Saturday 24 October 2009

Craft Magazines - what's your favourite?

I've just bought the latest Let's Knit mag and also Knit Today mag, and I wondered what everyone's favourite craft mag was? There's so many craft mags out there, you'd need a small fortune to buy them all!! Even though they are quite expensive, I buy a few each month, but I don't drink or smoke, so a girl's gotta have one vice!!
My top Five are:
Let's Knit
Sew Hip
Lets Get Crafting
Simply Knitting
Knit Today

I buy Let's Knit every month just because I love it. It's fab and funky and a great read. I often knit from the patterns too, which makes it worth buying. A few of my patterns and designs have been featured in LK, which I'm really proud of. I have all the editions of LK except the first. I've tried to buy it on ebay, but it usually goes for a ridiculous price - I'm not that desparate.

I bought Knit today too this month because it had a little free pattern book with it, with some cute designs.

I resisted Simply Knitting this month as there seemed to be a lot of jumpers and cardigans (not really my thing!). I also find Alan Dart a bit too fiddly, although his creations are absolutely fantastic. I've just used my Tesco clubcard vouchers to subscribe to Simply Knitting, so I'll be looking forward to it each month from December.

Another favourite of mine is Sew Hip Magazine. I have to say it's definitely my second fave after Let's Knit. The articles and fabric designs are really inspiring and there's always a cute little toy pattern to make. The magazine makes me want to sew, which is great, although I still haven't got round to starting a quilt yet. One day.....

I've also bought a couple of Let's Get Crafting Mags recently - one for crochet and one for knitting. They were really expensive compared to other mags, but I had a pattern published in the crochet mag, so I just had to buy it. I tried hard to resist the knitting edition, but failed miserably. Both were definitely worth buying. The free yarn was really soft and I've made some nice little cakes with it.

So what's your favourite? and have you made anything you're really proud of?

Sunday 18 October 2009

Happy Birthday MISI

MISI is one - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISI.
I can't believe it's been a year since I joined MISI. I was one the first sellers of knitted cake patterns, which was exciting, and it's been great to see the site develop and grow. I think the home page looks fab and really professional. I really need to work on my MISI shop and have some great ideas for new projects.

I've been a bit late joining the forums, mainly due to not having enough hours in the day to join in. But I've started to join in a little and want to say a big thanks to Amy from 'Art by MIMI' at http://www.artbymimi.misi.co.uk/ who posted a blog asking for other MISI sellers to follow her new blog at http://artbymimiwinfield.blogspot.com/ and in return she will follow theirs. As a result I have a few more followers, yipee. I really want to do some give aways soon, but haven't done so far because of the lack of followers. Fingers crossed I'll get a few more soon - when I get to about 20/25 followers I'll do a nice winter give away.

I love MIMI's shop - she lives in Cornwall (I'm envious!!), and living by the sea is clearly reflected in her work. I love this painting of a Cornish Tin Mine with it's lovely rich colours.
MIMI also makes some cute hand painted pillows - they'd make great xmas pressies.

Good luck to MIMI and all you MISI sellers - here's for another great year ahead.......