The most recent crochet design to feature in Inside Crochet Magazine as part of the Spirit of Flora CAL is called 'Double Carnations'. It is another motif to feature two flowers sitting at opposite corners of the square motifs and it has been great to see them popping up 'out in the wild' over the last week or so. It amazes me how quickly some of you get them made! As you know, this project was inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the work of ceramicist William De Morgan in particular. Botanical symbolism was widely adopted by members of the movement in ..read more

​It has been a fortnight of pretty much incessant rain here in North London. I have to admit that I have found the transition from summer to autumn to winter a bit tricky this year so I am particularly pleased to have my crochet to focus on now the clocks have changed and I can settle down on the settee in the evenings for a bit of 'me' time. I have a few things to tell you about this week so I hope you can spare 5 minutes to catch up with all things Janie Crow... Last Friday I spent the evening with Gemma at a charity fundraising event where I gave a talk about my design history ..read more

Next week’s pattern release for the Spirit of Flora crochet along project, which has been running in Inside Crochet Magazine, will be the penultimate one and we simply can’t believe just how quickly the CAL has flown past over the course of 2023. I am incredibly proud of the design and could not have envisaged at the start of the year just how amazingly well the crochet community would embrace it. Last week, I gave a presentation at a fundraising event and the audience was surprised to hear about how many jobs are involved in the process of taking a design from conception through to complet ..read more

I am really excited to let you know that we now have kits for a new version of my Bohemian Blooms Crochet Along Style project. The original pattern is written for yarns from the Rowan range, but as 3 of the shades are now discontinued we decided it was time to give the project a revamp. Our new kits include yarns from the Stylecraft range and we have chosen shades that almost exactly match those used in the original project. The tension of the new yarn palette crochets up the same as the original, but we decided that the new version would not include beads so that crocheters ..read more

I had a great time on the Stylecraft stand at the Knitting and Stitching show here in North London last week and it was lovely to catch up with so many of you and hear your crochet stories. It is always so wonderful to know that your crochet brings you solace and so much joy and I was really humbled by the fact that so many of you took the time to come and speak to me. ​ We showcased a few new colour ways and revamped versions of some existing blanket designs at the show and I will share the details of these with you over the next couple of weeks once we get the colour substitution docu ..read more

​A couple of weeks ago I spent 2 days on the Stylecraft stand at a trade show in Harrogate. It was really great to chat to yarn stockists and craft enthusiasts and to hear about what is going on out in the market place. Many people told me about the rise in the number of teenagers and young adults wanting to learn to crochet, which is just such a positive thing to hear! I think the prevalence of crochet in the fashion this summer has encouraged many young people to take to making things themselves and it seems that they are more than happy to create things without patterns or very much guid ..read more

Well hello September! It is officially the first day of autumn according to the meteorological calendar, but we always seem to get a couple of lovely weeks of weather once the kids go back to school, so I am not packing the summer clothes away just yet and will not be using the A word until the beginning of next month once we have exhibited at Yarndale - the scenic drive back from Yorkshire always feels like the start of autumn for me! Over the last couple of weeks I have completed all the remaining work needed for the Spirit of Flora CAL so I have started on some new projects. I ha ..read more

Myself and members of the team often admire Janie Crow designs made in different colourways or using alternative yarn brands. As these unique projects are becoming more commonly shared on social media we wanted to help those of you who may wish to make a project in an alternative colour palette or substitutre yarns, but may not have an idea of where to start, by giving you the basics on how to sub yarn correctly. It can be quite scary launching into a big project if you're not sure you have enough yarn, so use the following simple steps to ensure you have enough, especially when stash diving ..read more

Today is officially 'Never Give Up Day' - yes really! Today is about not just reaching our goals but working towards them. We often get messages from people who want to learn to crochet but have found it too hard so have given up. As adults there is an expectation that we will pick things up relatively quickly and in relation to crochet this is especially the case if someone already knits. ⁠ ⁠ Participants can book on day long ‘Learn To Crochet’ workshops in the belief that they will come away from it being able to do so, but if we wanted to learn to play the piano we would not expect t ..read more

The weather here has been pretty dismal over the last few days and at times it has even seemed a little autumnal, with lots of rain. Despite the fact that the garden is grateful for the water, the lack of warmth up here in the studio has got me hoping that some brighter weather will appear over the weekend and into next week. Fingers crossed! I have a few bits to tell you about this week and you can find more information about what we have been chatting about on social media lower down this email. I have also added links to quite a few projects. We have a price increase coming at the beg ..read more