We are supposed to be getting some decent snow over the next 24 hours and I'm ready! I actually love the snow and the idea of being "trapped" at home. And look what the mailman brought for me -- just in time! Yep, this gorgeous pile of magazines arrived *today*. I can't wait to put on my jammies and settle in for the storm!
Oh -- I've been putting up more reviews over at the Chocolate Blog, so if you love chocolate like I do please take a look!
This weekend I did something that I've been meaning to do since we moved -- I got my Martha Stewart Living Magazines out of the attic and organized them. Of course I had several years worth of magazines collecting around the house to add to them -- so what you are seeing above is nearly all my MSL magazines. (I actually already found more since I took the photo -- they are hidden everywhere!)
Now, what I did was organize them by month instead of putting them in chronological order. This way I can grab all of the January magazines in January and look through them. (I love to do this! I forget all the goodness in some of the old issues.) I thought I would be able to put all the magazines for one month in one magazine holder, but I already have too many to do that, so I'm in the midst of figuring out how best to store them.
Just another day in a magazine addicts life. (More on my magazine obsession can be found here.)
Imagine my surprise when I was going through my Bloglines this morning and saw that the purl bee had a post about Yoshiko Jinzenji. Why is this surprising you ask? Well, just last night when I arrived home from Michigan (MI Fiber Fest weekend -- more on that soon!) there was a box *full* of Japanese craft magazines and books waiting for me. (Thanks goodness it didn't rain!!) And there was a whole spread on Yoshiko Jinzenji in the July issue of Quilts Japan. I recoginized the style of quilt and fabric instantly -- she is very unique! -- and that quilt had really struck me when I looked through the book last night. Here's more:
The little lap quilt would certainly be easy to make since the fabric is basically a cheater cloth. The magazine also shows some shirts and pillows made with her fabrics, as well as some other quilts. She also has some more graphic fabrics available that purlsoho doesn't seem to carry. The ones they carry are here.
Other things in the box include, but are not limited to:
Yep, the September issues of Cotton Paint, Cotton Time and Cotton Friend!! I'll have full reviews for you soon. Lots of good stuff here. (I have to get caught up on work after having been away since Friday . But I will take pictures and share -- I promise!)
The Booga Bag is appearing in the August 2006 issue of Quick & Crafty Magazine -- a UK Crafty Mag. I actually got an email from Sarah at the magazine over a month ago and hadn't heard anything since, so I wasn't sure if they decided to use the info that she asked me to send her or not. But today I received a couple of copies of the magazine in my mailbox and there it was!
The magazine is really fun and if you see a copy, I would recommend picking it up. I hadn't seen it before, but Sarah said that it is available at some of the larger bookstore chains in the US. It's kind of fun because each project has an estimated completion time listed! From quickly flipping through this issue I already saw a project that intrigued me -- transferring photos to china. How cool is that?!? The photos of the completed projects in the mag look incredible. I may have to give that a try.
(Other projects in the mag -- knit handbag, cross-stitch, lots of cards, fimo clay, flower arranging, china painting, beading -- heck, there's a little of everything!)
It started innocently enough, probably around 1977, when I began to receive Highlights Magazine. I remember saving every issue, lining them up in order in the hutch over my desk. Leafing through them over and over again even though I knew where ever last hidden picture was. It was a natural extension, this jump from a love of books to a love of magazines.
A couple years later I realized that The National Geographic was coming to our house and I discovered the wealth of information it contained. They joy! My Dad saved these. Every issue -- downstairs in the bookcase. Then. . . the flood. I was heartbroken to see all those pathetic, waterlogged pages ruined and tossed into the trash.
As I became a teen there were the usual coming of age periodicals arriving in my mailbox -- first YM then later Rolling Stone. I'm sure many of you read the same make-up tips and record reviews.
The revolution came in my 20's. I discovered Martha Stewart! I subscribed to MSL and fell in love. This was a whole different magazine -- something I had no experience with, but it was me! I absolutely loved it. My sisters started calling me Martha. I still have every issue I ever got and I do look through them. (Although since the last move they have yet to be unpacked and I think about them a lot. Maybe that will be my project for this weekend.)
So enough about my magazine history! Here's where I am today. You can see a bunch of the magazines I've gotten in the last 4-6 weeks up top there. Several major categories: Homemaking (for lack of a better term), cooking and crafting. I used to subscribe to National Geographic and Smithsonian and all kinds of stuff like that but they kept coming every month and there was absolutely no way I could keep up. I always felt guilty and I kept them. Then one day Pete was afraid I was going to be smothered in my sleep due to the precarious pile on the nightstand. I just had to give a few up, so I did. Whew. What a relief!
Speaking of my nightstand. I have to show you where I stash the ever growing mountain of periodicals:
And at this point the camera battery died, so that's all the magazines I can show you. Pete said when I revealed my magazine obsession that a lot of people would write in and tell me that I had practically no magazines compared to them. I wonder if he knew how many magazines I had?
So, I'm going to try to list here the magazines that I have subscriptions to. I get confused and sometimes buy magazines from the newsstand when I have a subscription, so I am in no way saying that this in 100% accurate.
Hmmm. . . seems like I'm missing some. In fact, I think I subscribed to some new sewing magazine a while back, but I haven't gotten even one issue. And I used to subscribe to Food & Wine and Saveur, but I think those subscriptions may have recently expired.
Well, there you have it. I love magazines! The next magazines I'm going to be subscribing to are both part of MSLO: MSL Kids
I think I'll go get some work done now so that Maddie and I can go to the bookstore before the snowstorm hits. I think I may need to pick up a few more magazines to get me through the bout of bad weather! One of my greatest fears in life is being without reading material.
** Update ** A comment by Denise reminded me that I also get Family Circle and Parenting (Parents? No, I think it's Parenting). At any rate, I started getting them for free and I have never paid for them or renewed them and they just keep coming. My father-in-law was in the magazine biz and from what I have gleaned it has something to do with keeping up subscription numbers which correspond to advertising rates. Who knew?
** Update 2 ** I forgot Cast On (which I probably wouldn't subscribe to, but I'm a member of TKGA -- Don't you wish they would update the designs in that magazine? Some of the detailing on the designs are so nice, but the designs themselves? Eh.)
Interweave Knits has a new special issue coming out any day called Knitscene. It looks to be aimed at younger knitters and has some great looking designs which you can see in the online preview. I don't have a copy of the mag yet, but I can already tell from the website that this is 100 times better, in my opinion, than Knit 1. What do you think?
And the winner is -- Interweave Knits by a landslide!
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| Interweave Knits | 78% | 179 | |
| Vogue Knitting | 4% | 9 | |
| Cast On | 0% | 0 | |
| Rowan | 13% | 31 | |
| Other | 5% | 11 | |
| 230 votes total | |||
Oh Cast On, listen to the people! Not even 1 vote -- shameful. I would have to say that IK has been my favorite also, with a few issues last year that I really enjoyed, but I feel like it's been a bit off the last couple of issues. Maybe the winter issue will have me back on the IK bandwagon. I'm also looking forward to their 2 special issues.
Time for me to get back to work. Have a great weekend & Happy Knitting!
Well, yesterday I opened the mailbox and was surprised to see both Vogue Knitting and Cast On inside. I had lots to do, so I set them aside, figuring I would savor them at night when I finally got a chance to sit down.
Maybe it was the anticipation, was I expceting too much? I'm not sure, but when I finally sat down to take a look, I was really disappointed.
First Cast On. I'm not sure there is anything that I would make from this magazine, but that's par for the course. This issue is filled with big bulky coats -- blech! I did think the Rosette Jacket looked well designed, but having said that, it's not something that I would make. And the Denison Pullover from Dale of Norway is nice, but I've seen many much better looking nordic sweaters, so I'm not putting this one on my list either.
Then there was Vogue Knitting. I guess I expect more from them than I do from Cast On, so I was really not happy with this issue. There was only one design that really caught my eye, and that was Deborah Newton's shawl. Here's a picture for you:
There's a whole spread on black and white -- blah. And a section on vests -- yucky! Then a "sport" section. Now, I did kind of like Vladimir Teriokhin's hooded pullover. And the "gypsy" designs -- yikes! Nothing I would wear. There is a nice tutorial from Meg Swanson on the turkish cast on. I may try that if I ever decide to try toe-up socks again (not all that likely. . . )
sigh. . .
So that's the magazine round-up. I'm thinking I may need to subscribe to Rowan again. I let my subscription lapse last year when we were moving and I was trying to save $$. What do you think? Is it worth the hefty price?
And here's a poll for fun:
