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?

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.......

Happy 40th. Grettings Cake

I crocheted two pretty cupcakes - one is for sale in my etsy shop and I gave one as a gift for a work friend who was 40. I made a lovely tag which said "Happy Birthday 40". She absolutely loved it. It was passed around the office and there were lots of oohs and aarhs and requests for more. I'm not sure when I'll get round to making them as I've been quite busy lately both designing and knitting and crocheting gifts . I've designed a gorgeous little pair of baby bootees and matching hat which I'm just writing up the pattern for along with a few other designs that I can't wait to get posted.

I also need to start making some bits for a couple of craft fairs that are coming up. Cakes seem to be really popular, so I'd better get a batch of those ready. I've seen a gorgeous cake stand that I would love to buy to display my knitted cakes. I'll check my finances later this month and see if I can buy it. I'm also working on some amigurumi toys. I'm trying to make sure they're different to what's already out there, which isn't easy. There's so many different designs out there for toys, it's hard to come up with something different.

Also, it's a long process from idea to finished pattern. I tend to start designing something, making notes as I go along. Then I re-work on the design to make sure I'm completely happy with every aspect. Then the pattern needs writing up, which takes me ages, as I include photos of the different stages. Then I have to test the pattern and I usually find a few mistakes. So the pattern needs to be re-checked and re-tested. It's a long and vicious circle. By which time I'm usually completely fed up with the pattern and I put it to one side. Not a good idea as I end up with loads of unfinished patterns.

My current task is to finish the patterns that I've started. I'll let you know how I get on..........

Gluten Free Maderia Cake

I've been using my breadmaker quite a lot recently - not necessarily for gluten free bread, as I've not yet come across a recipe with ingredients that I can use (I have a sulphite allergy too). So I often make this yummy madeira cake, using the following recipe.

Wet ingredients:
butter (melted) - 3/4 cup (150g)
vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
eggs (beaten) - 3 medium
lemon juice - 2 tsp
water - 1/4 cup (60ml)

Dry ingredients:
gluten free flour (I use doves plain gluten free flour) - 1 full cup plus 5/8 cup (250g approx)
gluten free baking powder - 2 tsp
caster sugar - 1/2 cup (110g)
chopped raisins (I use sulphite free dried apricots) - 1/4 cup (41g)

Mix wet ingredients together in a bowl, and dry ingredients together in a bowl. Combine both together and mix. Pour into breadmaker and choose cake setting. My breadmaker does a bit of mixing then bakes for 80 minutes. I presume oven baking will take about the same length of time, although I haven't tried it myself. The cake is nice and moist - you wouldn't think it was gluten free. I do not use vanilla essence and it tastes nice without it. I also use a fresh lemon, not concentrated lemon, as this has a high level of sulphites. The cake needs eating quickly as there are no preservatives, so I leave mine to cool completely, cut into slices and freeze half of it straight away - otherwise I end up eating the whole lot in a couple of days - not good for the diet or the figure!! It's great with or without butter.

Let me know if you give it a try.......

Folksy Swap

I received a nice surprise in the post on Saturday. A parcel popped through the letterbox and at first I was intrigued as I knew I hadn't been internet shopping recently. Then I remembered about the Folksy swap I had agreed with elgee fink and ash. She had contacted me and asked if I was interested in a swap - one of my patterns for a handcrafted item from her shop. How exciting. I agreed of course (who can resist a swap?). I sent her three of my patterns, and in return I received a beautiful cream and blue brooch and a pretty hanging heart, both sent in a lovely knitted pouch that will be really handy to hold things (I'm thinking sanitary items? - now they won't fall out of my bag at work!!). Lorraine has lots more gorgeous goodies in her Folksy shop all made from recycled and found objects (a girl after my own heart) - just click on this link to take a look - elgee fink and ash.

Ups and Downs

Or should I say downs and ups?

Why I am down - it's a long story, but a lady once asked me how I had knitted a cupcake tea cosy that I had listed on ebay for charity fund raising. I thought she was a fellow knitter, so I shared my pattern with her in an email. I explained that I was in the process of writing it up for publishing. How shocked was I to see then see my cupcake tea cosy in Let's Knit magazine (issue 2) along with a write up about the 'designer'!!! How cheeky. I wrote to the editor and explained that I was in fact the designer - she was very apologetic. The cupcake tea cosy is very popular on etsy and on the lady's own web shop.

Although I was extremely annoyed, I left it be, as I had lots of other designs to write up.

However, the same lady has now copied my distinctive butterfly cake pattern. I'm not sure what to do - should I contact her and question her about it? or just leave it be and get on with writing up my next batch of designs and just hope that her pattern isn't as popular as mine (it's twice as expensive too, which may put people off buying it). I'm still unsure, so haven't taken any action as yet.

On the Up side I have just found two sellers on Misi selling cakes knitted from two of my patterns that have been published in Let's Knit magazine and Lets Get Crafting Crochet. It pleases me that the end product looks great when knitted by others - something I often worry about when designing -(will people be able to follow my pattern and achieve the same results). The answer is clearly yes -

Plump Pudding has knitted some beautiful cupcakes from my Sprinkles pattern, published in Let's Knit (May 2008). I love the one in the pretty little box

Natty Needles Creations has crocheted some cute cupcakes from my crochet pattern that was featured in Let's Get Crafting Croc het (June 2009). These are fab and I love the colour combinations....

Needles Aside

I put down the needles and hooks for a week or so, as we had our family holiday to Menorca. Yarn and sun creams don't mix well, so I put the needles aside and concentrated on relaxing and enjoying my family. We had a fantastic holiday and the weather was sunny and hot. The hotel was brilliant (our fourth visit to the Barcelo Pueblo in Menorca). It was spotless as usual and the food was great. I didn't starve, despite my various food intolerances and allergies. On the contrary - I ate more than I do at home, yum.


I read two fab books - The Other Boleyn Girl, which is about Anne's sister Mary. Very interesting and captivating - I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone who loves historical novels.

I then read 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop. A sad, but again captivating read. I would definitely recommend both books for a great holiday read.

We're back at home now, and the kids off school, so not much crafting or designing to be done. I'm knitting and crocheting some lovely preemie stuff - blankets, gowns and hats. I've been promising myself I would do some for a while, so I'm taking some time out to finish them off for preemies UK.

I finished another pattern too just before we went away. It's a cute pattern for baby bootees. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out and can't wait to give this pair to a friend's baby at the weekend. The pattern is for three styles of baby shoes and is available in my etsy, folksy and misi shops.