Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

​Yesterday was the official publication date for my new book 'The Complete Crochet Handbook' before it was moved to the 18th of February due to overwhelming demand. It feels a bit strange to be celebrating the release of a book which is now pretty much sold out, but I am certainly not complaining!

If you want to get your hands on a copy of the book, you will now have to wait until early to mid May. We have the book for sale on a pre-order basis on the website and you can choose between a signed or un-signed copy. We will be doing more promotion surrounding the second release date, so do look out for that soon! If you are in the US and want to find a copy in US terms the book has an alternative title of 'The Perfect Crochet Finish'.

The Magic Circles blanket is one of our best selling patterns and it has been wonderful seeing many colourways of it appearing out in the wild over the last few years. We have been working on our own new colourway and so have the team at Stylecraft, so the colour substitution documents for not just one, but two new colourways of Magic Circles are now available to download from the website. 

A few weeks back we revealed the Supernova colourway, created by the team at Stylecraft Yarns as an exercise in playing with colour, and we mentioned another colourway that was more in keeping with the Magic Circles scarf palette. That one didn't yet have a name, but now it does and I'm happy to introduce Skimming Stones!

Skimming Stones

Magic Circles Wrap

This new version of the blanket echoes the colours I used in the scarf and the palette reminds me of early morning walks on the beach, pretty, wet pebbles underfoot, pinky hues of clouds in the sky and fleeting reflections across the water.

You can click on the images to be taken to the free yarn substitution download documents and you can find yarn packs for all three colourways of the blanket for sale on the website. ​

Supernova

Yarn Etc is a fabulous independent (and award winning) yarn store in Harrogate in the North of England and it's run by Fiona, who made a big career move from horticulture to yarn back in 2016. Fiona recently decided to launch her own yarn brand for the store and The Harrogate Yarn Company Mercer DK was born! ​

Fiona says 'The idea for having my own yarn spun just for Yarn Etc came from wanting to be able to supply a lovely, natural, British yarn that was a bit special to our many local customers and the many visitors from around the country and the rest of the world. I wanted a yarn that was the essence of Harrogate. Beautiful colours, lovely texture and spin and just lovely to work with. It’s a proper yarn that is being very well received by everyone who uses it for their projects and we are very proud of it. I loved working directly with the mill to produce the yarn and the dyers to get exactly the colours I wanted. I really enjoyed working closely with a great graphic designer, Rosie of Rapport Creative Design, who is based locally, to bring my yarn brand to life. The ball ands on the yarn make me so happy, as they feature some of the wonderful architecture we have here in Harrogate.'

You can find out more about the yarn over on the Yarn Etc website here. The shades have the most wonderful names, such as Agatha's Claret and Cold Bath! It's a versatile yarn suitable for all kinds of projects and customers of the shop have used it for garments, hats, cowls, scarves, blankets and more. ​

We have been working hard to get the Spirit of Flora patterns ready for when they will be re-relased in a couple of months time. The Getting Ready information will be available on the Janie Crow website from the 20th March and the first set of four patterns will be released on April 24th, followed by two further pattern releases across the summer.

As we are still in the pattern layout and checking process we have not yet made definitive decisions about pricing, but all going well, the patterns will be available in paper brochure and download format. We have included charts and beautiful layout diagrams and have also created patterns in US terms. No further advice is available at this time, so please be patient and look out for more information soon!

Over on the dedicated Spirit of Flora Facebook Group this month Julia Hill laid down a challenge for makers to photograph their completed Spirit of Flora blankets in public places and post those photographs on social media using the hashtag #spiritoffloraphotochallenge. Just take a look at these! ​

Thank you to Julia Hill, Herbie Kio, Hilary Lyall and Handmade in Iver for sharing their stunning photos. We look forward to seeing lots more Spirit of Flora blankets out in the wild soon!

Over on Instagram our lovely Emma has been waxing lyrical about Moon Phases (see what we did there!) and even created a Janie Crow Moon Phase chart. We have been pondering the question if and how productivity and creativity are influenced at all by the phases of the moon 🌙⁠

Here at Janie Crow HQ we were happily surprised to find out that we should be refining and polishing projects at the time of the waxing gibbous moon and it made us smile because we’ve been checking and updating the Spirit of Flora patterns.

26th February 2024

Where did the last four weeks go? February seems to have been a very busy month, eventhough it always feels like one of those months that doesn't have a lot going on.

When I signed off last month I had started the first Bloomsbury motif, which is one of the long strips that forms part of the outer edge of the Bohemian Blooms blanket. The first of the Bloomsbury strips is now complete, but for a few yarn ends left to sew in. Only three to go!  I didn't use Jane's suggested method of pre-cutting lengths of yarn for this but I'm going to try that for the second strip. I loved how the long strip of stripes was suddenly transformed into so much more once the edge rows were added and the line of surface crochet was the icing on the cake. Am I the only one who always takes ages to work out how to attach the yarn at the beginning of a piece of surface crochet? A bit like crab stitch, it always seems to take a few unsuccessful attempts before getting into the swing of it!

The next motif in the book is the Omega motif and there are eight of these to make. These form the outer corners of the blanket (before the border is added) and the corners of the inner square, as part of the 'frame' around the nine central motifs. I decided to use the production line method to make these. It can feel a bit like hard work using this method, but the satisfaction at the end, when you have all the motifs made, is well worth it! ​

I still have a couple of Omega motifs to finish off, but I'm looking forward to moving on to the 'Gordon' motifs this month. The inspiration for the Bohemian Blooms blanket comes from the work of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, who were part of the Bloomsbury Group during the first half of the 20th Century. 'Gordon' is named after Gordon Square in London, where Vanessa and her siblings lived after the death of their parents. The Gordon motif is worked in rows and the four panels form part of the outer section of the blanket. I'm quite excited to be moving on to this one as it is the first that includes beading. I have crocheted with beads before, but it was some years ago so wish me luck! I'll let you know how I get on in the March Quick Catch Up. 

Gemma x

Today's recipe recommendation of Margarita Cheesecake Mousse comes from Sarah and, as she made these for us last weekend, we can confirm that it is a really delicious desert. Sarah served it with a cheeky shot of tequila on the side, but this is not an essential addition if you are not a fan.

The recipe can be found on the Delish website here, if you fancy giving it a try.

The Longest Yarn are a non-profit association of crafters from all age groups and walks of life, based in France. They are knitting and crocheting an exhibition called The Longest Day in time for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings on June 6th 2024. 

Created with guidance from historians, in order to be historically accurate, each of the 80 handmade scenes has been selected by the creator to depict the story of this day in history, each scene unique and made with care. You can see some images of the scenes below and find out more on the group's website here. ​

If you have any spare time on your hands and a yarn stash that could do with being a little bit smaller, the wonderful charity Woolly Hugs have a number of ongoing projects that welcome contributions of yarn throughout the year. You can find more information about all of their projects by clicking on the link here.

Woolly Hugs regularly run craft sales through their Facebook page and the Spring/Easter Craft Sale and Auction is due to begin on Tuesday 5th March to raise money for their work. The sales always have a wonderful array of items made by crafters up and down the country and it's a great way to shop for handmade gifts, so do take a look by following this link. ​

Like Gemma, I am a tad flabbergasted at the speed at which time is flying by. It is exciting to be heading into spring proper, with lighter evenings and slightly warmer weather, but seriously - where did February go?

I have been busy walking most mornings and am planning a slightly longer jaunt over the weekend again. It is still incredibly wet and muddy over the woods and park where I walk, and I regularly get soaked through, but the positive effects of being out in the countryside is definitely worth a soggy strip off when I get home!

We will be celebrating the book publication with a meal out and a glass or two of wine this evening - nothing too raucous though as I have been invited to attend the Debbie Bliss knitting workshop at The William Morris Gallery tomorrow. It is incredibly kind of Debbie to have offered me the chance to attend and I am really looking forward to it. If you fancy coming along you can find more information over on Debbie's Instagram page and tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite here. ​

Next weekend I will be tutoring four workshops as part of the Stitchtopia Festival with Arena Travel, so next week will be dedicated to some prep work. I am working on a physical mood board for my Peru trip in July, which I will take along to display and I will be teaching beaded crochet flowers (my favourite) and some great finishing techniques, so it is set to be a great weekend. There are many other workshops on offer, with some great tutors. You can find more information by following this link.

If you are one of those annoyingly organised people, you might already be thinking about projects for Easter. It falls quite early this year at the end of March, but there is still time to make some lovely crochet items to decorate your home or giveaway as gifts. I found some free patterns on the Craftworld website here. I have checked that they are definitely free and know that they are from a trusted website. Quite a few of the projects would make perfect weekend makes and I especially like the crochet wreath that I have shown a snippet of in the pic above. To access the patterns you need to be a member of the Craftworld club, it's free to join up and being a member has quite a few perks, so if you fancy making something, why not take a look.

Whatever you have planned for the next few days I hope you have a great time and, as usual, if you want to get in touch, simply hit reply.....

Janie x