Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

Hello lovely crafters! I hope this email finds you all well.

I should have sent you my August Newsletter yesterday, but the last couple of weeks have been so incredibly busy that I was unable to find the time to do it! Instead I am writing you this email today as there are a couple of things I want to tell you about, so I hope you have a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow....

I have been working flat out to finish the motif designs for my new CAL project, which will launch in Inside Crochet magazine in January. This CAL will be a little different to those I have presented previously with the emphasis on crocheters making a few more decisions about colour palettes and layouts than usual. I am really excited about the project and can't wait to reveal it to you later in the year. I have already posted a few sneaky pics on my Instagram feed and have posted them below too!

Working on the designs for the last 6 weeks or so has left little room for anything else, but I have also been working with a fabulous group of test crocheters to finalise the patterns for my Tidings Wrap, which we will be launching as an Advent CAL in December. We will be launching this in late October, so I will bring you more information about that soon too. We took some lovely images of the project at our recent photography shoot, so I hope the pic below will whet your appetite for this design, which was previously released as an Advent CAL by Jimmy Beans US.

I know I have told you this so many times - but we are almost ready to launch the Indigo Dreams project as a pattern with accompanying kits in two colour ways. These are the original blue (Indigo) version and a new red and cream one. Kits are being packed now and they will be available in mid September along with the pattern, which you will be able to choose to download or have a paper copy of.

Thank you for the incredible reaction to the Sandalwood version of my Persian Tiles blanket. Kits sold within about 2 hours of release a couple of weeks ago, so we have ordered more yarn. Unfortunately the yarn company are now out of stock of one of the shades used in the design, so this is another case where the kits will not be back in stock until September I'm afraid.

I feel like I have been teasing you with the promise of new stuff for ages and I am so sorry that the release of Sandalwood did not go quite to plan - clearly we should have ordered more yarn, but it is so hard to judge how a project will be received, especially as this one has a higher price point than usual.

Last weekend I designed a granny square and posted the pattern on my blog for Granny Square Day. My block is called 'A Flower for Alice' and you can find the free pattern by following this link. It has been really lovely seeing some of these popping up on social media over the last week.

A couple of days ago Emily of The Loopy Stitch started a conversation on Instagram about how much the social media platform has changed recently and how she longs for the old style Instagram to return. You can see Emily's post here. I totally agree with Emily and so we decided to continue the conversation on the Janie Crow feed. It seems many of you agree that the reels, adverts and general noisiness of Instagram, as well as how the algorithm thing seems to mess with what you actually get to see, is putting you off the platform. Quite a few people have suggested using hashtags in an attempt to make a point about what we do and don't want to see. I think it's a really interesting topic, so go and take a look if you have something to say about this or want to see what other people say.

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Andy and I will be taking a break from Janie Crow for the next few weeks. We are really excited about a bit of time out after the madness that has been 2022 so far. I will be packing some crochet to take away with me and am looking forward to some hooking at a slightly slower pace than I have been used to lately.

The website will be open for orders of most kits and paper patterns and of course download patterns will continue to be available via Etsy and Ravelry while we are away. As we may have restricted internet access at times over the next few weeks it might be that orders are dispatched a little less regularly than usual. We have disabled first class postage as a result.

We will be back at our desks mid September and will be at Yarndale on the 24th and 25th. We are really looking forward to the show already and hope that many of you will be able to join us there.

I will be back here in your inbox in about a month's time and hope that you all keep well in the mean time. Emma, Gemma and Sarah will be holding the fort brilliantly here at Janie Crow while we are away and Charlie will be stepping in to sort out any orders. We will continue to monitor emails, so if you have any queries or want to get in touch about anything, please feel free to so do.

Big yarny hugs

I am really honoured to have been nominated in the Iconic Crochet Designer category of this year's Knit & Crochet awards. It goes without saying that I would love it if you would vote for me. You can find the Let's Knit website here and you can click on the different categories to find out more and to vote.