Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

As we head into the autumn we have been busy getting ready for lots of shows and events as it is prime crafting season! The Knit & Stitch Show at Ally Pally in on the horizon in just a couple of weeks time and yesterday we travelled up to Yorkshire for this weekend's Yarndale festival, which is one of our favourite shows of the year. If you are coming to the show be sure to come and visit us on stand J21-24 to say hello!
 
Although I am usually the last to admit it, it is definitely sweater weather here now, so I have been rummaging around in the boxes from the loft to find warm clothes and boots! I have also done a marathon yarn winding session to get my projects ready for sofa knitting through the longer evenings - one of the good things to come as a result of the changing seasons I suppose! 
 
We have a few things to tell you about this week, including information about a new UK based workshop I will be tutoring with Stitchtopia next year, so I hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up with our news.

I'm very excited to tell you about a new Stitchtopia holiday that I will be leading in July 2026. It is a six day crochet retreat entitled ‘In the Footsteps of William Morris’ and, as well as including two full-day crochet workshops, we will also visit some of the places that shaped William's artistic vision. The Emery Walker house, where we photographed the Spirit of Flora project (shown above) and the National Trust Red House, where we shot the images for Climbing Rose Wrap (shown lower down), will be among those we will go to. 
 
I'm really looking forward to this trip and am particularly excited that West Yorkshire Spinners have agreed to collaborate on this one, which means we will be using their new range of Morris inspired yarn for the project.
 
There are just 4 places left on this workshop now, so click on the image below, or click here to find all the details on the Stitchtopia website. 

If you have been waiting to get your hands on the Sandalwood colourway of Persian Tiles, I'm pleased to report that the kits are now back in stock and you can find them here.  ​

​We have drawn one huge conclusion from our social media postings recently and that is that everyone loves a blanket drop! 
 
On both Instagram and Facebook our followers loved the reel of me dropping a wide selection of my blankets, with lots asking for the names of those they weren't familiar with and telling us their favourites. 
 
If you missed it you can find it here on Facebook and here on Instagram. 

If you don't already follow our social media channels, you can find links at the bottom of this email. Do come and join us! ​

The wonderful crafting charity Woolly Hugs is looking for craft contributions for their Christmas Craft Sale 2025. This year, as well as raising funds for Woolly Hugs' own projects, the sale will be supporting The Christmas Dinner Project, a charity founded by the poet Lemn Sissay OBE, which brings communities together to provide a Christmas Day for care leavers, aged between 18 and 25. For many young people leaving care they may be facing their first Christmas Day living independently, and alone and the charity aims to give them a day they will never forget. 
 
You can find out lots more information here including a list of suggested items to make. The last posting deadline for donations to the sale is the 31st October. 
 
You can find out more about all the different projects that Woolly Hugs are currently running by clicking on their logo below. 

Yarnstravaganza, the celebration of yarn shops, is taking place across the UK from the 27th September to the 4th October. It's a great way of showing support for your local yarn shop and it's well worth getting in touch with them to see if they have any special events planned. you can check on the UK Hand Knitting website here to see if they are taking part. ​

Gemma's chosen book this month was ‘Gnomes to Crochet’ by Val Pierce. This book contains 20 colourful gnome characters, with almost every occasion covered. There is a bridge & groom, a baby gnome and a birthday gnome among others. If you are a fan of amigurumi (and gnomes) this is the book for you! ​

You can read Gemma's thoughts about the book within her Book of the Month blog post here and if you the look of this book too, head on over to the Search Press website. If you're in the UK you can get a 20% discount and free delivery by entering the code DD88 at checkout. ​

This week Gemma recommends a recipe from Dale Pinnock, aka The Medicinal Chef. It popped up on her Facebook feed and it was a welcome suggestion among all the unwanted stuff that appears on a daily basis! The recipe is a White Bean and Aubergine Bake, which you can view by following the link to Facebook. You can see it here on Instagram too. 
 
Gemma reports that it was absolutely delicious! All the family enjoyed it and asked for seconds, so it comes highly recommended. As with all dishes involving aubergine, the prep time takes a while in order to make sure the aubergine slices are well cooked before assembling the dish, but other than that it is straightforward and most of the ingredients are store cupboard staples.

I have recently been hearing a lot about the importance of diet in relation to inflammation and it is really interesting to understand how much your gut health can affect your physical wellbeing. Dale Pinnock's book ‘The Anti Inflammatory Cookbook’ contains a wealth of information for those wanting to look at their diet as a way of feeling healthier. His website, which you can find here, is also full of lots of useful information and loads of yummy looking recipes.

​As usual I really don't know where the time has gone since I was last writing an email update. The weeks fly by so fast and it is amazing to think that some of our autumn celebrations, are not actually that far away. We now have seven fairly good sized pumpkins growing in the garden (as a result of surprise seeds from our compost bin), so we will have a nice display (and some tasty soup) come Halloween! 
 
We will be travelling back from Yarndale on Monday and then next week is all about preparing for the next workshop trip, which is to Morocco in just over three weeks time. I have designed a knit and a crochet project for the trip, but liked the crochet one so much that I went a bit overboard and made an extra project with the motifs. this means that I am now playing catch up a little to get all the projects finished in time, but that really isn't a bad situation to be in given that in means I have to allow even more time to do that extra crochet and knitting! Living the dream…..
 
I hope that wherever you are, and whatever you have planned for the next couple of days, that you are safe and well.