Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

I have had a really nice time playing with crochet stitches and beads over the last week and am pleased to have a prototype project for the upcoming festive weekend workshop in Bournemouth completed. Just a few tweaks and I will be ready to make my final version so, with three weeks to go before the workshop, I am feeling nicely in control. Just hoping now that I haven't tempted fate by typing that!!

Playing with crochet stitches and techniques and working out how colours go together is probably one of my favourite things to do - and when beads are also added into the mix I find it totally absorbing and can totally loose track of time. It can be frustrating when the crochet doesn't work quite like I expect it to and it doesn't always go to plan, but that is one of the reasons I tend to have quite a few design projects on the go at once. As soon as something is eluding me, or not going right, I tend to put it down and work on something else instead. At the moment I am working on a new floral blanket project, as well as a tessellating one with a very different feel to the floral one. I have also been working on the sampling for the garment collection that I hope to release next year and the aforementioned workshop project.

Andy has been busy getting some kits back in stock and I am pleased to tell you that we now have the kit for the Peppercorn version of Persian Tiles ready for you. This colourway, shown above, echoes the colours of my Sandalwood one, but it is made using a beautiful selection of West Yorkshire Spinners natural yarn shades. If you have been waiting for this to come back into stock, you can find the kits and more information by following this link.

We sold out of the Summer Palace Wrap kits when I mentioned them in my last email a couple of weeks ago, so Andy has made ten more. The kit includes all the yarn you need to make this lovely wrap using Baa Ram Ewe's Pip Colouwork 4 ply - another fabulous British yarn! You can find more info here.

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

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

Next week we will also be releasing guidance on how to make the Festival of Flowers shawl, which uses crochet motifs from the Spirit of Flora collection. I plan to put the guidance document on the website as a free download next Friday, so make a note in your diary if you fancy taking a look at it.

This time of year, as the winter evenings draw in, I tend to find myself thinking about holidays. If you are like me and fancy getting some dates in the diary for next year, why not take a look at the Stitchtopia website for information about crafty trips? I will be going to the Swiss Yarn Festival in April if you fancy joining me.

Whenever the weather turns, I enjoy bringing out these glorious mitts and I love the mix of crochet and knitting and the general patchwork appearance of them. This week, over on Instagram, Emma put together a great post about our combined love of mitts here at Janie Crow. You can find it by following this link.

We have a few more things to tell you about this week, so I hope you have a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow.

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

Lots of you shared your experiences with us both on Instagram and Facebook and here are just a few of the your words. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and let's keep talking.

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

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

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

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

Gemma x

t's that time of year when the temperature drops as soon as the sun goes down, much earlier in the day now that British Summer Time has come to an end. I don't know about you but lovely warming homemade soups at lunchtime and hearty evening meals are what appeal and Gemma has recommended this Spicy Root & Lentil Casserole recipe from the GoodFood website.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It has been really nice to have a run of weekends at home and I am pleased to have another couple of home based days this weekend. We have an 80th birthday celebration to go to this evening and an afternoon tea for my cousin's 60th birthday tomorrow. I am thinking it is definitely time for a Sunday Roast in a nice cosy pub too, so hopefully we will be able to find time to do that! there is nothing like a roast when the days are colder and shorter. 

I hope you all have a great plan for the next few days too and that you might just get a chance to enjoy that extra bit of TLC with your yarn and a hook! 

Until next time!