Quick Catch Up with Janie Crow

It's a tad chilly here in North London today but the sun is shining and the local countryside is looking so pretty with all the frost, so you find me upbeat as we head into another weekend. The weeks are passing at such a rate and I am flabbergasted to realise that Christmas is now less than a month away. Only a few preparations have happened here so far, but I have popped a wreath on the front door and sorted some food orders at least! 

Despite the rather slow start to getting Christmas ready at home, we have had a very productive couple of weeks here at Janie Crow, with a few new pattern releases and a festive workshop in the mix! ​ 

A few weeks ago we released the pattern for the crochet project I designed for the Peru Trip I was lucky enough to be a part of back in July. The project is called Catalina and you can find more information by following this link.

Yesterday saw the release of a brand new design called Halley, named after the famous comet. Emma suggested the name after seeing just how many sparkly beads I have managed to squeeze into this crochet bag design! When I am on a night out, I find large bags cumbersome, and I always worry about putting it down and forgetting about it. I tend to travel light and often just pop my bank cards, a couple of keys, my phone and maybe a lipstick into a bag before heading out. A small pouch is the perfect size for me, and I especially like cross body bags with long straps which mean I don’t have to worry about taking it off and losing it! I have a few bags that fit my needs, but I wanted to create a special little pouch that would be just the thing for a sparkly evening out or party – the perfect little accompaniment to that extra special outfit and I am so happy with how this project turned out.
I chose three yarn shades for my bag and two bead colours, but you could simplify things by using one yarn and fewer bead colours, or you could really glitz things up by making each beaded hexagon a combination of yarn and bead colours. I am excited to see what you come up with. You can find a reel that shows the bags in close up over on our Instagram feed and you can find more information here.

Next week I will be releasing another new pattern called Beaded Pine Winter Mitts. I made the mitts for a festive workshop last year and we have now updated the pattern to include three sizes instead of just one. We have made some kits for this design as they would make a perfect project to work on in the lead up to Christmas and you could always give them away as a gift if you get them completed in time!

You can find the kits for sale on a pre-order basis by following this link, or you can purchase the pattern separately if you want to source your own yarns and beads. Patterns and kits will be dispatched towards the end of next week.

We have lots of patterns for festive projects, many of which are fabulous stash busters and won't take too much time to make. You can find them by following this link or by clicking on the images below.

A few weeks ago we released the Glitzy Stocking project which originally featured in Inside Crochet magazine. ​

Beaded Decorations

Festive Decorations

Festive Mini Stockings

Twinkle Bunting

Persian Tiles Peppercorn

Andy has once again been busy building some of our kits and we now have the Persian Tiles - Peppercorn, kit in stock, featuring yarns from the West Yorkshire Spinners range.

Magic Circles Scarf ​

We also have kits for the Magic Circles Scarf, which features the gorgeous Milburn DK by Eden Cottage Yarns and we hope to have kits for the Summer Palace Wrap, which includes yarns from the Baa Ram Ewe range in stock next week.

​Summer Palace Wrap

We had a lovely time at our workshop in Bournemouth last weekend, despite the best efforts of Storm Bert, and our group really embraced the projects that Debbie and I had prepared for them. Here are a few images of work in progress on the Halley Beaded Pouch pattern. Quite a few of the group changed their bead colours and swapped about the yarn shades. Aren't the results just fabulous! ​

Gemma and Emma have both been very busy over the last couple of weeks and have been working on a brand new project that they plan to release on New Year's Day, so make sure you set a reminder about that if you like the idea of a crochet along project for next year. Emma has also been really industrious making more technique videos for our YouTube channel and I am very grateful to Gemma for putting a lot of interesting information into the rest of this email. I hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow!

Over on Instagram this month Jane was getting very excited about the ever expanding range of Emma Ball/Janie Crow products. You can watch the reel here. The Spirit of Flora tape measure is one of our favourites. You can find all of the products over on the website, including some lovely gift bundles, which would make great presents.  ​

Gemma realised that it had been ages since we had a show and tell over on Facebook and lots of you took the time to comment with photos of your amazing work. Here are just a few of our very favourites. We particularly like seeing some of the projects that don't appear so often, such as the Blue House Blanket and the Indian Roses Blanket. Thank you to all of those who shared your work with us. ​

Hannie Bouwericks' Spirit of Flora

​Sarah Reaser's Blue House Blanket in progress

Vicki Wheeler's Indian Roses - great colour choices!

The Wool-in Garden City festival took place in Welwyn Garden City from 18th November, culminating in a yarn show on the 24th November at Oaklands College. There was a week of woolly events, including a Pop-Up Shop in the Howard Centre, and workshops covering a wide range of techniques, from rag-rug making and arm knitting, to drop spindle spinning and amigurumi!

Kellie Bright, who plays Linda in Eastenders, was at the show making granny squares in aid of the Solving Kids Cancer Charity with £235 being raised for the charity too through the sale of raffle tickets. ​

Gemma popped along to the yarn show on Sunday, braving the awful weather of torrential rain and strong winds and look what she spotted - Rachel has used the Indigo Dreams pattern to make the most amazing cardigan, absolutely perfect for this time of year. Thanks for stopping for a chat and to pose Rachel, you looked great, with or without the lipstick! ​

Well, not setting a target is definitely the way to go for me - I made good progress this month! Perhaps it has been something to do with the miserable weather or the time of year but I've really wanted to get on with my blanket over the last few weeks. I have managed to complete all four of the Trinity motifs that border the central nine floral motifs and join in the little Omega squares to complete the corners. 

Threading the 91 Pewter beads onto the yarn for each of the Trinity motifs felt endless, but once it occurred to me that each of the 13 fans took 7 beads, I then threaded them on in groups of 7 and it seemed much less overwhelming! I was getting a bit nervous by the time I started the fourth motif as there didn't seem to be all that many beads left in the bag but all was well and there are even a few left to go into my stash. I might try making some of Jane's lovely Festive Crochet Decorations and use the remaining beads for those. ​

This month's biggest challenge was joining the Omega squares into the corner spaces formed when the Trinity motifs were complete. I found it really tricky to get the alignment correct while working the hook through the dc stitches of Omega and the slip stitches worked along the edge of Trinity, from the reverse side! In fact, confession time, after three attempts and some very painful fingers later, I actually made the decision to sew them into place. That meant that I could work from the front side of the blanket, which helped me to see that I was matching stitch to stitch correctly and the overall appearance of the join is the same as if I had used a dc join from the reverse side.  ​

I'm tempted to adopt the same approach this coming month with no target setting but I'm sure I'll be able to complete at least a couple of the motifs that are still on the list to make. I still need 4 Virginia motifs, 3 Fitzroy and and 2 Bloomsbury (the long striped ones that will form the outer square along with the remaining 4 Omega motifs). Of course, this time of year is very busy and with all good intentions I am hoping to still make a couple of hand-crafted gifts, so let's see how it goes.

Wishing you all a warm and happy festive month and I'll see you back here in a few weeks' time.   ​

Gemma x

This week's recommended recipe from Gemma is for Cinnamon Rolls, her ultimate comforting treat at this time of year. The thing with Cinnamon Rolls is that they take quite a bit of time to make and that's possibly part of the reason they are so good when they are finally ready and you get to sample your hard work! Gemma uses her breadmaker for the dough part so she can just leave it to get on by itself, but you can use a stand mixer as suggested in the recipe or knead by hand. They're great with or without the cream cheese icing! ​

Andy made the Roasted Grape and Boursin Tart, which features in the new Waitrose food magazine this week. You can find the recipe by following this link. It was really delicious, and Andy says it was easy to make, but we think it needs to be a bit of a treat and not a regular on our menu as it includes quite a lot of cheese! To keep the calories down a little Andy used the reduced fat, ready made puff pastry that Sainsbury's have recently added to their range!

We have just learned that a new Guinness World Record category has been created entitled 'the largest display of textile post box toppers in one place', and the group St Albans Postboxes are hoping that their collection of 102 festive themed toppers will set the record!

Since 2018 the group, who meet not far from us here near the Hertfordshire border,  has raised a whopping £130,000.00 for charity and this year they will be supporting Up on Downs and Gaddesden Place Riding for the Disabled.

You can read more about the world record attempt by clicking on any of the images. We are particularly loving the gingerbread cottage below! ​

I love decorating our front door with seasonal wreaths, so this week I swapped my autumn one for a new festive one. It seems that people are decorating for Christmas earlier than they used to and quite a few of our neighbours already have their festive lights up, so I am hoping that we will be able to get everything down from the loft tomorrow and find time to get a few lights up too. 

We are going to visit Grayson Perry's 'The Vanity of Small Differences' tapestries at Pitshanger Manor and Gallery on Sunday morning. The exhibition is heading into its final week, so if you're in West London and fancy visiting the show before it closes, take a look at the website for more information.

I have been working on a few new projects over the last couple of weeks. I really like to have a few things on the go, so I have been doing some step-by-step photography for a pattern which will be re-released with two new versions in the new year and I have also been working on a couple of new blanket designs. I have finally started work on a garment design using my Mystical Lanterns motif too, so it's been great to dip into so many things. Working on a few projects at the same time helps me keep my focus and I tend to mix things up so that I can work on simple things when my brain is finding harder designs taxing!

I am still enjoying my knitting project, which I am working on in front of the TV in the evenings, so I am hopeful that my weekend plans will allow a bit of time for me to settle down on my cosy sofa! I hope that whatever you have planned you will have a lovely weekend too! ​