Jane (Janie) Crow is an innovative artisan and one of my personal favorite crocheters. I am an admirer of not only how her projects appear, but her motivation behind her style. She uses a method called Crochet Along (CAL) to explain her complicated projects in bite-sized chunks so crocheters of every level are able to create a feat of a project. I discovered her deeply unique and complex crochet style when I was scavenging Pinterest one day in search of an interesting/challenging project. I stumbled across her Persian tiles crochet afghan and I was extremely intrigued as I believed it to be one of the most beautiful crochet projects I had seen. I purchased her pattern and a floral Monet-inspired pattern as well and I had a tough decision to make for which one I would commit to creating. At the time, I decided to make the Monet-inspired blanket but I still have the Persian tiles pattern, so it is on my docket to make.
I interpret Janie’s style to consist of intricate detail with a sharpness in each design. This type of design is unique as it shows a similar resemblance to a traditional quilting style with layers of detail being created in each square. Her style is also unique in which she uses hexagonal shapes to create the “granny squares” for afghans rather than the traditional square shape.
Janie Crow Persian Tiles – using hexagonal tiles as inspiration behind this pattern
A quilt using intricate squares for its pattern, you can easily see comparisons between these two.
As of now, I have only created 1 crochet afghan within my 4 years of crocheting. My crochet style is primarily consistent of amigurumi 3d figures in comparison to Janie Crow’s style being consistently comprised of large afghans. We are similar, however, with our afghans as the one I have created is deeply intricate as well. Janie creates and sells her patterns for public use while I have currently not experimented with creating my own patterns, I simply follow them. When I create without a pattern, I typically don’t create a pattern for later use. I would like to get into creating my projects into a publicly accessible and understandable format though.
As Janie is British, she uses the UK style of abbreviating her patterns and crocheting. I have worked with UK patterns in the past, but I primarily use the US pattern writing system. I have been crocheting for around 4 years so far and I have covered much ground, but I would like to expand my horizons to cover more afghans and flat pieces. I do not know for exactly how long Janie has been crocheting, but it has been quite some time as she started her crochet blog back in 2011. She is well-rounded in her experience but her portfolio is mainly consistent of flat pieces such as blankets and wall-hangings with the 3d elements incorporated into the pieces.
My Floral Afghan
One of Janie’s Floral Afghans
An Amigurumi Figure
Her style is typically an innovative version of a classic technique, while mine tends to be more modern overall. Just within the afghans, you can see the differences as she uses 3d crochet within the afghan, but the overall shape of the sections is still square. My afghan is uses a method of creating circles in lieu of a granny square with 3d elements implemented.
Janie is a quite popular and influential crocheter. She has been awarded numerous titles such as the Best Independent Pattern Designer of 2023 and Best Online Crochet Personality, but she also had an incredibly unique crochet experience occur. In 2023, Justin Bieber arrived at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party wearing one of Janie’s afghan patterns. While I get decent views on these blog posts, I am not quite to this level of global design recognition, hah! I believe her work and the recognition she receives pushes me to strive for excellence in crocheting rather than settling for what appears to be simple and easy.
Justin with a Blanket in her Pattern at the Oscars Party
The Learning Repository 