Stitchy McYarnpants' site The Gallery of Kitschy Stitches is best known for showing off some vintage knitting and crochet designs that would've been best left at the back of time's closet. Some of them are things you might feel a guilty longing for – I'd be tempted to make the Cat Babygro even if it would result in me having my face ripped off by an angry moggy. You've probably been tempted to make something retro-awful at one time or another. Orange crocheted 1970s jumpsuit? You must've considered it at least once! If you have, this is the site to go to for dubious inspiration.

In recent months Stitchy has been making an awesome evening dress from old Budweiser beer tins and crochet, and been blogging about the frock's progress. The dress was for Shelby Free to wear in the Evening Wear section of the 2008 Best In Drag beauty pageant. The Best In Drag pageant raises money for people living with AIDS, so it's a worthwhile cause and all Stitchy's efforts paid off, as Shelby won the crown to become 'Best in Drag 2008' If you want to see the progress of the beer tin ballgown, just visit The Gallery of Kitschy Stitches - it's all the most recent months' entries.

You may not want to knit the things you see here, but you're sure to have a fun time browsing!

Simply Knitting issue 49 hits the shops on Thursday 4 December. Enter our great giveaways and competitions by using the links below.

Anchor Intermezzo booklets giveaway, page 6
Rico Design organic yarn giveaway, page 10
Fab goodie bag giveaway, page 12
Prize crossword, page 94

To give us a bit more space for great knitting content, we've stopped printing the names of the winners of our competitions and giveaways in the magazine every month. If you entered a competition and can't wait to see if you won, then please email us or send a stamped self-addressed envelope to the usual address and we'll send you a full list of the winners. Don't forget to state which issue and which competition(s) you're interested in!

If you want the list, please write to us within three months of the competition closing – after it closes, please, otherwise it gets confusing!

We've added a Frequently Asked Questions section to our site, to handle, well, the questions we get asked most often! If there's a piece of information about the magazine you're struggling to find or look for regularly and think should be added, please email us with FAQ in the question and let us know.

The holiday season is always expensive, and this year with gloomy predictions about the economy making headlines it's more important than ever to make the most of your budget: but how? Gift giving is a tricky business at the best of times, and balancing their wants (hurray for wishlists!), your budget and battling the crowds can make it all rather stressful.

Spending the afternoon curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine or a cup of tea and making all my gifts sounds like heaven compared with fighting my way round the shops – but every time I think about abandoning my plan to buy every gift I give off Amazon in favour of a hand-crafted solution I get flash backs to last year. The problem wasn't the knitting which was great fun, or even the time constraint – luckily, my plane was late and my mum's used to things being wrapped Christmas Eve – but the three or four extra trips to my local yarn shop as I went back again and again for things I'd forgotten or an extra ball – and another one, and another one – put rather a dent in the budget. And not just the Christmas present budget, as I'm sure you can imagine!

Random yarn acquisition aside, making gifts can be near to free (if you've already got everything you need) or surprisingly expensive (when you realise too late that the pattern calls for gold-plated everything, and you can't find a substitute). Of course, handmade is always extra special, and filled with love (yarn doesn't absorb swearing, so I'm told, only love and good thoughts) but I was wondering: if you're crafting gifts this year, is it out of reasons of economy? To stretch your budget a bit further by doing the work yourself? Or will you be splashing out on luxury fibres and spending as much as you'd have spent on the highstreet to make them exactly the right thing?

If you've ever dreamed of packing your life (and your stash) into a van and hitting the open road, discovering new places, new yarns with plenty of time to knit and explore, then hotfoot it over to the Woolly Wormhead blog.

With her bloke and her young son, Woolly Wormhead is travelling around Europe doing just that – and finding a bit of time to work on the follow up to her book Going Straight, a creative collection of hats knitted sideways on straight needles.

Of course, following your dream isn't always going to be easy, and although we wish the family nothing but blue skies, we do love honesty with which she charts the rough and the smooth. This is a fun, witty blog with a great balance of knitting, making, travelling and even the occasional essay about the craft we share.

Read a great blog? Write a great blog? Tell us what it is and why you like it, and you might see it here next Friday. 

Big trees, little trees, skinny trees and fat trees. Trees with bright autumn leaves and trees with green needles. Weeping willow. Silver birch. Ash. Elder. Oak.

As the seasons change and the years pass, a few things will stay the same, and you'll want the big old trees you pass on your favourite walk to be one of them.

The Woodland Trustis launching their annual Winter Ancient Tree Hunt on 1 December, and to celebrate they've released three gorgeous free patterns for you to knit.



The patterns, designed by Laura Long, whose work you might have seen in previous issues of Simply Knitting, are for a simple striped scarf, a lovely intarsia scarf with a leaf motif and a pair of cosy mittens.

Each scarf is designed to be exactly 1.5m long, which is the equivalent of a British Standard Hug, making it a perfect way to measure around trees without having to carry a tape measure.

A thick trunk is one indicator of a really old tree, and so they can work to preserve them, the Woodland Trust want to know where all the estimated 80,000 ancient trees in Britain are. How do you spot an anciet tree? Well, start by giving it a hug: look for oaks that are three standard hugs, beeches over two  and sweet chestnuts four hugs around.

It's a great way to get kids interested in spotting trees and adds a slightly competitive element to a Sunday walk, so why not pick a crisp afternoon and start your own annual Winter Ancient Tree Hug?

There have been lots of exciting developments in our office in the past few weeks, and we’re finally able to tell you all about it: we’re getting a new sister!

Yes, that’s right: there’ll soon be another knitting magazine hitting the shelves! It’s called The Knitter, and will cater for skilled knitters with more than ten challenging patterns in each issue.


Click for a larger image. This is not a proposed cover, but all these designs will be featured in the first issue!

Don’t worry though: Simply Knitting isn’t going anywhere. The Knitter is a sister, not a twin, and will be providing a range of complex and inspirational patterns designed to challenge experienced knitters, as well as regular features and a column written by Mason Dixon.

“Experienced knitters want a magazine with challenging patterns and inspirational ideas to really push their skills,” says Juliet Bernard, The Knitter’s new editor. “As the editor I’m looking forward to showcasing patterns by the best designers from around the world. As a knitter, I can’t wait to start knitting them!”

The very first issue of The Knitter will be on sale on Wednesday 7 January 2009, so don’t forget to ask your newsagent to save you a copy!

The innocent knitted hat campaign has entered its second phase. Thousands of tiny hats are flying out across the country and landing on a Sainsbury's shelf near you! Don't forget that for every smoothie sold wearing a hat, 50p will go to Age Concern, to help them keep old people warm and healthy this winter, so it's a great way to get one of your five a day and do a bit for charity at the same time. And after that? Well, you might have a cute hand-made egg cosy on your hands, or a hat for your niece's doll or perhaps even a Christmas tree ornament! The possibilities are endless and we'd love to see what you come up with!

Knitting's so hip even Banksy's grannies are getting in on the act! Click to find out what they're knitting...

Knitting, yarn, books, yarn, shoes and more knitting – a great recipe for a blog, particularly when the yarnista writing it is Dee Bamford, one half of the husband and wife team behind Posh Yarn's gorgeous hand-dyed yarns.

We were reminded to review this lovely blog by an email from a reader. I read Posh Yarn Dee's blog every day, says Patricia. It's a lovely combination of knitting and life.

Which sums it up neatly.

Read a great blog? Write a great blog? Tell us what it is and why you like it, and you might see it here next Friday. 

Don't be (granny) square - break out of the mold and start crocheting all kinds of funky shapes. This crochet shapes (US terms) series of patterns will walk you through pentagons, octagons and more.

And then if you want something even more wild – but which probaby won't make a very good blanket – head over to the crochet coral reef for some mathematical instruction.

Knitting has hit the (web) pages of OK! Magazine we see as a German grandmother promises to knit sweaters for people whose tyres she slashed.

We love seeing knitting in the news, so if you've spotted a knitting story drop us a line and let us know!

Why would you want to wash your yarn stash, you might wonder? Well, let's just say you had a cat that wasn't allowed in the spare room and it sneaked in there, got shut in and needed to 'spend a penny'... (Happily, all my yarn is machine or hand-washable, and the cat was not shut in for long, although she has made similar attempts to hide there since, being small on brain and big on trouble.)

At times like this, long socks are your friend. Take the machine washable balls of yarn, remove the ball bands and use them to stuff one sock, then pull the second sock over the first so that the foot of the second sock covers up the hole in the first sock. Put the resulting sock sausage in the washing machine on a delicate setting. This way your yarn should emerge unscathed, and you can dry it. (I put mine on top of the radiator, on a towel so they weren't being heated directly.) It definitely works for Sirdar baby yarns, Scholler & Stahl sock yarn and Louisa Harding Impression.

What would I have done if any of the yarns had been dry-clean only? Frankly, I'd have done the same. I don't think my local dry cleaner would have welcomed me dragging in a sack of cat-piddly yarn! Have you ever tried to wash balls of yarn? How did you do it? And were any of them the newfangled sort with the cardboard in the centre?

Wallace and Gromit need your help!

Aided by the gang at I Knit London, Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation is trying to knit the world's biggest tea cosy, and with a deadline of 21 November 2008 they need all the clicking pins they can get!

All they're asking for is a 6in wide strip knitted in DK yarn. Use any colour and any yarn you like, make it as long or short as you fancy. You could tie all your leftovers into one long rainbow ball or stick with solid navy all the way through. Send your finished strip to the I Knit London shop at 106 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London SE1 7AB.

Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation is raising money to help children and their families in hospitals and hospices around the country by having a Great British Tea Party. Get together with a few of your friends or colleagues for a cuppa and perhaps a spot of knitting, and raise a few pennies for sick children.

The December issue of Simply Knitting hits shops nationwide today, so drop a copy in your trolley and start planning your next round of knits.

We've been doing a bit of housekeeping here at Simply Knitting to make sure our patterns are clear and easy to read and our news and reviews pages are chock full of knitting goodness so you may notice a few changes this month.

One change we weren't expecting: the wrong contacts list (page 91) went to the printer! If you're looking for where to buy one of the gorgeous yarns we reviewed or perhaps a pattern and can't find the information in the magazine, you can download the right contacts list here (pdf).


Click for a larger image.

We love this time of year! Crisp autumn days are great for long walks – and when it's not as nice, it's the perfect excuse to stay inside and knit! We've got patterns for the whole family in this issue, from a pretty hat and coat for under-fives to a cosy men's jumper.

Little kids and big ones alike will love Alan Dart's sweet gingerbread puppets and we've got the second part of our fab stash-busting Christmas tree decorations.



It can be tricky to keep warm and stay stylish during the winter months, so we've got two great cardigans for you to choose from: a pretty blue swing coat in chunky yarn and a cosy red cabled cardigan.

Scarves are a must in winter, and they can be super-chic. This month we've got a glam evening scarf – with matching bag – and a cosy, lace scarf shown in three different yarns for you to choose from.

With the holiday season nearly upon us, and the new year coming up fast it's time to get organised! To help make it easy for you, we've designed a fab Simply Knitting 2009 diary. It's got  Your gift this issue is our fab sock calendar. With twelve patterns for socks for the whole family and a handy calendar to keep your schedule on, it's a gift that will last all year.

As it's been designed by knitters for knitters, you'll find lots of useful things ordinary diaries don't have like knitting tips on the pages and special sections for all those vital statistics!



Other great things to look out for in issue 48 include:   

• We report back on our top day out at the Knitting and Stitching show.
• What it's like having alpacas in your garden.
• 20 gorgeous gifts for knitters – your wishlist starts here!
  

And don't miss any of your usual favourites: our experts answer your questions, we've got letters from knitters all over the world and lots of news, reviews and yarn galore.

If you saw last night's Have I Got News For You, you may have seen the knitted dictator made by our regular columnist Rachael Matthews of Prick Your Finger. I'm often amazed by the things Rachael and many other people come up with. Knitting enables them (and you and us!) to design things that are impractical yet thought-provoking, offensive or just plain beautiful. It's all down to inspiration and choice.

Sometimes, of course, you don't want to be inspired. We all have times like that. (I once got a bag of in-progress knitting ready to take on the train to a work-related event and ended up casting on a plain sock and doing that because thinking about a pattern on top of the travelling and work was just too much.) Knitting can be something you do without thinking, enjoying the fact that you don't have to think, and that's good for you too – regular knitting is said to produce similar results to regular meditation!

Then there are times when you just feel the need to design something or adapt a pattern yourself. Those are fun too, although more taxing, requiring more thought.

The fact that knitting enables you to be creative when you wish to, and mechanical when you prefer that, is one of its great strengths. You can knit the item that suits your mood. Perhaps that's why it becomes such a big part of people's lives, because it fits so neatly into every part of life.

Wonder knitter!

Embellish your knitting with loopy flowers, or make a beautiful beaded necklace with the Clover Wonder Knitter! It makes knitting cord easy and fast and you can use a variety of materials including yarn, string or nylon thread. It's easy to add beads for a glamourous look.

Here's how to do it.
1. Pick up the lower stitch.


2. Hook it over the upper stitch onto the pin.


3. Rotate the disk and repeat as you continue knitting your cord. It's as easy as that!


To add beads, slide one onto the hook, pick up the stitch and slide the bead off the hook onto the stitch before step 2.

You can also string the thread with beads before starting, and just slide them up the thread to the stitch you want them on as you knit.

You can produce lovely jewellery like these necklaces and bracelets quickly and easily – perfect for a last minute gift!



As your local yarn shop if they stock Clover products, or visit www.clover-euro.de for stockist information.

Unfortunately, we printed the wrong contacts list (page 91) in issue 48. We're sorry for the inconvenience, and we're working hard to make sure it doesn't happen again. You can download the correct list here (PDF).

The correct page is available to download as a PDF document. It won’t open unless you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download this program from the Adobe website for free. If you have Acrobat Reader and it’s still not working, try right-clicking the link and clicking “save as”. Save the document onto your computer – make sure you can find it again! – and try opening it from there.

Simply Knitting issue 48 hits the shops on Thursday 6 November. Enter our great giveaways and competitions by using the links below.

Make It! show tickets giveaway, page 6
Sheepfold bag kit giveaway, page 12
Prize crossword, page 94

Trick or treating hadn't made it to my village when I was a kid, so I've only been able to dress up and ask strangers for candy the once. An American friend of mine had the idea, and while slightly bemused, we all piled in (free sweets? where?) and raided our parents' wardrobes to make costumes.

In retrospect, a bunch of 16 year olds in masks isn't the most reassuring sight, so perhaps we should have taken her little sister along after all. Still, we had fun, and we did see lots of other (smaller) kids out trick-or-treating, so we weren't too out of place.

This year, I've already been to one Halloween party, and am planning on spending the day itself curled up on the sofa watching telly and knitting. A bottle of wine may be involved at some point, and I might even watch something scarier than Strictly Come Dancing this time.

All in all, I think, not a bad way to celebrate as I don't have any small kids and the people downstairs (who do) are likely to deal with any trick-or-treaters that come our way.

But I'm curious: how will you celebrate? Will you celebrate? And is this a holiday which you knit for? Or are you saving your energies for the much more British Bonfire Night on 5 November instead?