Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

Here at JANIE CROW, we have been busy getting ready for this year's Granny Square Day, which will take place in a fortnight's time on August 15th. Emma and Gemma have been very industrious making videos and social media content and I have designed a free motif, called Estella, which will be released on the day. If you want to find out more about Granny Square Day, make sure to have a look at Simply Crochet Magazine's Instagram account by following this link. 
 
We have a few other things to tell you about this week and I am very grateful to Gemma for helping me collate this Quick Catch Up email. I hope that between us, we have something that will interest you! 

Andy and I got back from our holiday in Spain last Thursday morning. We had the most amazing time travelling down through the country on the train, stopping off in some amazing cities on our way. We travelled via Paris and Barcelona to get down to the south, with our ultimate aim to visit Spain's Golden Triangle - the three Andalusian cities of Seville, Granada and Cordoba. 
 
We had the most amazing time away and I am feeling full of inspiration having visited so many incredible places, including the Alhambra in Granada, which was on my bucket list. 
 
We also visited a few smaller towns while we were away to find some of the crochet sun awnings. The mandalas shown in the image below were in Algarrobo and we found the filet crochet in the second pic in Alhurin de la Torre. Our friend Matt, lives in the picturesque town of Casares up in the hills near Malaga and he showed us all the lovely crochet that had popped up there. I adore the purple and lilac awning in the third pic and would love to do something like this at home, although I am not sure it will have the same kind of impact here in North London! 
 
You can see more images of the crochet I found on holiday on the Janie Crow Instagram account by following this link.

Our kit stock is fairly healthy at the moment and although a couple of colourways of Persian Tiles have gone out of stock, there are still plenty of kits available, all of which can be found on the website. You can have a browse of all our stock by following this link.

Over on the Stylecraft Yarns Make Along Group this week the Love is Enough make along began and already there are lots of fabulous images of motifs appearing in the group's posts. 
 
If you would like to join in but aren't sure how click here for all the info on how to find the patterns and the video tutorials. We do currently have kits in stock for the Fruit Garden Love is Enough colourway over on our website here. 

Over on the blog Gemma popped in briefly to share her progress on the Temperature Blanket project and to provide the August temperature recording chart. You can also find it by clicking right here. There have been some lovely rich colours appearing in the blanket over the last month or so. ​

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! ​

My good friend Juliet Bernard is leading a fabulous Stitchtopia city break to New York in October 2026. The break includes, among other things, two days at the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival and a Hudson River Cruise so it promises to be a wonderful experience. You can find out more on the Stitchtopia website here or by clicking on the image below. You can find out more about Juliet over on Instagram here. ​

If you enjoy listening to podcasts you might enjoy some of the most recent episodes of the Craft Talkin' podcast. On the 18th July Jamie and Merion chatted with the knitwear designer Jeanette Sloan and on the 20th July it was Emma Varnam's turn in the hotseat. Click on the images below to be taken straight to the respective episodes. 

Gemma's chosen book this month was ‘Crochet Journey’ by Mark Roseboom, also known as ‘The Guy with the Hook’. It's not a bang up-to-date publication but one that Gemma has wanted to look at for a while. There are 12 projects in the book, all inspired one way or another by Mark's travels around the world and the photography is a real treat. ​

​You can read Gemma's thoughts over on the Book of the Month blog 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. 
 
In the image below you can see the Santa Maria Maggiore Rug project from the book, one of Gemma's shortlisted patterns to have a go at making. 

We found some really good food while we were away, so this week I am suggesting a few ideas for meals rather than a specific recipe. 
 
In Barcelona we had the most amazing Poke Bowl experience. Mine included soft boiled eggs and toasted pumpkin seeds and was truly delicious. Andy's scrambled eggs were good too, but I think he was a little disappointed that he hadn't ordered the poke bowl as well! 
 
Poke bowls are like a deconstructed sushi, that traditionally include rice and fish, but veggie options are always good and we often make them for dinner this time of year, chopping up vegetables and salad from the fridge and adding lentils, tofu and feta. They are always so yummy and making a poke bowl is such a quick and easy meal!
 
One of the salad options we saw on almost every menu while we were away was warm goat's cheese with dark honey and nuts. We had a really good one, which also contained preserved morello cherries and crispy onions, while we were in Seville. Definitely an idea we are planning on copying at some point as it was so good. 

Andy and I celebrated our thirtieth wedding anniversary this week. We are looking forward to a party with friends and family tomorrow, so I have been busy cake making and sorting out a few decorations over the last few days. The day we got married was particularly warm, but I don't think we are in line for such a good day tomorrow - whatever the weather, I am sure we will have a lovely time! ​

I have been working on some beaded decoration designs and had hoped to get more done while I was away, but with all the travelling it wasn't easy to work on anything complicated, so I made a beaded doily for our anniversary cake instead. 
 
I have made beaded doilies for my daughter's and niece's wedding cakes over the last couple of years and used an image of a traditional one I found on Ravelry as the basis for the design. There are hundreds of doily patterns on there, and most of them are easy to adapt by using different yarn. I have added pearl beads to the fan edging on this one.

With the holiday and party prep in the mix I have been avoiding the gym a little, but I am looking forward to getting back to training next week. We did a lot of walking while we were away, but I can already feel that my strength is waning a little after almost a month away from exercise. 
 
It is lovely to be away and have events in the diary, but I really like routine too, so I am looking forward to getting back to ‘normal service’ next week and settling down to some new design work too. 

Thanks so much to those of you who sent messages in response to my call out for project ideas a couple of weeks ago. I am working through my inbox and will reply next week. We had a couple of suggestions for table runners and mats, bags and even a waistcoat, so lots to think about! 
 
We will be back in your inbox in a couple of weeks time when we will be revealing my new Granny Square design and showcasing lots of others. It is always such a globally positive day for crochet, so I am really looking forward to it.