Still getting that friday feeling

Janie's Quick Update
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Another week into lockdown and I am back to say hello and check up on you!

When we were young -like in our late teens and early 20s we used to adore Friday nights as it meant party night! Living in London, we would head out to the pub for a few drinks then make the tube journey into town to dance the night away at the Astoria club, heading home at stupid o’clock the next morning on the night bus. Friday night was the highlight of the week and every Saturday we would start planning the logistics for the following week. When I think of it now I am amazed that we had the energy, especially as we used to go to a club in town on Sunday nights too and occaisionally on a week night! Friday nights were always the best though - some of the nights that we will remember for the rest of our lives. 
 
Andy has always been a party animal and he still loves going to clubs and to see bands, so lockdown has been pretty tough on him as he has missed his friends and his live music. These days I am a bit of a hermit anyway - the idea of heaven for me is time spent in my PJs on the settee with a crochet hook, but at the moment it seems that Andy and I are on the exact same page as we are both finding that we are noticing that Friday Feeling creeping in more than ever! Perhaps it is because the Monday to Friday bit (in our own Jane & Andy bubble) is beyond hectic and because I am not sure we have ever had to work so hard and attempt to keep jolly in each others company for so long! Whatever the reason, when it gets to 5pm on a Friday (around about now) we are definitely up for a party….
 
Except we have nowhere to go!!!
 
So here I am with a slightly late email to welcome you to this Friday evening. I hope that you are all keeping safe and well and that you have 5 minutes to spare so that I can bring you up to date with all things Janie Crow!
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Fruit Garden CAL
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​Did you see my Special Statement about the new Fruit Garden CAL on Tuesday? In case you missed it you can find it by following this link to the Janie Crow blog. The response to the statement has been so incredibly positive and I am really glad that the majority of you saw the CAL repeat as a positive thing. Out of all the emails received this week, we only had one negative response, so I think that definitely counts as a win!
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We had hoped to have a good stock level of the Life DK & Batik (Recipe 1) kits by now, however there has been a bit of a hiccup at Stylecraft HQ, so we have ended up with only about a 3rd of the stockholding we should have had. If you are quick you can grab one of the last remaining Recipe 1 kits as we have about 5 left in stock on the Janie Crow site. The good news is that we are expecting to receive the yarn to make up the Naturals Bamboo + Cotton kits next week. These will go into stock as fast as we can pack them.
 
Don’t forget that the first patterns for the Fruit Garden CAL will be ready to download from the Stylecraft web site on Tuesday! I have filmed an accompanying video to help guide you through this first motif and will be posting that on my YouTube channel on the same day.
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It's all about the FOOD!
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​We had lots of emails in response to last week’s newsletter. Thank you for taking the time to get in touch. ‘Wendy from Oz’ sent the following recipe – it sounds really yummy:
 
Good morning, have just loved your newsy email with all you have been up to. I have a nice quick and easy recipe for you this week and it is good hot or cold on sandwiches or with a salad.
 
Aberdeen Sausage Loaf.
 
Ingredients:
 
1 kg thick sausages skinned
2 Carrots  (from your garden! )grated
2 Granny Smith apples peeled cored and grated
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 eggs beaten
 
Method:
 
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
 
Shape into a couple of loaf shapes and coat in flour. Place on lined baking tray into a 180 degree oven for about 1 hour.  Drain on paper towel. Serve with lovely creamy mash and some greens.
 
Have cold the next day on Sandwiches or with a salad. Yum!
I find this makes 3-4 loaves and you can freeze any spares for a later date.
 
Thank you for sending this recipe Wendy!
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​I did manage to make the roasted carrot burgers I told you about last week. They were good (image above), but I am not sure they were worth all the work. I am a ‘quick results’ cook, so the multiple stages of this recipe possibly made my expectations a little high. I think the Pret Sweet Potato Falafel that Charlie made the previous week were tastier and easier to make.
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​If you like quick results like me then you might be interested in my (cheat’s) lime pickle houmous recipe. I know it sounds a little odd – but we love it and it takes less than 5 minutes to make.
 
You will need:
 
1 slightly heaped desert spoon of Indian Lime Pickle – I use Pataks.
A jar or tin of chick peas
1 tbsp Tahini
Salt & Pepper
Juice of 1 or 2 limes depending on how sharp you like it (lemon will do if you don’t have it)
1 clove of garlic
Glug of olive oil
Water if needed.
 
Grate the garlic clove then add all ingredients except the water to a basin and blend with a hand blender. If it looks a bit thick add some water. Add salt and pepper to taste and add more lime juice or lemon juice if you think it needs it. Transfer to an airtight jar and leave in the fridge for a day before you eat it – it is much nicer if you let all the flavours combine over night, although we often can't wait that long!
 
If you are not a fan of lime pickle you could try adding other things to your houmous – roasted red peppers are great (we use a couple from a jar) or a good spoonful of pesto. If you want a chunkier houmous you could always add a few mashed chickpeas at the end. Don’t worry if you do not have tahini – you could add some sesame oil or even a good dollop of peanut butter!
 
I hope that once you have a go at making houmous you will not want to buy it in plastic pots from the supermarket. It is super easy, super tasty and super good for you!!!
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Over the Rainbow
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I have loved seeing images of your pompom wreaths this week. Having one hanging on your door or window sends out a great message of support to front line workers and they are a lovely project to make.
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​Summer and Chris sat down during the week and made theirs and I have had quite a few of my friends make one too. I love the image of the one made by my friend Gwyn (what a lovely front door you have Gwyn) and the one made by Janet Collins from the UK Hand Knitting and Crochet Guild.
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​If you want to make a donation to the NHS Charities together appeal you can do so by following this link.
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Virtual Wonderwool Festival
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Some of the casualties of the current situation are the many music festivals and yarn shows scheduled for the spring and into the summer. Andy was like a bear with a sore head when his favourite Rock Music festival was cancelled for June and we are both disappointed that the Wonderwool show in Wales will not take place this weekend, however the organizers of the show will be hosting a virtual show via their Facebook page. You can find more info by following this link.
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Stashbusting Handknitted Cushion Covers
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I have been looking through my free pattern back catalogue this week as we are hoping to update some of them over the next few months. Many feature yarns that are now discontinued, so it would be good to have them written for current yarns. I will let you know when we have anything new to share with you, but one of my free projects that I remembered this week features yarns that are still around and is one that I have loads of images of worked in alternative colour ways as it was one I used as the project for my very first visit to The Green Hotel in Mysore with Knit For Peace in 2016.
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You can find the free pattern download for my Fairisle cushion cover on the Stylecraft web site here and I have posted images of projects made by workshop participants using Rowan Cotton Glace below. I am sure you can see what a good stash busting project the cushion cover is and hope that it will encourage you to go and have a rummage through your stash for suitable yarns.
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The pattern is written for Stylecraft Special DK, but you can use any DK or slightly finer weight yarn – just make sure you change the needle size accordingly to achieve quite a tight tension. You can see from the images that the workshop participants also added beads in as they knitted.
 
You can also find a free pattern for a crochet cushion cover which was part of the same Stylecraft Collection by following this link.
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Instagram Favourite
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If you missed it I have included a link to his instagram feed here. The post in question is from about 4 days ago, so you will have to scroll through his feed to find the right video. You’re so welcome!
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It's Nearly the Weekend!
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So, as is the new usual we have a weekend of walking and gardening planned. The weather here in North London has been amazing this week and we have not yet managed to spend any time enjoying it, so we are hoping it will stay that way and that we will manage to catch a few rays!
 
If you are looking for things to do over the weekend or into next week you might want to check out the events listing at your favourite gallery or museum. Sarah and I both ‘virtually’ attended a great seminar hosted by the William Morris Gallery on Zoom this week. The presentation was about May Morris’s embroidery, so of course Sarah and I made a point of getting involved! The Gallery is hosting another event this coming Wednesday:
 
Virtual Tour of Light and Shade
 
‘Join William Morris Gallery assistant curator Ainsley Vinall for a virtual tour of Light and Shade, our exhibition highlighting the lives led by the women of William Morris’s social circle alongside portrait photographs of them from our collection. The talk will look at the lives of some of William Morris’s family and friends as well as exploring different aspects of nineteenth century portrait photography. Featuring Emma Morris, Isabella Gilmore, Jane Morris, Rosalind Howard and more’.
 
You can book a place by making a donation and you can find more information here.
 
That is pretty much it from me for another week.
 
As I seem to say every Friday I am REALLY hoping to find some design time next week and start working on some new ideas. I am really missing my crochet, but know so well that we are really lucky to still be able to work here at the studio.
 
Next week we will be heading towards Andy’s birthday on Thursday, so we have that to look forward to. It looks like we will be popping a bottle of bubbly and ordering an Indian takeway and Andy says that he is really chuffed that the whole street, in fact the whole country, will be turning out to clap for his birthday at 8pm!!!
 
So until next week, keep well, safe and happy!
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A Reminder about Postage
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At Janie Crow and Just Knots Yarns we use Royal Mail as our postal service provider. Royal Mail continues to operate most worldwide postal services and we have not yet been hugely affected by issues with the post. Things can change quickly, so if you are wondering about the mail service to your country, you can check up via the Royal Mail ‘Personal Help’ page here.
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