I am a sucker for a new magazine, even when I haven’t got the time to read them.  Once upon a time, rather too long ago for comfort, it was perfectly normal to have women’s magazines with knitting and crochet patterns, and even pull-out paper patterns for dress making.  Suddenly though, we were all supposed to be out in the market place, cutting and thrusting our way up through glass ceilings, or finding our way into the world of fame and riches and the idea of knitting a cardi belonged to a different era.  So the magazines quietly dropped the handicraft element in favour of beauty tips and fashion , celebrity interviews and gossip, and we all went out to Primark to buy cheap and dispensible clothing. Supposedly.

So I really love the fact that gradually things are turning a full circle and it’s suddenly ok  to come out of the closet with your knitting needles or crochet hooks and look cool rather than be labeled an old fogey.  And a whole new generation is now getting into print, either on line or in magazines to share their creativity.

Now I have to admit to a certain prejudice when I first heard about the new mag on the block so I didn’t beat a path to W H Smith’s to buy the first issue as I usually do.  I only heard the name, Mollie Makes, and I’m afraid it  sounded just a bit cutesy, a bit ‘apple pie’, the sort of thing I’ve grown out of.  But gradually I realised that so many people were saying good things about it, maybe I’d better take a look, and found I just couldn’t get a copy. I even heard of one changing hands on Ebay for £30.00!

Anyway, having trawled around for a couple of days being told, “Never ‘eard of it!” (Great customer relations there…) and “I’m really sorry, we’ve sold out” , I eventually bought the last copy on the shelf in the Norwich Hobbycraft.

Ta-Daaa!

Well, dear reader, how wrong I was!  It’s fab, I love it, I have already signed up for my three issues for £5.00!  It’s as much about lifestyle and homestyle as it is a craft manual, and really falls into a neat little niche of it’s own.  And it arrived just at the point where I was digging out my yarns again and thinking I neeeeed to get the crochet hook out again, what can I make?

After I made my big blanket , and I had reduced the yarn stash from this…

to this…

by making all these cushions…

I had a sudden rush of blood to the head and went out and bought all the colours, all over again, plus few more!  And it was this
I had heaved out of the cupboard in search a new project.  And there, in Mollie Makes, it was..

Another blanket! And…AND…from a new book from Jane Brocket, who has already delighted me with The Gentle Art of Domesticity and the The Gentle Art of Quilting, so I had to buy it, didn’t I, to complete the set…

It’s actually made in Aran weight yarn, but it really doesn’t matter when using leftovers in crochet.

It looks so cosy…

And all I have to do is buy a few balls of the creamy colour for the background …

…and I have a lovely project to keep me going in the evenings, and give my hands a break from the felting needle!

And there are one or two other little projects to keep for the future…

So that’s the evenings sorted, would you like to see what’s been going on during the day?

I’ll tell you later!

See you soon x

P.S. I’ve just found this, and it’s so jolly I just had to share it!