Thing 1 & Thing 2

Janie's Friday Feature

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Welcome to this week's Friday Feature Newsletter - the Janie Crow equivalent of a Sunday supplement magazine....

I hope this newsletter finds you all well and happy and that you have some great plans for the weekend. The weather is particularly miserable here in North London today, so I hope it is a bit brighter where you are. When it is a bit grey and rainy I find it quite hard to feel motivated and I have to admit that the idea of the settee and the company of the TV is quite alluring at the moment, but this weekend is in fact set to be quite busy because of two really exciting things:
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Thing One: My new JANIE CROW web site has officially gone live today! The site it is not totally up to speed, but I am so desperate to show it to you that I decided it should go live regardless - I hope you will like it! You can find more information about the new site in the 'What's New' feature lower down this email.

Thing Two: I will be taking over the Instagram feed at Simply Crochet Magazine from tomorrow morning through to Sunday evening, which means I will be busy sharing images and stories for the weekend. Please do drop by to take a look!

This week I had planned to take a look at the new fashion trends for spring and had wanted to give you an over all view of what will be in and what will be out this year. There is one key trend that I really want to write about, partly because it relates so well to my yarny world, but also because I have always been a big fan of DENIM. Sadly though, with all that has been going on with the new web sites and all the catching up that needed to be done after our trip to Vogue Knitting Live, I have decided to schedule this piece in for a future newsletter.

Don't forget that the colouring in competition closes next Friday, so you only have one more week to get your entry back to us in the post. The overall winner will receive £150, a yarn pack of their personal colour design, they will have their colourway included in a revised Delft pattern AND they will be featured in Simply Crochet magazine. The two runner up prizes are the same, but will receive £50 each. I think these are pretty great prizes, so, if you like a bit of mindful colouring in and are looking for something to do over the weekend, why not download the entry form (after reading the competition guidelines) and get colouring in!

I hope you will enjoy five minutes away from what you are doing to take a short break in my company whilst you read through this week's newsletter - as always, if you have anything you want to say or contribute please hit reply and let me know!
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Don't get your knickers in a knot. Nothing is solved and it just makes you walk funny!
- Kathryn Carpenter -

 Tip of the week
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I received an email a few weeks ago from a lady called Maggie Fork who has asked about sewing in yarn ends. I am a real stickler for dealing with yarn ends as I go along rather than leaving them until the end of a project and I must admit to being a bit fussy about it!
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You can find a free technique download called 'Dealing With Yarn Ends' on the new web site by following this link. The download talks you through how to weave in ends and how to sew them in and is one of 14 free download files.
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What's New?

So at long last we finally have TWO new web sites! I know, I know - they've been a long time coming, but I hope that after all this time they will be worth the wait!

The new Just Knots web site is a retail site that replaces our original Janie Crow one. The web site is looked after in the main part by Andy and Sue and will act as one of our supported retailers of the Janie Crow brand. For the time being historical links from Janie Crow, such as those in past newsletters and magazine features for example, will be automatically redirected to this site, but going forwards anything related specifically to me and my design will be featured primarily on the new Janie Crow site.
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I would really like it if you would take some time to have a quick browse of both new sites - they will remain under construction for the next few weeks and the JANIE CROW one in particular has a lot more to add, but I am hopeful that you will find lots of interesting things on there already.

My new site is basically the home for anything related to me and my design. You will find free technique downloads, links to my Youtube channel, my blog and specific information about my designs on there and eventually you will also be able to shop for patterns and browse a small eclectic range of items such as bespoke crochet hooks and shawl pins. The new site will not be selling kits, yarn or other more generally sold items as these will be available via other stockists. You can find information on stockists and trade sales by following this link.
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Colour Palette of the Week

This week's palette is taken from a photograph I took at my Mum and Dad's house earlier on today. My Dad always plants these lovely little irises outside the dining room window in the autumn so that they appear this time of year and I love the fact that they start to bring a little bit of colour to the garden.
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The mild weather has meant that Dad's camelia is also really busy producing the most beautiful flowers. I will try to remember to get an image of these to share with you at some point too. I love the fact that the bright shades of winter blooming plants are made all the more special by the grey weather - pops of colour really catch my eye this time of year and I love the bright purple, yellow and green of Dad's irises, even if I did take the picture from inside of the rain splashed window!
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Colouring Competition

As I said in the introduction to this week's newsletter there is just one week left until this competition closes. You can enter as many times as you like, so why not unleash your creativity and enjoy some mindful colouring in?
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Simply colour in the motif chart to create your own version of my Delft blanket design, then pop it in the post to us along with your written entry form to be in with a chance of winning a great prize. You can find the downloadable information pack and competition guidelines here and the competition entry form here.
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The original Janie Crow Delft Crochet Blanket was inspired by the blue and white Delftware from the Netherlands. It is made up of a single motif, plus a half motif, worked in three colour ways: Dark, Medium and Light. Only one colour is worked in each round, and each colour way uses all the yarns – they just appear in different rounds and amounts.

Using all the yarns in each motif is a foolproof way of ensuring a harmonious overall blanket design, but it is not the only way. Those of you that follow my blog or receive my newsletters know that I find inspiration for my colour palettes wherever I go. When I have an idea, I surround myself with the yarns that evoke the same feelings and start to design. I am fortunate in that I have an abundance of yarn in my studio, but you can do the same using felt tip pens, coloured pencils and paper.

I find it fascinating how recolouring a design can completely change the way it looks and I love to see other crocheters versions of my designs, especially those that have used an alternative colour palette. With this in mind Luise and I thought it would be really fun to invite you to colour in a chart representation of one of my Delft design to see what wonderful ideas you can come up with. Dont' worry - this isn’t a design competition! You do not need to know how to design, or even how to crochet, all you need to do is colour in a chart and pop it in the post!

The idea is that the entries will be judged and a selection of finalists will be chosen after a public vote. Winners will be given prizes and the yarn colour packs for the new colour ways, which will include the winner’s name and inspiration, will subsequently be available via Stylecraft stockists. The colour substitution documents for each new colour way will also be available as free downloads via this web site and will feature in an updated version of the Delft Blanket crochet pattern later on this year.

Instagram Favourite
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My Instagram favourite this week is theguywiththehook. I love Mark's work and am especially intrigued at the moment to find out how his crocheted Freddie (top left of the image below) is going to turn out!

Mark has just released his brand new Tibet Tiles crochet blanket design, which is shown quite a few times in the image above and you can find his blog post and the pattern by following the link here.
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Fruity Knitting
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About six weeks ago Andrew and Andrea from the Fruity Knitting Podcast dropped into the studio so that I could take part in an interview with them. The resulting video is due to go live on Tuesday via their Youtube feed, so I would love it if you would take a look.
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If you haven't seen any of the Fruity Knitting podcasts before then I suggest you do so! Andrea has interviewed some really influential makers, designers and yarn producers and she and Andrew always include some great features in their programmes, which are always really professionally produced and interesting to watch. I had a streaming cold at the time, so I am hoping I don't sound too snuffly!
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It's nearly the weekend!

I know that this newsletter is once again heading out a little late, but hopefully it will land in your inbox at a time when you are able to take some time out and enjoy it! As I have already said - we have a busy weekend of web site buidling and Instagramming (is that a word?) ahead of us, but we are also planning some family time and maybe even a (brave?) trip to IKEA to look at display stands - we are heading into show season, so I am hoping we might find a cool solution to displaying my mounting pile of blankets!
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I leave you this week with this lovely image sent to me by Linda Smith via my Facebook page. I just love Linda's use of the lilac shade in place of the blues I used on the original version of Fields of Gold.

Hope you have a lovely weekend and a good time next week - if you're heading out for a Valentines Day celebration then I hope you have a really nice time!

Sending crochet love and yarny kisses.
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