Shine On Harvest Moon

13/9/2019

Janie's Friday Feature - September

Welcome to September's bumper newsletter - the Janie Crow equivalent of a Sunday supplement magazine....

It has been a bit of a strange week here at Janie Crow, with a few things throwing us a little off kilter, but on the whole it is good to be back in the studio after our recent holiday, especially as we have a lot to do in the lead up to our exciting autumn schedule...

Weather wise it has been a bit of an odd mixture here in the UK this week. On Monday it was cold to the point where I was desperate to turn the heating on and yet today it is warm again and, as I look out of the studio window, people are walking around in T shirts and shorts once again - let's hope that an Indian Summer is on the cards - I am definitely not ready to pack my summer clothes away just yet!

So here we are in September, the kids are back at school and the shops are full of uniforms, note books and stationary with the odd bit of Halloween related stuff thrown in for good measure. Sue, our trusty office supervisor, tells me that she has even seen Christmas cards in the supermarket, so there is no denying that we are heading into autumn, even if the weather is attempting to make us think otherwise.

As a lover of the sunshine and warm weather I always feel a bit sad to think of us heading away from the summer months, but from a business point of view the autumn and winter are the most exciting and the busiest for us and so I am looking forward rather than lamenting the past....

This newsletter is my monthly round up rather than a quick update and I have included some bits and bobs that I hope you will find interesting. If you have five minutes to spare, then grab a cuppa and find a cosy seat and catch up with all things Janie Crow....

'There comes a time when autumn asks ''What have you been doing all summer?''
- Anon -

What's New?

Do you already follow JANIE CROW on Facebook? If not, you can find the link to the page here. Gemma, the fabulous new addition to the team here at JC, has been busy curating some great posts, including a chance to share your project images with us on a Monday. Because of the way many social media platforms work these days, you might not always see our posts, even if you have previously clicked to follow us. If you have 'liked' the page in the past, but are not seeing our new posts, of which there are now 3 a week, please follow the link above to the page and click to like a few of the historical posts, hopefully that will mean we start to show up on your feed again....

If you are in London on the 25th September then it would be great to see you at Knit Night in London a fun event for knitters and crocheters organised by the fabulous team at Row House Yarns USA.

"We're coming back to London! Come join us for a Knit Night at the Thomas Cubitt gastropub near Victoria Station on September 25th from 6:30PM to 8:30PM.
All fiber artists are welcome, and we love beginner knitters! We'll have a knitting teacher available, and if you are a newbie, and need yarn and needles, please email us at info@rowhouseyarn.com to let us know. We'll have a few balls of yarn and needles available."
Get a ticket to reserve your spot now, as space is limited. Tickets are £20 and include drinks (beer and wine) and shared appetisers.

It has been a real treat watching your progress with the Climbing Rose CAL over the last few weeks. Many of you have been speeding through the Day Lily motifs and I have loved seeing your images of your crochet popping up on line.

It is hard to believe that the next set of patterns will be released next week! The first set of patterns asked you to make a lot of motifs, I think it was 16 main motifs and 16 half motifs, so there was a lot to do. If you are not quite finished working on these don't panic, the next set of patterns will ask you to make just 11 main motifs, so there is plenty of time to catch up!

Here are just a few of the images that have popped up on my social media feeds this week:

The CAL will be published in Inside Crochet Magazine through until November. You can find more information by following this link.

Don't forget that there is a new dedicated Facebook Group for the Climbing Rose CAL. The group has been created by my fabulous friend and talented crocheter Sue Macdonald and you can find it by following this link. All images are courtesy of Inside Crochet Magazine and Leanne Dixon.

If you are still looking for a yarn kit to accompany the project you will find them on Just Knots, Wool Warehouse and Black Sheep Wools.

'Bloomsbury Gardens', my new version of the Bohemian Blooms CAL style blanket that has been made using Stylecraft Life DK, Life Changes and Batik DK will be revealed at Yarndale in a little over two weeks time and the free downloadable yarn substitution document will be on the web site thereafter. We will also be revealing another version of the blanket called 'Sussex Gardens' that has been made using Stylecraft Special DK by Blogstar Pippin Poppycock. Below and above are a couple of teaser images and I am looking forward to showing you more very soon.....

Just Knots and Janie Crow have taken a stand at this year's Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace here in North London. We will be on stand TGQ5 in the Textile Gallery. The show runs from Thursday 10th October through to Sunday 13th. You can find information about the show by following this link.
This year the show has a really big workshop and demonstration schedule and you can find more information by following this link. You can find a full schedule of the workshops here.

My great friend and fabulous crochet designer Jo Smith will be teaching a Learn To Crochet workshop on Thursday 10th October. This is currently sold out, but you can join a waiting list. Jo will also be teaching Tapestry Crochet on Friday 11th at 3pm and how to 'Crochet a Mandala' on Saturday at 10am.

On the Thursday at 3pm the very talented Luise Roberts will be showing how to make lovely knitted beaded button covers (as in the image above). Luise is a very patient and talented tutor - she is also my fabulous Graphic Designer and the brain child behind lots of the things that go on here at Janie Crow. Luise will also be showing how to knit a Fairisle Egg Cosy on Saturday at 11.45 and how to work cross stitch and beading onto a crochet fabric on the same day at 3.30pm - this looks like a really fabulous workshop judging by Luise's example image above.

Crochet tutor Diana Bensted is also doing a range of workshops at the show, including 'Crochet Mini Monsters' on Thursday 10th at 3.30pm and Broomstick Lace Crochet on Friday 11th at 10am. If you are an early riser then you can join Diana at 8.30am on Saturday 12th to learn how to make Tunisian Finger Mitts and Diana will be rounding off her classes with how to make a 'Tunisian Crochet Coaster' on Sunday at 10am.

BIPOC in Fiber

BIPOC in Fiber is the new name for what began as the POC Designers & Crafters List started in 2018 by Jeanette Sloan. Originally posted on Jeanette’s blog, the list quickly proved both popular and useful. Highlighting the many people of colour who work with fibre, the list reveals an urgent community-wide demand to see and support those talents. This very real demand doesn’t just come from other POC, or just from knitters, but from people of all ethnicity and a wide variety of crafting disciplines. This has led to a change of name and given the project a clearer sense of purpose.

BIPOC in Fiber is creating an interactive directory and resource portal highlighting the work of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour working in the fiber community across any discipline; from knit, crochet and weaving, to yarn bloggers, indie dyers, writers, tech editors and everything in between.

This week has seen the launch of a Crowdfunder page with the aim of raising money to support this fabulous project. Here at Janie Crow (and Just Knots) we are proud to support this fabulous initiative and I hope that you will visit the page, read all the info and support the project too. The link is here.
The introduction to the campaign, which aims to raise £20,000 to support the vital and exciting work is as follows.....

'Since January 2019 there's been a vital conversation on social media about racism, representation, inclusion and diversity within the online crafting community.

The urgent need for change has been revealed through this discussion - change that must be led by BIPOC makers.

BIPOC in Fiber is a website and resource portal. It's mission is to amplify and celebrate the work of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour working in the fibre industry.'

Note from Jane: For some reason my version of Mailchimp (the host we use for newsletters) does not do autocorrect on my spelling and I know that checking through my words is not my strongest talent! I also know that quite a few of you love to tell me when I have spelt things wrong and so I thought I should point out that I have used the words fiber and fibre in this piece on purpose and not because I have left my spelling unchecked!

Fibre is the UK spelling and Fiber is the US spelling.
Jeanette and her team have chosen to use the US version within their name and logo.

Discovery of the Month

When I first started this feature I thought it would be easy to recommend things that I have found over the last month that might cut down on the amount of plastic, general waste or pollution we are all causing, but one of the decisions I made a few months ago was to stop on line shopping binging. I have stopped following links to web stores on social media platforms and have not been aimlessly wandering around shops and so, as a result, I have not come across many 'eco' things that have appealed to me other than 'homey' things like shampoo, soaps and cleaning agents, which I am sure you have already made your own decisions about anyway. I do, however, have a few things to say about getting ready for the autumn that might sit well within this feature....

As it has got colder here over the last week or so we have been resisting popping the heating on at home and at the studio. Our daughter Summer is becoming a bit of an eco warrior and she keeps telling us to put on another jumper or to add a pair of thicker socks if our toes are chilly, rather than putting the heating on. It makes me laugh because I have spent the last 20 years saying the same things to her! I am so glad that she finally gets it.....

So, my first recommendation as we head into the colder months is to get yourself some woolly socks if you haven't done so already - we love the range by West Yorkshire Spinners and will be getting some in the store in the lead up to Christmas. Wool is far warmer than synthetic fibre, so if you are looking for socks or slippers, make sure you keep this in mind. I find pure wool socks a little scratchy so I wear a pair of cotton socks inside them when I am padding around the house.....

Another recommendation is that you actually make use of some of your lovely crochet blankets and have them at the ready in the living room for when you want to snuggle up a little cosier. It sounds like an obvious recommendation, but until recently I used to think of my blankets as being for show rather than for use, but now we have them sat ready on the settee for when its a tad chilly.

We live in a small semi detached 1930s bungalow. We added an extension to the back of the building about 8 years ago and so the new parts of the house are insulated and warm, however the original bedrooms to the front and side tend to be really cold in the winter despite the fact that we had new radiators installed.

It worried me that not only did the bedrooms feel cold, but that they were tending to feel a bit damp too, so I thought we needed to add more heating to the house. Last winter, on the advice of my cousin, we opted to invest in an electric dehumidifier instead of a heater and I have to say the results were amazing! Despite being electric and constantly switched to the 'on' setting, the dehumidifier we bought automatically switches itself on and off when it detects the humidity levels need adjusting.

Dehumidifiers are proven to boost the effect of your heating system as the air becomes drier and therefore warmer. Our energy bills last winter were reduced compared to the year before - the house felt warmer and it was bliss to get into bed unworried about whether or not the bedding felt a little damp.

And while we are talking about beds, another recommendation I have is in regards to duvets and toppers. Check out Baavet on Facebook, they make fabulous bedding from wool that will keep you cool in the summer and really cosy in the winter.

Finally - we have seen a lot of chat lately about micro fibres - a bi-product of washing our clothes that end up in our water supplies and in the sea, this having an impact on marine life and so we decided that we would test out a few of the things that you can buy that say they help cut down on fibres in the washing system.

We bought a Coraball. We even considered stocking them, but as it turns out I am glad we decided to give it a test run before we invested in a load of them as, in the 2 months that we have been using it, I have found no evidence of the 'build up of fibre fluff' that the manufacturers say we should have seen and I kind of wish I had read this review first.

If you have found any washing related items that do appear to work, or if you have a different experience of the Coraball to us, then I would be really interested to hear from you. So far our Coraball has only managed to snag a load of bra straps and get tangled up in a duvet cover, so I am not a fan! I am sure the amount of plastic it is made from could have been put to a better use too!!!

Colour Palette of the Month

I have been looking at the interior and fashion trends for the autumn over the last couple of weeks and have to say I am really in love with the colour palettes I keep coming across.

I had my 'colours' done about 15 years ago and came out as 'winter', so pinks, mole browns and icy shades are good colours for me to wear - looking at the trends I am happy to see many of these included this year.

The images of the palettes I have featured this month are from Sarah Renae Clarks and I think her capsule palette, shown above, could be a really handy tool when choosing yarn shades. I am smitten by Fruit Dove, Biking Red and Galaxy Blue!! Dark Cheddar is just making me hungry!

Maker/Instagram of the Month

We featured my Mystical Lanterns pattern on Facebook this week and asked followers to post images of their own projects. It was so nice to see so many lovely versions pop up on the feed and it led me to discover Tominashandknits on Instagram, who appears to have made the Mystical Lanterns shawl many times in lots of different fabulous colour combos, so I thought I would share a few with you thin week. All of the images below are from her feed.

You can find the patterns for the blanket, shawl and scarf by following the links.

It's nearly the weekend!

We are hoping to head up the motorway to Cleethorpes later on today to spend a bit of time with members of Andy's extended family. Andy's Grandfather was born in Grimsby and so we try to get at least a weekend away up there most years. When the kids were little it was a real treat to spend a week in a caravan taking walks on the long sandy beaches and visiting some of the attractions that the Humberside area has to offer.

I know Cleethorpes doesn't sound like everyone's ideal location for a holiday, but I have always loved the 'kiss me quick' seafront of amusement arcades, deep fried doughnuts and of course, the very best fish and chips in the whole wide world, so I am really looking forward to jumping in the car and heading off for a few days....

As I said at the beginning of this email it has been a bit of a strange week for us here at Janie Crow and I have just realised that it is Friday the 13th and I heard on the news this morning that there is going to be a rare Harvest Moon tonight too, so perhaps this explains why things have taken a bit of an odd turn!

Anyway, I hope that things are good where you are and that you are looking forward to a lovely weekend, whatever you have planned. As always if you want to get in touch please hit reply...

Yarny love and crochet kisses...