswick-Watts has created a fantastic version of the Mystical Lanterns blanket, but says she regrets not sewing in her ends as she went along!  Andrea Dahncke is working on her colourway of The Blue House Blanket. We haven't seen many of these out in the wild yet and think her choice of colours is really pretty.  Another design that we don't see so often is the Imogen Blanket. Michelle Withey has just finished hers. Hasn't she made a fantastic job of it?  Thank you to everyone who shared images with us over on Facebook. We do love seeing your work and in particular your exciting colourways of Janie Crow projects. Hopefully the images above will inspire you to root through your yarn stash to create a very personal piece of your own crochet....   art 4 of the Indigo Dreams Crochet Along has now been published in Inside Crochet Issue 144 and we are loving seeing your progress over on the dedicated Facebook group, which now has almost four thousand members! In this month's instalment you will be making the Rosewood Motif and the Love Heart Granny Squares.   Ever in search of quick and easy recipes to make at the end of a busy day, Gemma has recommended this recipe for really simple homemade falafels, which she found over on the BBC Good Food website.  If you're feeding the family for a main meal Gemma recommends doubling the recipe and if you prefer your food a little bit more fiery, you might want to tweak the spice content as they are quite mild.  Did you know that it is 1900 years since Hadrian's Wall was built? Well, apparently it is, and to celebrate this occasion the Vindolanda Charitable Trust have launched a Bunting Challenge!  The Challenge is to create (by knitting, crocheting or sewing) 1900 flags of bunting, which will decorate a replica section of Hadrian's Wall at the Roman Vindolandia, in Hexham, Northumberland, in an exhibition between 22nd-30th October 2022. Crochet patterns for the bunting, designed by Lynne Barber, are available to download on the project website, which you can find by clicking on the image above or here. You can also find a knitted flag pattern here. It could be a good opportunity for some new year stash-busting too!   I have a couple of train journeys ahead of me this weekend and I am already looking forward to a few hours sat crocheting as I speed through the English countryside. I think the weather forecast is looking good too, so a spot of sunshine will be very welcome. What do you have planned for this weekend? We always like to hear about what you have on your hook or your knitting needles and which projects you are getting excited about. Simply hit reply and let us know. Janie x 
 The Frida's Flowers blanket was my crochet along project in 2016 and it has been such a joy to see versions of it out in the wild ever since! The design was inspired by the personal style and costumes of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo - it features bright flowers and leaves on a black background, typical of the kind of traditional embroidered textiles Frida favoured for her dresses and skirts.  The patterns for my blanket continue to be available as free downloads via the Stylecraft website. You can find them in UK & US terms and the Dutch and German languages by following this link.   One of the things I love about creating crochet blankets is seeing them made in alternative colour choices by other people. While many crocheters have made the blanket in my chosen shades over the last few years, many have posted images of their own blankets made in alternative yarns. I think it is fabulous that this project really inspired people's imaginations and I was especially excited to see the images below of lots of different colourways made by a crochet group in Indonesia. Lita Johnathans - who originally posted these images on Instagram has given me permission to post them here. Aren't they amazing!       A few years ago I asked Lucia of Lucia's Fig Tree if she would consider recolouring the project and was over the moon when she created her version, which she called Primavera. With Lucia's permission we created yarn packs for this colour way, but when Stylecraft discontinued the Classique Cotton DK a little while ago we were unable to continue to make the kits.   When Stylecraft recently introduced a fabulous range of Organic Cotton DK to their collection I knew immediately that it was time to look again at Frida and Lucia's Primavera blanket again, so I am really excited that we are now able to sell the kits once again and that the yarn substitution document for Lucia's version is now available via her website and not just as part of a kit. As I said already - it always makes me feel really proud when I see my designs out in the wild, so you can imagine how I felt when I spotted my flowers on a Dolce and Gabanna design. It was a bit of a shame that they didn't ask permission to use the design, or credit me as the initial designer, but it was still a wow moment to see my Frida on the catwalk!  Frida and Frida Primavera will be Stylecraft's make along project for February. You can join the dedicated Facebook Group and find out more by following this link. I am hopeful that this re-release of the project will tempt some of you to make the blanket and I am really looking forward to seeing more of them out in the wild over the next few months.   new in! blankets lifestyle blog videos explore  I know that this time of year can be difficult for many. What can seem like incessant grey days and dark evenings can be demoralising, but I also find January a really positive month as I make plans for the new year and look forward to the spring. I tend to make the same resolutions every year - to get fit and be a little less indulgent when it comes to food! Some years I manage it and other years I don't, but I usually manage to reign things in during the first couple of months of the year, only to let everything go to pot come the autumn! This year I have vowed to make some long lasting changes and not let my good work fall by the way side. This year I am determined to build good habits for my mind and body that will become the foundations of my life going forwards. We are finally settling into our new routine after moving out of the studio and I am really enjoying working from home and have adapted quickly to my new surroundings in the summer house studio this week. Being at home more over the last few months has made me realise that I have prioritised work over many other important aspects of my life for too long, so I have been enjoying a slower pace of life focusing on family and the house a little more, as well as my fitness and mindfulness. I have been working on a couple of new cushion designs that will be released in Inside Crochet Magazine in the spring and have been putting everything into place for a revamped design to feature as the Stylecraft Make Along project for February. I have also started to think about some other new designs and a recolour for an existing project. So I guess there is quite a lot to have to look forward to.  Next week will see the release of the 4th part of my Indigo Dreams CAL via Inside Crochet Magazine issue 144. If you are following the crochet along then I hope you will enjoy making the motif which is possibly my favourite within the project - my little Love Heart Granny Square. Unfortunately we have no new kits in stock at the moment as we are still waiting for some shades to come into Stylecraft, but we still have kits for those I have featured here over the last couple of months. They are Sunshine and Showers, Lily Pond, Eastern Jewels and Fruit Garden Night & Dusk and Red House colourways.  It was really lovely to have a proper break from work over Christmas. For the first time in more than 6 years we closed the websites for the festive period and it was really good not to feel the pull of work during our break. However, because we decided not to check any emails over the holiday, we were blissfully unaware that the mail@janiecrow.co.uk email address had become blocked by some really large emails that had been sent in. As a result of this some people who emailed over the 12 day period may have received a mailbox full notification. If you were one of these people and you still require some help please email again so that we can deal with your query. We really love hearing from you and I especially love to see your 'out in the wild' images of projects you have completed, but if you do want to send images please can you make sure they are not too big before you send them. It seems that a weeks worth of emails with multiple large attachments obliterates our inbox!  Looking at colour trends has been a big feature of this week as Brand Manager of Stylecraft Annabelle Hill and I have been discussing the palette for the Naturals ReCReate yarn, which is my current favourite. This yarn is 100% recycled and, with 350 meters of yarn per 100g ball, it would be perfect to use in my blanket designs - I am really excited that the colour palette is going to grow.   In the lead up to Christmas we managed to get quite a few little jobs done around the house and I finally managed to sort out a small studio space in the summer house at the end of the garden. It is so peaceful up here and I am really enjoying my little private work space. Andy built the summer house about 10 years ago and the children have always used it as a good space to entertain their friends, but now that they are grown up we felt it was time that the space was updated. In the images above you can see the main part of the summer house and my little space behind the storage unit. Can you spot my William Morris Kelmscott curtains on the right hand side?  Now that the summer house is more or less sorted we have turned our attention to the bedrooms in our little bungalow as they are badly run need of some TLC. I have been looking at the interior trends and love the fact that purple, blue and pink are making a big come back. The image above from Home Textile has me really inspired, but I think our rooms might be a little small for such bold colours.  I found a great site that shows the trends in home colour here and I took a look at the Dulux paint website for a bit more inspiration. The Dulux colour of the year is a lovely soft blue called Bright Skies and there are some lovely images of this shade in rooms alongside a lovely accompanying palette. I really like soft, slightly muddy shades as a background to bright colours and think that muted yellows, greens and blues are perfect. As it stands at the moment I am considering Golden Cookie and Calming Meadow for a touch of colour in two of the bedrooms, but no doubt I will procrastinate on this a while longer before making a decision.  What do you guys like to eat for breakfast? I am a porridge fan in the winter months and an overnight oats fan in the summer time, but every now and then Andy will make some homemade granola, which is so super tasty it disappears in no time!  Andy uses a recipe from The Happy Pear recipe book. It is cooked in the oven for about 20 minutes to make it all lovely and golden and crispy. You can find a similar, 5 minute speedy version by following this link. Over the last few years we have been more and more aware of buying products that do not include plastic packaging and breakfast cereals is one of the items that we regularly buy plastic free with ease. When buying oats we opt for Quaker as they come in cardboard packaging and nothing more. We don't buy the instant pots or sachets, just the rolled oats that take no time at all to turn into tasty porridge. Quaker Oats are sourced from the UK and processed in Scotland. We have also buy Weetabix as these are packed in paper and not cellophane like many supermarket own brands - they are tastier too and are made in Northamptonshire, so it is a win win! You can find out more about the sustainability of the Weetabix brand here. We are very lucky to have local refill shop where we can get nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Many people think that the refill style shops are expensive, but we recently did a price check comparing the items we bought in the refill shop with those in Sainbury's. The refill shop worked out significantly cheaper - the biggest difference was on pine nuts where the Sainsbury's brand were £1 more expensive per 100g than our local store. If you are interested in finding out more about refill stores you can find a list of those in the UK by following this link. Our local store is not listed here, so it is not brilliantly up to date, but hopefully you will find something close to you by doing a Google search.  Andy and I met up with our friend knitwear designer Debbie Abrahams and her husband Steve just before Christmas for an overnight stay in Market Harborough.  I haven't visited the town before and really liked it, especially as they had a crocheted Christmas Tree by the Church! The tree was created by local crocheters to raise funds for South Leicestershire Home-Start. Isn't it fab!  My friend Teresa sent this link to these fabulous crochet 'Pigs in Blankets' designed by A Good Right Hook. I know it is way early to be preparing for next Christmas, but I wanted to share them here because they are just so darn cute - and cruelty free obviously!  January is a traditionally a month where many of us give up things that are considered bad for us such as drinking and smoking for example, with campaigns such as Dry January as well as those that aim to encourage us to take up a healthy hobby or get out and about more. As I have already said, I find January a good time to give up a few things for a bit and so this year we have decided to take part in Veganuary. Not because it is our aim to give up dairy and eggs completely (we are already vegetarian), but because we want to cut down a little on the cheese in particular and make a few small changes in order to get used to more recipes that are dairy free. Our son Charlie suffers from lots of dairy related allergies, so we have already seen some big changes to his wellbeing now that cheese is no longer on the menu. We have been having lovely creamy oat milk delivered by the milkman for the last couple of years and are total converts to this and the one produced by Glebe Farm, which is a British produced oat milk unlike the market leader 'Oatly' which is produced in Sweden. Sadly we are yet to discover a good vegan cheese, so if any of you have a suggestion of a good brand or what to eat in its place that would be good!  There is a Chinese proverb that I am trying to keep in mind this month - it goes like this: "The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones". If you are looking to make some small changes to any part of your life in order to achieve long term results, then you might be interested in a book I have just started reading. It is called 'Atomic Habits; Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results' and you can find a link to it here.    We will be exhibiting at Waltham Abbey Wool show on Sunday and would love to see you there. The organisers of the show, Diana and Kate, have put in lots of arrangements so that exhibitors and visitors alike can keep safe. Tickets are for timed entry and you can find more information here. It is my lovely Mum's 80th Birthday tomorrow so we are planning to have lunch together. My brother and his daughter have tested positive for Covid this week so we have our fingers crossed that we can all get together to celebrate Mum's big birthday the following weekend. Happy Birthday Mum!  Charlie introduced me to the work of Faig Ahmed this week. Ahmed designs deconstructed rugs and carpets like the one in the image above. I think his work is amazing and you can find out more about his work by following this link.  I put some hyacinth bulbs in water a few weeks before Christmas and kept them in the dark until New Year's day, when I brought them out and popped them on the window sill. Checking in on my bulbs daily and watching them grow has been a delight over the last few weeks, especially as their scent is filling up the kitchen day after day. As you can see from the image I have a couple of bulbs still left to flower and am particularly looking forward to seeing what colours the small one on the left will produce. Now that I am working from home and have a little more spare time I have been posting to my Janie Crow Lifestyle Instagram account a little more often so, if you want to catch up with me between my newsletters, you can find my feed here. We also have some plans for my Janie Crow feed, where I post images and information about my work, as I have badly neglected it lately. I leave you with a link to sports commentator Andrew Cotter's YouTube account. I discovered his videos, which feature his beautiful dogs Olive and Mabel, recently and I keep popping back to watch another video. This one is really good! Have a lovely weekend Janie x 
  new in! blankets lifestyle blog videos explore I am just dropping by to wish you all a very happy New Year. We are cosied up at home with a nice bottle of wine and a string of good movies lined up to watch on the TV as we head into 2022. I have been working on the Stephen West Shawlography project over the last few days, but still have a long way to go - an evening on the settee with my knitting sounds pretty perfect for me! It goes without saying that the past year has been a bit of a strange one, especially as we spent more than half of it in semi lockdown here in England. As I look back on the year, and think about all the things that were once again cancelled or postponed, I realise how lucky we were to have been able to celebrate our daughter's fabulous wedding in July and that of our niece, Lily, in November. I know that we were incredibly fortunate in many other aspects of our lives too. It can be very easy to look back and remember all the bad bits though. Along with the nice things that happened in 2021 we have had some rocky moments and our fair share of bad stuff, like every family, so at times it has been really hard to stay positive and upbeat. Hopefully 2022 is set to bring a brighter future and I am looking forward to making new plans, both for Janie Crow and in my personal life. More time at home since our move out of the studio in the autumn has made me realise that there is room in my life for more than work related things and that I am at a time in my life where I can embrace the joy of being at home more - living life at a slightly slower pace and not beating myself up over deadlines and output. From a design point of view, 2021 was the year of my Indigo Dreams CAL, which will continue through to February. With months and months of delays due to the pandemic I was so relieved to get a crochet along project out in the world and it is great to see so many of you continuing to work your way through the design.  In August 2021 Janie Crow turned 10 years old and we had hoped to make some plans to celebrate our company's birthday, but with the continued lockdown and the fact that we had to move out of our studio, we ended up unable to arrange any events to mark the occasion. With 8 months left of our birthday year we are hoping to be able to sort out something for 2022. The last few months have seen kits slowly coming back into stock and I am looking forward to new projects in 2022. A revamped CAL project of mine will be the Stylecraft Make Along project for February (more information about that in the January newsletter) and March will see the release of my Tidings Wrap, which is currently the Advent project on Jimmy Beans. I am working on a couple of cushion designs for Inside Crochet magazine, which will be released in the spring and I hope to have news of a larger project towards the end of the year so long as things go to plan. I hope you will keep up with all things Janie Crow over the forthcoming months. I wish you all a fabulous 2022! Stay safe...   Over the festive period we have been keeping ourselves in hermit mode once again, but have been able to venture out a little and have some family over to share in our small celebrations.vThankfully almost all of us have had our booster vaccinations - Charlie will be the last one on our list when he has his booster on Tuesday next week. We feel incredibly lucky to have been able to take up the offer of a vaccination and have made donations to the Unicef Vaccinaid programme so that others all over the world are also able to get some protection against the virus. If you would like to donate too you can find a link here. Since Christmas we have seen a flurry of download pattern sales on Ravelry and Etsy as people start to plan what projects to make as we head into 22. We will be back at work on Tuesday and will be sending out any orders placed over the festive period. We still have some kits and hope to add more to the site soon as there are still a lot that we do not have the yarn for yet. The following kits are still showing stock:      
  new in! blankets lifestyle blog videos explore  We had a great response to my email last week when I told you that we finally had some kits in stock. We have been able to update our stocks again this week and now have Eastern Jewels, Sunshine & Showers, Fruit Garden Night & Dusk and Red House and Lily Pond ready for sale. We have now sold out of all our Fiori kits, but Lucia still has some on her site. You can find them by following this link.   I feel so incredibly honoured when people post pictures of their Janie Crow projects. I love seeing different colour ways and interpretations of my designs and I adore hearing about the joy that crochet brings to the lives of people across the world. I was so touched yesterday when my friend Lita posted the image below of her crochet group in Indonesia alongside their Fruit Garden blanket projects. Honestly this image moved me to tears and I am so proud to see my designs made by such a fantastic and talented group.  Here is a pic of another beautiful version of The Fruit Garden blanket that was sent to me by Vicky Neale - isn't it fabulous - I love Vicky's choice of colours!  I really enjoy seeing my projects out in the wild, so please get in touch if you want to share some of your makes with myself and the Janie Crow team. We all love seeing them.  A huge thank you to all of you who voted for me in the recent Knitting & Crochet Awards. I am really proud to have been presented with the Highly Commended Award in the Crochet Designer category. It means so much to have made it to the top of the list alongside my fellow Blogstars Lucy of Attic 24 and Helen Shrimpton.  Our daughter Summer has a real skill for gift wrapping. It is a job I dislike, but Sum always embraces it as part of her festive preparations. She is always conscious about the environmental impact of what she does, so this year she opted to wrap her gifts in brown paper and add a simple wired bow to some of them. Upon reflection she felt that her gifts looked a little plain, so she has spent the last week or so decorating them all and giving them a wonderful personal touch. She used felt tipped pens to create her lovely designs.   I haven't started my wrapping yet and still have a few things left to get, so I am pretty sure I won't be hand decorating any presents this year, but I thought I would have a rummage through my oddments of crochet as I am pretty sure I have lots of handmade flowers and bits and bobs that I could attach to some gifts instead of bows and ribbons, which often have a plastic content. I think I might have some brooch backs somewhere so that they could be used as corsages too.  I found this fabulous pattern on Etsy, for little crochet gifts which I think would look so lovely either on a present or hung from the tree.  A few weeks ago Summer and I travelled down to Hampshire to the HQ of The Grey Sheep Co to attend their open day. We had a really great time watching shepherdess Susie Parish give a sheep dog display and chat about how she trains her dogs. It was also really interesting to hear about how the company are cross breeding sheep in order to achieve great knitting yarns.  Company owner Emma Boyles also gave a talk about the new machinery they have to produce their gorgeous yarns in house and we were given a chance to see them in action.  Summer and I had such a nice time chatting to other knitters and crocheters and browsing through the gorgeous yarns that Emma produces on her farm. You can find more information about The Grey Sheep Co (who you may have already seen featured on Country File) by following this link to their website.  The last second class postage date to guarantee delivery before Christmas is tomorrow 18th December and the last first class date is Tuesday 21st. You can find more information by following this link to the Royal Mail website.  For the first time in years we are going to have a proper break over the Christmas and New Year holidays. We will not be working from Thursday 23rd December through to Tuesday 4th January. The Janie Crow website will be open and orders can be placed within this period, but items will not be dispatched until the New Year. If you would like to purchase a pattern and want to start work on it over the holidays, the quickest way to access it will be to get a download copy via either our Ravelry or Etsy stores.  Yesterday I sat and wrote out my list in preparation for our food shopping next week. With Christmas plans pared right back this year we are not planning huge feasts and so I am thinking of doing lots of easy meals that we can rustle up in the evenings and hearty soups we can have at lunch time. I love cooking, but I am not fond of too much faffing and so I like recipes that give scrummy results with minimum effort. This year we have decided to do Tiramisu as our Christmas desert.  Andy will be in charge of making this super simple but gorgeously tasty pud as he loves this recipe from BBC Good Food and has made it many times before. He adds grated chocolate between the layers and uses a little less sugar. It is always tastier when it is a few days old and the flavours have been given a chance to blend a little, so it is the perfect dessert to prepare beforehand.   We have cancelled some of our plans for this weekend and will not be heading out too much. Instead we are hoping to finish off some of the jobs around the house and paint the garage doors - so long as the weather will allow. Living the high life as usual!!! I am hoping that I will get some time (as always) to sit with my knitting in front of the TV and so will need to make some time to wind off some of the skeins of yarn I purchased at The Grey Sheep Co a few weeks ago.  Last week I completed my hand knit tank top that I have made using Stylecraft's ReCreate yarn. I am really chuffed with it and have worn it pretty much everyday since I finished it. I made it in the shade Cherry and am quite tempted to make another in Charcoal. I used this pattern but left out the cable.  The sweater project I have chosen to work on over Christmas and into the New Year is called Oslo and it is by Petite Knit - you can find the Ravelry store by following this link. All the patterns on there are fabulous! Earlier on this week I attended a beginners mosaic class and made a heart plaque. I really enjoyed the class and think this might be the start of a new obsession. I really like the thought of giving old chipped ceramics a new lease of life and really enjoyed the process of cutting and glueing the fragments of pottery into place. My first attempt at this technique is in no way a masterpiece but I am very proud of it.  I came across the work of mosaic artist Amanda Anderson (a piece of her work is shown above) a few years ago when I saw some of her pieces on display in a Bournemouth gallery. I adore her work, which you can find on her website here or on Instagram here. I have a long way to go to get close to this kind of skill. Isn't it amazing!  My friend Jan sent me this picture last Christmas as it reminded her of the Fruit Garden blanket - I love the pic, although I do hope the lady in the pic didn't also remind her of me, so I thought I would share it with you as we head into the festive period. I will be back with a quick update in a couple of weeks time on New Year's eve. I hope that wherever you are you are safe and well and that you have a good holiday whatever you have planned... Janie x 
  new in! blankets lifestyle blog videos explore I hope you will forgive the fact that I have dropped into your inbox for 3 weeks on the trot, but this is a very speedy email to let you know that we finally have some kits and yarn packs in stock. With the days until Christmas speeding away, it occurred to me that letting you know that kits are in stock in my newsletter next week and not before then, might leave it a bit tight postage wise for any of you who may want to work through one of my crochet projects over the festive period, or those of you who would like to give one as a gift. So, without any further ado, we have the following kits and yarn packs in stock and ready for dispatch from Monday: Fruit Garden Blanket - Night & Dusk  Fruit Garden Blanket - Red House   Persian Tiles - Eastern Jewels    I hope you all have a fabulous weekend whatever you have planned. Stay safe   
  new in! Blankets lifestyle blog videos explore I know that I have dropped an email into your inbox two weeks on the bounce, but that's because last week's newsletter was a week late! As things are finally calmer and more settled here at Janie Crow I am trying to get back on schedule and keep my life on track - it is good to feel like things are finally coming together after our move out of the studio. This week we have been busy sorting out my new work space in the summer house at the end of our garden. The building (which Andy brick built about a decade ago) spans the entire width of the garden, so it is a nice sized space which we have now divided up a little so that part of it can be used by me as a small studio space. Seeing the room take shape this week has made me feel a real pang to get back to some design work. As I said last week, I have quite a few ideas hanging around in my head, so it will be lovely to finally settle down with a hook and some yarn and get going on some new projects. I don't have a huge amount to tell you about this week and will recap on some of the things I mentioned last week in my November newsletter, but there could well be something in here that interests you, so I hope you will stick with me for five minutes and catch up with all things Janie Crow.   I love seeing my designs worked in alternative colourways and so when Lucia Dunn of Lucia's Fig Tree asked for permission to recolour my Persian Tiles blanket to create her amazing Eastern Jewels version a few years ago I was really pleased. A few years later Lucia worked her magic to create a version of my Frida's Flowers design too, so I was really excited when we caught up in the spring and she told me that she wanted to make her own version of my Fields of Gold blanket.  I adore this new brightly coloured version of my blanket, which Lucia has come up with. It is just so gorgeous!   Lucia has named her version of the blanket Fiori and, to make this collaboration even more exciting, she has very kindly included the Janie Crow logo alongside hers on the balls of gorgeous Fohen DK yarn which make up the yarn packs for this project. Fohen and Fohen Tweed yarns are a really gorgeous soft and bouncy DK weight, which is a merino wool rich mixture in fabulously vibrant shades. We now have less than 15 of these kits left in stock and, as it is a limited edition, we currently do not have plan to restock. If you have been thinking about grabbing one of these kits, you can follow this link to nab one. The yarn packs contain 31 x 50g balls of exclusive yarn, a sew in Janie Crow label, the original pattern for the Fields of Gold Blanket and a printed yarn sub brochure for Lucia's Fiori colourway. All our yarn kits have been packed re-using the original plastic bag packaging from the yarn supplier rather than new bags. You can find more information about the project by following this link. Please note that the Fiori colourway is only available as a kit and that the yarn substitution document is not accessible separately. We have a limited number of these kits available. Our order came in a little short, so we will have a few more kits towards the end of the month/early December, but it is pretty much a case of when they are gone they are gone! You can find a lovely introductory video that Lucia has made about this blanket collaboration by following this link.   It has been fabulous seeing your Indigo Dreams blankets taking shape. With part two of the pattern out now and part three not far away it has been fabulous to see all the crochet motifs popping up on social media. As usual, it has been a joy to see lots of lovely alternative colourways and types of yarn being used.  I spent some time in the garden this week doing (what might be) my final bit of leaf clearing for the year. I even managed to give the grass a cut, so it is looking much better for a quick bit of TLC. Whilst clearing up I noticed that there was quite a lot of ivy in need of chopping back, so I gave it a good prune and brought the cuttings in to use in my first little bit of Christmas decorating. If I am honest it still feels a little early to be decorating the house, but as time is flying by so quickly, I think we might be getting up into the loft this weekend to get all the festive decorations down.  If you are looking for some nice little stash busting projects and fancy having a go at making some of my crochet decorations then why not take a look at the festive decorations page on my web site by clicking here or on the images above and below.   We are really pleased that it looks like we will be having more kits in stock within the next week as the delivery of yarn is becoming more and more reliable. One of the designs we are hoping to have yarn packs for is my Sunshine and Showers blanket, which I designed as a year long CAL project quite a few years ago now.  The project was originally released as monthly patterns, but they are now all available as downloads via Ravelry and Etsy.  The inspiration for the design was the seasonal weather of the UK and each section of the design, the patterns for which were originally published monthly, reflects a different seasonal theme. For example, in July and August the design was based on sunny skies and flowers, whereas in January the focus was great snowy weather, which I represented by using crochet puff stitches. Sunshine and Showers uses 15 balls of 100g Special DK, so if you fancy doing your own colour way you could search through your stash for left over yarns. Like all my crochet along projects I tried to design this one in a way that made it a great learning tool. It gets progressively harder so that crocheters can build their skills. All patterns include step-by-step images and detailed instructions throughout. Follow this link to the Janie Crow website for more information. The other kits we are hoping to have in stock next week are Eastern Jewels, Fruit Garden - Night & Dusk and Lily Pond. If you are after one of these kits please keep an eye on the web site.  We felt really privileged to attend our niece's wedding last weekend, especially as the ceremony had previously been cancelled twice as a result of lockdown.  The wedding was absolutely wonderful and it was so lovely to see our beautiful girl finally marry her prince. The whole day was a delight from start to finish, but one of the highlights was the amazing Italian wedding breakfast, which included the most delicious pasta dish I think I have ever had in my life!  All the food was delicious, but we enjoyed the mushroom fettuccine so much that we searched out a recipe and made our own version the following day. We used this recipe from Pinch of Yum.  As we have been sorting out the summer house/studio space this week I have been looking at lots of interiors/decorating web sites and whilst doing so I came across a great app from Dulux which helps you envisage what their paint shades will look like in your home. The visualiser app is really cool and you can find more information about it here. Whilst playing about with it this week I found that you can pick colours from existing images too and then match them in their paint range, so needless to say, I am now a tad addicted to the app!   We have also been looking for some curtains for the studio and so I was excited to see the range of William Morris fabrics that are making a comeback in the form of ready made curtains. Whilst on the John Lewis website I found some Kelmscott Tree curtains. As the embroidered bed hangings on William Morris's bed at Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire were one of the inspirations for the Fruit Garden blanket I couldn't resist these beauties, despite the price tag - I will just have to make a few savings elsewhere to stay within my little budget!  Finding the Kelmscott curtains led me down a William Morris rabbit hole once again and I came across some lovely festive items in the William Morris Gallery shop. I resisted temptation, but there might be something there that takes your fancy.  We have an imitation Christmas Tree that we get out year after year. I bought the tree around 10 years ago, but have since discovered that you need to keep a fake tree for many years to balance its carbon foot print so it looks like our tree will have a few more years left with us. Thankfully I still love the tree, so am not too worried about that, however I did consider renting a real tree this year to give us a bit of a break from our fake snowy one. Andy's cousin rented a tree last year and many areas in the country operate a tree rental service. You can find more information about this in a piece via Country Living, which you can find here. If you want to read up on the fake vs real Christmas Tree debate you could take a look at this article.   After a long period of time of not really doing a lot of anything (in terms of going out) we have a busy weekend ahead of us so I am thankful that we have already had our booster jabs! Tonight we are going to see The Manic Street Preachers in concert at Wembley and tomorrow Summer and I are heading to the festive open day at The Grey Sheep Co in Hampshire. On Sunday afternoon we are hoping to see a local band at the pub! I would like to think that somewhere amongst all of this we will manage to get some of our festive decorations up at home and that I will get to have some cosy time with my knitting on the settee....  I know that we are very lucky to be in such a privileged position to be planning a lovely weekend ahead and that there are many others who are not so lucky. We are very thankful for what we have and try our best to pay back in small ways if we can. At this time of year we support two of the UK's homeless charities, Shelter and Crisis. If you want to support them too, please click on the links. Both charities rely on the work of volunteers and not just on the proceeds of donations and they do amazing work at a time of year when not everyone is lucky enough to be at home enjoying a lovely Christmas. I will be back in a couple of weeks time with my December newsletter. If you are looking for a project to work on over the festive period or want to source a kit as a gift (either to self or for a friend) don't forget to check into the web site to see if kit stocks have been updated. If you are looking for small stocking filler gifts with an eco edge, then you could also take a look at our Lifestyle range here. I hope that you are well and happy as we head into the weekend and that all is good with you wherever you are in the world. Sending yarny hugs...  
  new in! blankets lifestyle blog videos explore  I was planning to send this email last week (you may have noticed that the intro says there are 5 weeks until Christmas, when there are in fact now only 4!), but we ended up having a really busy couple of weeks, which meant my work schedule got a little bit muddled - hopefully I am back on track now and will be up to speed soon! It is a bit of a shock to realise just how imminent the festive period is. I have yet to write a proper list, but after the nightmare that was 'chase the turkey' last year - where I tried, and tried and tried to get a smallish bird for the meat eaters in our family, but failed miserably as they kept disappearing from my cart each time I went to pay for them - I have at least managed to order a crown and secure our Christmas veg delivery. Last year it turned out we didn't need a turkey anyway as London went into lockdown and no one was allowed to come for dinner, but I am more hopeful that this year we will all get to be together and I do feel like I have scored a little victory for being a bit organised so early on! Over the last couple of weeks I have been preparing a project for the Festive Workshop we hold in Bournemouth annually, so it has been nice to get stuck into a Christmas themed project. I will release the new design in time for next Christmas, but if you are looking for something to get your hook into this year, then I have a few festive themed projects you could take a look at.  My Beaded Festive Decorations design is an ideal way to use up bits and bobs from your stash. The designs would look lovely hung on the tree or could be used as the basis for some fabulous table decorations or corsages. The pattern is available as a 16 page paper brochure or as a download and it includes step-by-step instructions for the crochet beading techniques used.   If you are looking for some little projects to make, then you might also want to take a look at my Festive Stocking pattern and my Festive Decorations by following this link.    When we made up the kits for the new Fiori version of my Fields of Gold design a few weeks ago we discovered that the yarn delivery was a little short, which meant that we had 20 kits that could not be made up. Thankfully the missing yarn has now arrived, so we have some more kits in stock. The yarn kits are a limited edition as they include a special collaborative yarn that is not available elsewhere.   For more information about the Fiori colourway, which has been put together by my fabulous friend Lucia Dunn of Lucia's Fig Tree, follow this link.  I think Christmas crackers were one of the first things that people realised caused a lot of plastic waste, so it is quite usual for them to be plastic free these days.  I have a bit of a thing for garden birds so I fell in love with these crackers from the RSPB, which also feature one of my favourite animals - hares - in the design. You can find the full range of plastic free crackers from the RSPB by following this link. There is a good list of plastic free Christmas tips via Friends of the Earth here.  The second part of my CAL project, Indigo Dreams has now been published in Inside Crochet magazine. As with all my crochet along projects to date, Indigo Dreams starts off relatively easy and gets progressively harder as the project grows over the next five months. In the first part you were asked to make some very simple granny squares and some striped pieces and this month the design features a half and half granny square design. Indigo Dreams will run in Inside Crochet Magazine over five issues through to February next year. The design for this blanket was inspired by a beautiful Kantha stitched quilt that I found on my travels in India a few years ago, as well as my love of traditional patchwork quilts and tessellations.   The patterns include the usual step-by-step images and detailed written instructions and charts. This is possibly one of my easiest projects to date, with most motifs based on the traditional granny square motif. I love working with Inside Crochet Magazine and am incredibly proud of the outcome of this project. The styling of the blanket by Claire Montgomerie and the shots themselves by the fabulous Leanne Jade make me so happy. You can find more information and a list of the Stylecraft yarns I used to make this project by following this link. Patterns are only available via Inside Crochet Magazine for the duration of the CAL. The magazine are offering a six-month subscription offer, which will guarantee that you receive each part of the CAL as it is revealed every month. You can find a great deal (which will save you ££££) for the print magazine by following this link and one for the digital subscription by following this link. You can also find a wonderful Facebook community, so that you can share your progress and ask questions as you go along, by following this link. The group already has more than 2000 members, so it is a great resource to accompany the CAL.  My knitting in Iceland tour was cancelled in 2020 and then again this year, so I am really looking forward to the rescheduled holiday in May 2022. The tour, which is organised by the fabulous team at Arena Travel as part of their Stitchtopia programme of events, is called Natural Wonders of Iceland. It runs between 4th & 12th of May and you can find more information about the trip by following this link.  I will also be tutoring some mini workshops at the Knit For Peace event at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford in January. I will be joining the amazing knit designer Debbie Bliss on what I am sure will be a great trip. You can find some more information about the event here.  Andy has started to sort out his batch of home brew Christmas drinks this week. He will be making the usual marmalade gin (which we all love), but he has decided to mix it up a little this year by adding mincemeat vodka to the list too!  Andy's idea to make this scrummy tipple, which he has already trialed, was possibly inspired by Jamie Oliver's Christmas Pudding vodka, which you can find by following this link. However, Andy's version is much more straightforward and simply involves mixing a jar of mincemeat into a large bottle of vodka and leaving it to mature for a couple of weeks before staining (and straining and straining it) until it is clear. I recommend a quality jar of mincemeat, but it doesn't seem to matter what brand of vodka you use - it is a really lovely warming festive drink! Cheers!  We are only a couple of days away from opening the first door of our advent calendar. Ours is a pretty paper one with a motivational quote for each day, but if you are looking for a yarny one then you might want to take a look at the Jimmy Beans Advent Box, which is now available to order via their web site.  This will be the sixth annual Craftvent, a holiday-themed Advent calendar and there is something for every type of maker, as Jimmy Beans commissioned both knit and crochet project options and you can choose to work on either a 24 day project or 12 day one.  Designer Ambah O'Brien developed the large knit project called Festive Wrap and I came up with the crochet project, Tidings Wrap, which utilises a unique construction that begins at the centre and works each side outward. Adorable pom-poms are added to the outside using leftover scraps from each day and you can choose from 2 lovely colourways - Ribbon Candy is shown above and the Buttermint version is shown below.  Jimmy Beans' own knit and crochet designer Amy Gunderson created both the smaller knit and crochet projects, called 'Tis The Season Mitts. Gunderson owned a pizza place in Iowa City for seven years, which is also where she first learned to knit in between making pizzas. In addition to being a designer, she is also the Yarn Director at Jimmy Beans Wool.  Supermarket chain Asda has recently launched its Pre-loved Vintage range across 50 of its stores. Click on the image below or here for more information.   Cath Waters designs the most gorgeous tea towels that feature her water colour designs of the Scottish landscape. I came across her work a few months ago and think that one of her tea towels would look really beautiful framed like a print.  There are lots of lovely versions of the tea towel to choose from and, at just £14.99 each, I think they are fabulous value for money. You can find gorgeous prints, canvases, mugs and jewellery on Cath's web site too, so if you are looking for a stunning gift why not stop by her web store and take a look.   We are set for some pretty miserable weather here in London this weekend and have the threat of snow and strong winds for the next few days so we are hoping it doesn't affect our plans for the weekend too much.. I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have in store for the next few days that you have a great time. I really love hearing from you and Sarah and I do our best to reply, so if anything in this newsletter has prompted you to get in touch, please hit reply.... Sending lots of yarny hugs Janie x 
  new in! blankets lifestyle blog videos explore The clocks have changed and the weather is decidedly autumnal here in North London, so we have been making the most of any bright weather and getting out for some local walks. The fields and countryside around us are still looking really beautiful as not too many leaves have dropped yet, but it is getting pretty cold in the evenings, so it has been good to snuggle up with my crochet and knitting projects on the settee in the evenings! This week I have something REALLY exciting to tell you about as I am finally able to reveal the outcome of my most recent collaboration with the wonderful Lucia Dunn of Lucia's Fig Tree AND I am also able to showcase my beaded crochet Christmas decorations, which featured in Inside Crochet Magazine this time last year, as the pattern has now reverted to me. If those two things are not enough to make you want to read on for more information, then hopefully something else within this email will catch your eye!   I love seeing my designs worked in alternative colourways and so when Lucia Dunn of Lucia's Fig Tree asked for permission to recolour my Persian Tiles blanket to create her amazing Eastern Jewels version a few years ago I was really pleased. A few years later Lucia worked her magic to create a version of my Frida's Flowers design too, so I was really excited when we caught up in the spring and she told me that she wanted to make her own version of my Fields of Gold blanket.  Lucia is the queen of recolouring - you may have seen her fabulous version of Tinna's gorgeous Amma CAL - and so I adore this new brightly coloured version of my blanket, which Lucia has come up with. It is just so gorgeous!   Lucia has named her version of the blanket Fiori and, to make this collaboration even more exciting, she has very kindly included the Janie Crow logo alongside hers on the balls of gorgeous Fohen DK yarn which make up the yarn packs for this project. Fohen and Fohen Tweed yarns are a really gorgeous soft and bouncy DK weight, which is a merino wool rich mixture in fabulously vibrant shades. We have been waiting very patiently for the yarn to make its way over from Italy over the last couple of months and we spent last week making up the kits for this project, so I am really excited to finally be able to give you the link to nab one of these limited edition kits. The yarn packs contain 31 x 50g balls of exclusive yarn, a sew in Janie Crow label, the original pattern for the Fields of Gold Blanket and a printed yarn sub brochure for Lucia's Fiori colourway. All our yarn kits have been packed re-using the original plastic bag packaging from the yarn supplier rather than new bags. You can find more information about the project by following this link. Please note that the Fiori colourway is only available as a kit and that the yarn substitution document is not accessible separately. We have a limited number of these kits available. Our order came in a little short, so we will have a few more kits towards the end of the month/early December, but it is pretty much a case of when they are gone they are gone! You can find a lovely introductory video that Lucia has made about this blanket collaboration by following this link.  From Thursday 7th through to Sunday 10th October we were showing our wares at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. Our stand was in the Textile Gallery. There were fewer stands than usual to allow for more social distancing between everyone, but there was a great turn out and kits pretty much sold out, along with needles and hooks, which were flying off the shelves! There were times when it was very busy on the stand and (aside from the very annoying difficulties with wifi and the card machine connection) it was great to see so many of you out and enjoying the show. With his 'Just Knots' hat on, Andy has taken a stand at the Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show in a couple of weeks time (18th to 21st November). He will have knitting needles, crochet hooks and lots of other accessories. He will also have a lot of reduced yarn - so do pop over to see him and say hello if you are going to the show.  A couple of Mondays ago (24th October) I was the featured designer on shopping channel Yarn Lane TV. I had such a great time chatting all things crochet with presenter Rebecca Reid. We focussed on my Persian Tiles & Summer Palace blankets and also had a quick chat about The Fruit Garden Crochet Blanket Book. During the hour long show I did a couple of little crochet demos, so there might well be something that interests you. You can find the video by following this link. If you want to check out more demo videos on the Janie Crow YouTube channel you can find it here.  It has been fabulous to start seeing your Indigo Dreams blankets taking shape. With part two of the pattern on the horizon I realised I hadn't managed to write a blog post about how to prepare for the CAL - in particular how to achieve the correct tension, so I managed to get one posted this week. You can find it by following this link. I can never quite get over the ongoing appeal of my Persian Tiles blanket, which continues to be my biggest selling design, but I love to see the various colourways that people put together. This week I discovered two new versions made by the team at Yarnplaza. They have named these colourways Lavender Fields and Christmas and you can find more information by following this link.   After our move from the studio at the beginning of last month we are still trying to get ourselves sorted out. There are lots of boxes left to unpack at home, but Andy has been very busy sorting out the office and storage space that we have found locally. It was quite a shock to see just how much stuff we had accumulated over the 5 years we were at the studio!  he pattern for my beaded Christmas decorations, which also features a beaded crochet masterclass, are new to the website this week. The pattern originally featured in Inside Crochet magazine this time last year, but it is now available as a 16 page paper brochure in both UK & US terms or as a download version via Ravelry or Etsy.   The decorations were inspired by Russian Folk crafts and, as they use very small amounts of yarn, they are the perfect stash buster. I think they would look great hung on the tree or threaded together to make bunting. Or maybe even a festive themed corsage? You can find more information by following this link. Images with thanks to Leanne Jade and Inside Crochet magazine.  We also have patterns for my Festive Decorations, shown below. These are proving really popular at the moment as they are another great stash busting project. I think they would look great made in purple, red and gold shades, but I love the frosty feel of the grey and cream I used in the original designs. Perhaps adding some light blue shades and silver lurex would make them look really sparkly and snowy?  You can find the paper pattern for these decorations by following this link to the website, where you will also find links to downloadable copies via Ravelry or Etsy.  You can find my crochet stocking pattern, which would make great table or tree decorations as they can hold little tree presents such as chocolates for an extra special touch, by following this link. Along with the pattern for the Oonagh knitted cushion covers, which feature lovely sparkly beads, for a real festive feel.  I am looking forward to seeing your festive makes on social media. Please share any projects using #janiecrow on Instagram so that I can see what you have been making!  There wasn't a huge amount of sun to ripen the tomatoes in the garden this year so when it became clear that green was the colour they were staying, Gemma decided that tomato chutney was on the cards!  Unlike many other chutney recipes this one from Lovely Greens doesn't use cooking apples and so Gemma says it was easy to knock up on the spur of the moment with ingredients already in stock. Delicious with cheese and biscuits!  We realised it had been a while since we had a 'show and tell' on Facebook, so we asked you to show us what you have been working on, whether that be the new Indigo Dreams crochet along, another Janie Crow project or something different entirely! You showed us your beautiful work, from Climbing Rose Wraps to Persian Tile blankets and much much more. Here are some of the highlights: Sharon Marks showed us her recently completed Persian Tiles, in her own colourway:  Tracy Hellam has been crafting with string as yarn and wool aren't easy to get hold of in Central Zambia!  We love the tassels on Purdy Garcia's Primavera version of Frida's Flowers. They work so well on the points of the hexagons:  Ellen Preston is getting in the mood for Christmas with her very lovely Percy Poinsettia, a Lalylala design.  Eliza Dee Dee has been making the Summer Palace blanket in her own colourway, even using yarn bought by her mother in the 1960s to knit her a cardigan with! Impressive stashbusting:  Thank you to everyone who shared photos - we love seeing your makes :-)  The first part of the Indigo Dreams crochet along was published and many of you got straight to work! The dedicated Facebook group for the Crochet along has been going from strength to strength with over 2,200 members now. There has been much discussion about the difficulties some of you are having with the tension of the chambray squares but there has been great support from both the group moderators and other members alike. On the subject of gauge the brilliant 'Golden Loop' video from Esther of 'It's All in a Nutshell' is well worth a watch, especially if you are struggling to get the correct tension on UK treble (US double) crochet - are you a yanker, rider or lifter? Don't forget that you can take a look at my tension themed blog post here.  Here at Janie Crow we are avid recyclers and so it was good to see in the news that in Co-Op supermarkets around the country it is now possible to recycle a much wider range of plastic packaging such as pet food pouches, crisp packets, bubble wrap, cling film and much more. Other supermarkets have been running schemes to recycle such items for a while now. On the RecycleNow website you can enter your postcode or town to find a store near you that collects these items.  That said, there has been a lot of talk recently about how many big companies, especially large supermarket brands, are using 'green washing' tactics to make consumers think that their ethics are far greener than they actually are. Whilst any effort to cut down plastic use and free recycling schemes are good news, what we need to see is far less use of plastic packaging in the first place and more conscious decisions about the origin of the ingredients in our food. A good place to start is by being aware of where the palm oil in our food is sourced. Palm oil is used in so many foods these days and much of it is from unsustainable sources. Making a habit of looking at the ingredients in our food is a great way to tackle 'greenwashing' so look out for products that say the palm oil is from a sustainable sourse - if it doesn't say it's sustainable then it probably isn't! You can find more information about global brands and their use of palm oil (and why unsustainable palm oil is bad news) via the WWF web site here or by clicking on the image below:  This week I came across this handy little food calculator via the BBC which can give you an idea of the carbon footprint of foods you most regularly eat. For us the big surprise was chocolate, so we are going to be more careful about which brands we buy in the future. We do love a bit of choccy here at Janie Crow, but perhaps we should cut down a little too?  As we move into the colder months of the year here in the UK it's probably true to say that many of us will be spending more time crafting during the dark evenings. Hours of crocheting can take its toll on our hands, arms and shoulders, so we thought this blog post from Inside Crochet magazine would give us all a good reminder of the importance of taking breaks from time to time, as well as doing exercises to prevent repetitive strain injuries. The thought of not being able to crochet is not one we like to contemplate!   After the madness of September, with the move and then the shows in early October, it was almost inevitable that we would get poorly. I went down with a sniffle (not covid) on the day after Ally Pally and it has taken me a good few weeks to feel back to normal. Andy has started with a cold this week too, so it has been a month of not feeling quite up to speed for us. We have been making sure we get plenty of fresh air, sunshine and vitamin C in the hope that we will now have a lurgy free winter, so we are hoping for some bright weather over the weekend so we can get out and about. I am planning to attend the COP26 march in London tomorrow. If you would like to join an event, but you're not sure if you have a local demonstration, you can find a list of worldwide events by following this link. I have quite a few projects to work on in preparation for some forthcoming workshop weekends, so over the weekend I will be keen to set up camp on the settee in the evenings to get on with those. We have been adding lots of programmes to our watch list on the TV, so hopefully we can indulge in a few good movies too! Unfortunately my Stephen West MKAL project has had to take a bit of a back seat and I am still only on clue 2, but it has been great to see finished projects out in the wild. I am still working on my Stylecraft ReCreate tank top though and hope to have that finished very soon. If you are looking for a fabulous knitting project to see you though the next month or so, then I can really recommend you take a look at Julia Marsh's Wee Houses design, which will be the Stylecraft make along project this month.  I think that the scarf or cowl would make a great festive gift. You can find lovely shots of the projects on Julia's Hand Knitted Things instagram feed and the MAL Facebook group here.  The season of family festivities, bright lights, shimmering candles and good food is officially here! Happy Diwali to those of you celebrating this week. May your lives be filled with new hopes for the future and new dreams for tomorrow. Joy, light and love....  
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AuthorWelcome to my blog. Here you will find my email newsletter archive alongside any other general musings or information about events or new pattern releases that I wish to share with you! Archives
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