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Do you know about Sweet Paul Magazine?

Do you know about Sweet Paul Magazine?  Maybe you already do, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.  It's online and free, and I think each issue is better than the last.  Lots of yummy looking recipes.  I don't remember how I stumbled upon it the first time, but I'm glad I did!

Selling Stuff -- a New Year's Resolution

So, one of my New Year's resolutions was to sell some of the stuff that is taking up space in our spare room (aka "the den").  To that end, I have started listing things here and there.  The first thing I came across was a package of these awesome Valentines from the 40's and 50's that I purchased a while back at an estate sale.  I have more than enough for my own collection, so I listed about half of them in my etsy shop.  Since I love my blog visitors, I wanted to give you a coupon good for free shipping on these lovelies.  Just enter FREESHIP during checkout.

I also listed some things at my Amazon.com bookstore -- Booga Books -- one item being the first issue of Lucky Peach magazine.  To my delight, this $10 magazine sold for a whopping $75!  And in only a couple of days.  Sure wish I had bought about 10 copies of that magazine when it was on the newsstand. 

How are your New Year's resolutions coming along?

Apple Cake & digital iPad Martha Stewart Magazine Editions

I didn't remember to mention that I made Martha's (or more likely, one of her many staff writer's) Apple Pecan Cake from the latest Everyday Food mag. 

It was tasty and worked beautifully with GF flour subbed. 

And btw, if you are a Everyday Food subscriber -- you can get the issues on your iPad for free now!  I always thought it was stupid to make people pay for the digital edition when they subscribed to the print edition, so I'm happy to see this change. 

Apparently you can get free access if you are a Living subscriber too.  When did this change?  I haven't heard about it before I stumbled upon it today, but it makes me happy!

Online Crafty Mag -- Inspired Ideas

Check out Inspired Ideas -- a cute crafty mag from Amy Powers over at Inspireco.

Bring it on!

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!

I *heart* Martha Stewart Living

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.)

Yoshiko Jinzenji & Lots of Japanese Craft Mags

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!)

Another Booga Bag sighting!

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!)

Magazines

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:

Magazines on Nightstand


Magazines in Bottom of Nightstand


Magazines in Drawer of Nightstand (along with Chocolate and other candy)


Magazines in Bin Under Bed


Magazines on my Desk

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.

• Interweave Knits
• Vogue Knitting
• Cooking Light
• Martha Stewart Living
• Mary Engelbreit Home Companion
• Spin-Off
• CNA
• Cook's Illustrated
• YMN
• The Wheel
• Rowan
• Gourmet

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 (because of the success of the sheep unit study from the last issue) and MSL Blueprint A new magazine aimed right at my demographic-- heh!  (I laugh, but I am actually looking forward to seeing this magazine very much).

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.)

A swear. . .

. . . I'm not a Luddite, but I've been struggling with the whole podcasting thing.  In fact. I just listened to my first Cast On podcast.  Very fun and good to work by.  (Time to make the patterns. . . I feel like the Dunkin' Donuts guy.  BTW, did you know that he just died?)

Anyway, back to my surprising bout of technophobia.  I did listen to the first couple episodes of KnitCast back when they premiered, enjoyed them very much, thought I subscribed to them and then promptly forgot about them.  Well, my "subscription" must have failed because I was never notified of another one. 

I re-discovered the whole podcast thing after Pete got his iPod and he started listening to podcasts.  I once again tried to subscribe to several, this time through Bloglines.  Again -- never notified of new episodes (are they called episodes? posts? casts?)

So, last night I went straight to the source -- the Apple Music Store.  Now you get there through iTunes, so I'm not sure how to give you a link (I am *so* a luddite), but I was able to subscribe there and I was also able to download a bunch of the past programs for both Cast On and KnitCast.  They are now safely on my computer and I can listen whenever I see fit.  Whew.

I did see some other knitting themed podcasts out there -- Knitting News Cast, Secret Knitting, Crafty Chica Podcast -- any recommendations on these?  Any recommendations on any others?

MenKnit Magazine

New online knitting mag -- MenKnit Magazine.

And Theresa has up a new book review!

Knitscene

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?

September MagKnits!

The September Issue of MagKnits is up!!

Yarn Magazine

Did you see this new knitting magazine?  They have a free Sample Issue available online.  Check it out!  

The Knitters have spoken!

And the winner is -- Interweave Knits by a landslide! 

What is your favorite knitting magazine?		Votes
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!

Disappointed. . .

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:

What is your favorite knitting magazine?
	Interweave Knits
	Vogue Knitting
	Cast On
	Rowan
	Other
Free polls from Pollhost.com