Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

It's been an eventful couple of weeks here at Janie Crow with our festive workshop at Bournemouth and an incredibly busy website in the mix! Time seems to be rushing by at such a rate and it's hard to believe that Christmas is now less than three weeks away. I don't feel at all festive yet, but hopefully that will change this weekend when we are hoping to put up our decorations. On our street the seasonal lights and decorations are going up earlier every year, with some appearing at the end of November, so we are definitely the late comers round here! 
 
Over the last fortnight we have seen an incredible number of new followers on our social media accounts, which we are guessing is as a result of The Game of Wool. If you are new to this newsletter - welcome! I hope you will all enjoy catching up with my news.

​We have a really healthy stock of kits and patterns at the moment, so if you are looking for a project to work on over the holidays, or want to get one as a gift you should be able to find what you want in our shop.
 
Please note that we will not be able to guarantee the dispatch of items after the 18th December because many of our suppliers will close on Friday 19th for the festive break. This means there is really only a fortnight left if you want to purchase anything from us and get it in time for Christmas.

If you fancy making some festive crochet decorations we have plenty to choose from these days. You can find them all here.

We have seen a bit of a run on kits for projects that were shown on The Game of Wool a few weeks ago, including the Climbing Rose Wrap and the Mystical Lanterns blanket. The Marrakesh version of Persian Tiles is also proving particularly popular and we have lots of stock of the Eastern Jewels colour way too. 
 
You can find all our kits and yarn packs by following this link and all our paper patterns here. If you would prefer download copies then check out our Etsy and Ravelry stores.

If you're struggling to choose a project then how about a gift card? They are available in lots of monetary values from £10 to £250. You can find them by following this link.
 
If you fancy getting some accessories, rather than a kit or pattern, don't forget about our Emma Ball items, which includes things like stitch markers, project bags and storage tins. You can find the range here.

It's hard to believe that we are rapidly approaching the end of our temperature blanket project, with the final month now here. Gemma has struggled at times to keep up, but has made a start on the November squares and, with the Christmas holidays fast approaching, she is hoping to get back up to speed and be ready to start putting a border on as we see the New Year in. In the picture below you can see the simple moss stitch border that Gemma added to our sample blanket - we are really looking forward to seeing your ideas for finishing off. 
 
We have now set up a temperature blanket page on the website so, if you didn't join in this year but fancy having a go in 2026, you can find all the information you need in one place. 
 
In the second photo below you can see an absolutely gorgeous version we found over on Instagram by crafts_r_for_us. Those pinks and peaches are beautiful aren't they! 

Over on Instagram Emma shared that her pre-Christmas crochet project this year is a Mystical Lanterns pelmet. Those of you who have been following us for some time may remember that this pelmet was originally made by Jane's friend Rosemary and incorporates tiny mirrors and bells into the design. You can read all about it in a blog post here. You can see Rosemary's pelmet in the first picture below. We can't wait to see how this progresses. Keep us posted Emma! ​

Over on Facebook we have been really happy to see some of you have already been having a go at making some of the beaded decorations that appeared in this month's Inside Crochet magazine's special supplement. Holly Coey shared these beauties with us.

The blues and golds on the decorations below by Louise Haigh are just stunning. Thank you both for sharing your photos with us. ​

It has all been about The Game of Wool out in the online yarny world over the last few weeks and, love it or hate it, you can't deny it has got people talking about knitting and crochet, which can only be a good thing! We're looking forward to what weird and wonderful projects are still to come over the remaining episodes of the series. 
 
Tom Daley and I managed to grab a bit of crochet time in between filming and had a good chat about our yarny passions - you can find a video of our catch up over on Youtube by following this link.

This month Gemma took a closer look at the recently published ‘Crochet Socks that Rock’ by Anna Nikipriowicz (David & Charles 2025 ISBN-13:9781446314517). 
 
Was this dedicated sock knitter converted to the crochet variety? You'll have to head on over to the blog to find out!

Andy and I have been vegetarian since 2020 so this year will be our fifth veggie Christmas. Andy tends to make this vegetarian wellington and I also make a celeriac and spinach bake. I only make it at Christmas and love the smell of nutmeg and gruyere when it is cooking in the oven. I can't find the recipe online - I think it was originally published in a Sainsburys magazine. This recipe is similar but without the spinach.
 
Gemma has been assigned the task of cooking a vegetarian main course for this year's family Christmas dinner too, so she has been browsing for inspiration. In the lead at the moment is this parsnip, feta and butterbean pie, over on the Good Food website, but she is considering swapping the parsnips out for sweet potato as sometimes the flavour of parsnip can be a little overpowering. She's going to have a practice run any day now, so we'll keep you posted. If you have any tried and tested recipes that you could recommend do let us know and we will pass them on. 

​Inside Crochet Magazine recently asked me about my festive traditions and they printed a summary of the interview in their most up to date magazine. You can find the full piece, with lots of questions about me and my work, as well as my Christmas wish list, on the blog here.
 
I have been doing a little bit of decorating this week and am looking forward to the weekend when I hope to get it finished. Our little bungalow is in need of quite a lot of TLC having been pretty neglected since lockdown, so I am hoping that this most recent spate of DIY will continue long enough for me to knock a few other rooms back into shape. I really love the planning side of decorating but am not keen on the reality of the endless prep and brush washing! In fact my favourite part of any project is making the Pinterest board! You can find the board I made for our little spare bedroom by following this link if you are interested!
 
We will be puppy sitting for a few days from tomorrow and I am really looking forward to having our little grandpup around over the weekend. He is such a little love and thankfully is finally calming down a bit! 
 
I will be back in your inbox next Friday, rather than in a fortnight's time, with the December newsletter so do look out for my next email.
 
Big yarny hugs….