Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

It has been a pleasure to sit down with my crochet hook this week and try out a new and exciting yarn range that will be coming from West Yorkshire Spinners in the autumn. The British yarn is just lovely and the colour palette is divine, so I have lost quite a few hours playing with it! I had forgotten how fast time flies by when I am crocheting and so I have found myself chasing my tail on a few other projects this week!
 
I will be heading off to tutor a workshop trip to Switzerland next week, so I have been putting the final touches to the project and sorting out yarn packs for the participants. My crochet has had to take a bit of a back seat for a few days as a result, but I will be packing it all away in my suitcase to accompany me on my trip.
 
I have a few things to tell you about this week and Gemma has also been busing adding some interesting items to this Quick Catch Up email, so I hope you have a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow!  

I often get emails and messages from companies who would like me to promote their goods, but I don't like the idea of clogging up my social media platforms with third party posts and I also don't want to be associated with paid for promotions, so, as a general rule, I don't get involved. About a month ago, however, a company who make the most beautiful crochet hooks contacted me asking If I would consider collaborating, and once I saw the beauty of the items they are making, I was totally sold on promoting their fabulous work - fee free of course! 
 
The company are called Letto Workshop and their products are hand made by artisans in Ukraine. You can find their Instagram profile here and their website here.
 
Letto have kindly sent me a couple of hooks to try out, but I thought it would be great to run a giveaway instead to give you guys a chance to win one of them. If you would like to try winning a hook, head across to our Instagram feed for more information. Please note that you need to be in the UK (sorry to those of you elsewhere) to be in with a chance of winning.

We have added some kits back into stock this week, including those for the Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles and Sandalwood, which we haven't had for a while. You can find links to these kits below, as well as those for the Climbing Rose Wrap and the Beatrix version of Mystical Lanterns, which we haven't had in stock before, even though the colour way was released over a year ago! This version of the design is made using Stylecraft Bamboo Cotton yarn in a lovely spring inspired palette.

We released the pattern for the Catalina Pouch in the autumn and at the time we made the decision not to create a kit for the project as the high end yarn I used from the Rowan range works out very expensive for such a small project. However, the bag is a great stash busting project and is great for using up small left over bits of yarn and I think it would look great made using lots of alternative colour palettes.
 
To line my crochet pouch I used a pre made bag from the Clever Baggers, company, but we found out recently that they charge a high postage cost to anywhere outside of the UK, so Andy has added some of the bags to our store so that you can get them through us. You can find the patterns and the pre-made bags by following this link.

We have some new items in stock from the Emma Ball range. They include some new tins that feature the Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles, Mexican Diamonds and some of my crochet flowers. You can find the new tins by following this link.
 
We also have a new tote bag that features the Mexican Diamonds pattern. You can find it by following this link.

At the beginning of the month Emma chose this lovely image of temperature blanket squares that she found on Instagram to let everybody know that the new chart for recording March's daily temperatures was available to download over on the blog. Thank you to @crafts_r_us for sharing her lovely pic! ​

2025 marks 10 years since the release of the Lily Pond crochet along blanket design and we have started a series of posts on both Facebook and Instagram celebrating, one by one, all the designs that have been released by Janie Crow over the past decade. 
 
The patterns for the Lily Pond CAL are still available to download for free via the Stylecraft website here.

Lily Pond has been shown so much love over the years since its release and it is fabulous to know that it has been a prize winner for some of you. Siobhan Keene Hopcraft won a Best in Show prize for her version of the blanket, made in bamboo cotton.

Kathy Kennington won first prize at her local fair with her Lily Pond blanket, which is shown below.

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to share your project photos with us. We love seeing your work. ​

​There was an interesting article published in the Guardian back in January this year focusing on how younger people are starting to take up hobbies like knitting as an alternative to constant screen time. 
 
The individuals featured in the article had different reasons and motivations for taking up a new hobby and some interesting points were made around the culture of ‘fast fashion’ and over-consumption within the programme, with many of the new crafters realising how much time and effort is involved in making your own garment.
 
You can read more here or click on the image below. 

We will be exhibiting at Wonderwool Wales in just over four weeks time. We will be in our usual position on stand W1 in Hall 3. 
 
Tickets for the show are still available and you can find them by following this link. Sarah, Paul, Andy and myself love being at this show and it would be fabulous to see you there! 

Production began this month of the new Channel 4 show ‘Game of Wool’, which will be hosted by the lovely Tom Daley. The competition will be set against the picturesque countryside of rural Scotland, and each episode will see the contestants set two challenges: a group project, where they’ll be working together in teams, as well as an individual one where they’ll take on briefs that will really test their capabilities and skill level.
 
Each week, the competitors must create a whole host of unique makes and larger than life sculptural pieces – all made from yarn. These include clothing, jewellery, home accessories, furniture, sculptures and possibly even a spot of ‘yarn bombing’. 
 
It will be interesting to see how well the arts of knitting and crochet translate to the screen when the programme is aired in the winter. You can read more about the show by clicking on the image above and you can follow Game of Wool on Instagram by following this link.

Gemma took a brief pause from her hard work on the Bohemian Blooms blanket to knock up a warm hat for her daughter which she found in the book ‘Crochet Messy Bun Hats’ by Kristi Simpson. Hats are a great stash-busting project and can also be very motivating because they work up pretty quickly. You can have a read of Gemma's review of the book over on the blog here. 
 
If you like the look of the book and want your own copy, you can get a 20% discount and free postage by using the code DD88 at checkout on the Search Press website here. 

It feels like an awfully long time since I've been updating you with my progress on Bohemian Blooms. In fact, I've just had a quick look back at the blog and it was actually the end of November! 
 
Well, I hear you say, surely you've finished it by now…..​

I haven't finished, but good progress has been made, with all of the Virginia motifs completed, another Fitzroy done, and two more on a production line and almost finished. Last time I had added the Trinity and Omega motifs to the central nine squares, which really helped the project start to feel like it was coming together.
 
I've now made up three of the four sides and added those to that central panel. I quite like interspersing the making up tasks with the crocheting as it keeps things interesting for me and I'm less likely to get bored and wander off to do something else, like start a new project instead! 

Of course, in my rush to get panels joined, I made a bit of an error. I wonder if anyone can spot my (not so) deliberate mistake? I decided to run with it and leave it as it is, as I wasn't prepared to take the panels apart again and I don't think it detracts too much from the overall appearance, but I did give myself a stern talking to! I'll reveal all next month, when hopefully the fourth side should have been added and the remaining two Bloomsbury motifs completed. 
 
One final observation is that I am incredibly happy at this point in time that I have been sewing in my ends as I've gone along! Although there are a few remaining from the joining that has been done, all the ends on the motifs that have been joined have been sewn in and that feels good! 

This really is working up into a beautiful blanket and I'm so glad I decided to make it. It feels luxurious and special and although it is perhaps taking longer to make than I had intended, it feels like all time spent on it is part of the investment it represents. See you next month. ​

For this week's recipe Gemma has chosen a savoury dish that always goes down well in her house: a mushroom quiche. For the shortcrust pastry Gemma always uses a half and half mixture of wholemeal and white plain flour, just to tweak the healthiness factor up a notch, and a couple of different mushrooms, usually chestnut mushrooms and one other variety. 
 
Gemma says that it's always surprisingly quick to knock up a quiche, particularly if you use a food processor to make the pastry and it works just as well as part of a more traditional meal with potatoes and veg, as it does with a lovely salad on the side. 
 
Here's a link to the James Martin recipe that Gemma uses, or you can click on the image below. Looks delicious doesn't it! 

Andy and I have been doing well on our eight week health challenge and, now that we are just over two weeks in, we have (more or less) managed to cut out sugar, alcohol and some of the more heavy carbs like bread and pasta in the evening, but we were really up against a test last week when our baby boy celebrated his 30th Birthday with a take away meal, a cake and a few drinks! Happy Birthday Charlie! We are so proud of you!

Summer and Chris's puppy Stoick (pronounced Stowick not Stoyck) is growing so fast and is a real whirlwind at times. He has had all his jabs so can run his zoomies around the garden rather than around the house, which is a bit of a relief for everyone! We pup-sit most weeks and so I make that at time when I look at emails and social media, as getting my yarn and hook out isn't worth the risk of being mugged! 
 
We are looking forward to seeing Stoick and his Mum and Dad tomorrow.

As I said already, I am off to Zurich next week, so I will be spending some time over the next few days sorting out my clothes and lining up my luggage. The trip to Switzerland is with Stitchtopia holidays so we have a packed itinerary, which not only includes workshops and city tours, but also entry to the Swiss Yarn Festival and a guided tour of the Lindt chocolate factory. I am really looking forward to meeting the group on Tuesday and I am sure we will all have a fabulous time. If you fancy joining a similar trip in the future, you can find details of all the craft holidays on the Stitchtopia website here.

Well, that's pretty much it form me for another couple of weeks. Don't forget that the clocks go forward by an hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning here in the UK and so we will get an hour less in bed. Longer days are the reward though, so it's totally worth losing a little sleep!
 
Until next time, stay safe and enjoy your knitting and crochet!