September 2025 (Issue 332) with Bill King & Nina Miklin

Chunky machines will make short work of the gilet on our September 2025 cover. It has a good size range and is in our mix of patterns for standard, mid-gauge and chunky machines. Nina Miklin’s classy design will make you fall in love with whisper-light mohair all over again and Alison Dupernex is an invaluable support. Bill King has a ‘hook-up’ technique to inspire us and Susan Guagliumi’s expertise lives on in the Machine Knit Community, the new custodians of Susan’s invaluable online content. Joan Lafferty gets us weaving and swaps ‘mistakes’ for a ‘design feature’ and we’ve a reader’s gorgeous padded cot quilt to make using a cone of 4-ply and some oddments. It’s another packed issue including Sally Butcher’s plus-size design in punch tuck rib and all the usual advice, news and reviews.

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. Just head for the SHOP and select either the hardcopy or downloadable option. The downloadable magazine is just £4 (sterling) for each issue and available straight away. It saves the huge expense and wait for overseas postage, so check it out NOW!

September update

Dear Readers

As news has come in this month, I’ve had to make a few changes to the magazine… and my editorial is no exception! If I don’t pass this on now, it will be too late for the October issue. Shaun the Sheep first appeared in Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit short film, A Close Shave, 30 years ago. (In truth, 2025 may be his 30th anniversary, but Shaun is eleven years old in sheep years!) To mark the milestone, Aardman has joined forces with British Wool (britishwool.org.uk), the Campaign for Wool (campaignforwool.org) and Craft Forward (craftforward.com) to unveil ‘Can Ewe Knit It?’. ‘Blankets for the World’ is a joint project to distribute warm, handmade blankets to different areas around the globe.

We’re asked to knit or crochet a Shaun inspired 20 x 20cm blanket square using any yarn thickness or stitch. There are free patterns to download at https://aard.mn/CanEweKnitIt, or we can make our own totally unique design. British Wool’s involvement in the campaign encourages us to please use real wool. We’ve to post our 20 x 20cm squares to Craft Forward, 3 Space International House, 6 Canterbury Crescent, London SW9 7QD by 30th September 2025.

Craft Forward supports ‘Blankets for London’ and hosts regular knitting and crochet workshops across the city. It’s a chance for people to come together, learn a new skill and make new connections, because arts and crafts can be a catalyst for social change. It can also have a big impact on people’s mental health and well-being. The ‘Can Ewe Knit It?’ campaign runs until 28th October 2025, when there will be a ‘Blankets for London’ event at The Mills Fabrica in Kings Cross, to bring the blanket squares together. Entry is free but spaces are limited so you need to sign up (shaunthesheep.com/can-ewe-knit-it). Each blanket will be given to an unhoused person in London, to bring warmth to some of the most vulnerable in society. It’s also worth mentioning that there are other local ‘Blankets for the World’ volunteers such as Blankets for Glasgow, Teeside, Liverpool, Barnsley, Sheffield, Coventry, Ipswich and Brighton, as well as London. We all have a stash and we can all manage a 20 x 20cm square, so let’s help to spread some warmth this winter as we keep knitting our way!

NEXT ISSUE October 2025

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 4th September

On sale Thursday 11th September

Ask your newsagent to reserve a copy or order a subscription NOW!

High quality digital version

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. Nine high quality downloads from January to September 2025 are all available. Just head for the SHOP and select either the hardcopy or downloadable option. The downloadable magazine is just £4 (sterling) for each issue and available straight away. It saves the huge expense and wait for overseas postage, so make sure you have a good Wi-Fi connection and check it out NOW at machineknittingmonthly.net/shop/

New hard copy subscriptions

NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS Our magazines are mailed to subscribers on the first Thursday of the preceding month, so our September 2025 issue went out on Thursday 7th August. You’ll find full details of the September magazine in the shop.

If you’d like a new hard copy subscription, it will start with our October magazine. No money is taken with your order and October will be mailed out to subscribers on Thursday 4th September.

If you’d like to start with an earlier magazine, please buy it as a back issue and you’ll find lots of choice in our shop.

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. Just head for the SHOP and select either the hardcopy or downloadable option. The downloadable magazine is just £4 (sterling) for each issue and available straight away. It saves the huge expense and wait for overseas postage, so check it out NOW at machineknittingmonthly.net/shop/ Please note that, as yet, we don’t have a digital subscription available.

August 2025 (Issue 331) with Clair Crowston, Bill King & Nina Miklin

The summer top on our August 2025 cover has a great size range and is in our mix of patterns for standard and mid-gauge machines, including lots of summer tops. Clair Crowston has a gorgeous design with three sleeve lengths and Nina Miklin’s classy slipover adds a touch of casual appeal. Alison Dupernex is an invaluable support and Bill King adds some textural interest in a third colour to regular Fair Isle designs. Susan Guagliumi’s expertise lives on in the Machine Knit Community, the new custodians of Susan’s invaluable online content. Joan Lafferty shares some useful hints and tips rarely found in instruction manuals and we revisit programming Brother electronic machines and finding the hidden patterns. It’s another packed issue including all the usual advice, news and reviews.

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. Just head for the SHOP and select either the hardcopy or downloadable option. The downloadable magazine is just £4 (sterling) for each issue and available straight away. It saves the huge expense and wait for overseas postage, so check it out NOW!

AIDS quilt on show

 UK AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT GOES ON SHOW IN TATE MODERN’S TURBINE HALL

From today until 16 June 2025, Tate Modern’s visitors have a rare opportunity to see the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt. Begun around 1989, this vast work consists of 42 quilts and 23 individual panels which represent 384 individuals affected by HIV and AIDS. Laid out in a grid across the entire floor of the Turbine Hall, echoing how it has previously been shown outdoors, it continues to raise awareness of the ongoing AIDS pandemic.

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is one chapter of the largest community art project in the world. It began in the USA in 1985, when American activist Cleve Jones started inviting people to create textile panels to commemorate the friends, family and loved ones they lost to AIDS. These individual panels were sewn together to create larger quilts, which were then shown outdoors as a form of protest to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. In the late 1980s, Scottish activist Alastair Hume visited San Francisco, where he witnessed an early display of the quilt. When Hume returned home to Edinburgh, he began coordinating the creation and display of a UK version, as many others did around the world. One of its largest public showings was the ‘Quilts of Love’ display in June 1994 at Hyde Park Corner, London, presenting selected panels from the US and the UK, alongside sections created by fashion designers.

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt

12–16 June 2025

Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG

Admission is free

More information at tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Follow @Tate

Readings of the names featured in the Quilt will take place in the Turbine Hall from 11:00-12:15 and 14:00-15:15 on Saturday 14 June 2025, opened with a poem from Bakita Kasadha.

July 2025 (Issue 330) with Alison Dupernex & Bill King

The summer cardigan on our full-colour July 2025 cover has a great size range (from 82-127cm, 32-50in) and is in our mix of patterns for standard, mid-gauge and chunky machines including a pretty kid’s bolero from Anne Baker’s Karabee Collection. Alison Dupernex is an invaluable support and her stunning Fair Isle design uses lots of oddments of different yarns and colours. Bill King creates some intricate diagonal effects with eye-catching samples and after her retirement, Susan Guagliumi’s expertise lives on in the Machine Knit Community, the new custodians of Susan’s invaluable online content. Joan Lafferty gives everyone the courage to use their charting device and we’ve an interesting look at punch lace together with all the usual advice, news and reviews.

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. Just head for the SHOP and select either the hardcopy or downloadable option. The downloadable magazine is just £4 (sterling) for each issue and available straight away. It saves the huge expense and wait for overseas postage, so check it out NOW!

Pest control

Hi Anne

I thought I’d just pass on a quick word to someone who would sympathise and, more importantly, let others know. I have the moth! I’ve had to check all my cones and throw out anything slightly suspect. Strangely they didn’t seem to go for oiled wool and neither have they a taste for any of my Nina Miklin yarns. (I’m sure she’ll be pleased to hear!) It’s a lesson to be learnt by all and there is still a place for annual spring cleaning! Everyone needs to be checking. As I’ve not been knitting, it never even crossed my mind to do anything as tedious as inspecting my stash for any unwanted friends. Do please let your readers know, Anne and best wishes, Sue

Old friends

Hi Anne

My MKM downloaded on the first attempt this morning, so there was no ironing done this morning! It was just like meeting up with an old friend. We emigrated from London to New Zealand in 2010 and MKM is very hard to find here, so I was very happy to hear that you’ve gone digital. You won’t remember me, because you were surrounded by happy knitters at a Knit & Stitch event in London. I won a free MKM magazine from your stall about 25 years ago and have still got it. That started my journey into a lifetime of clubs, workshops and wonderful new friends. Thank you again Anne and all good wishes, Ann

Beware, it’s a scam!

Dear Anne

Last week we were parked on the access road to a local car park when an officially-dressed man approached us. He told us that as of three days ago the rules had changed and we had to register my Blue Badge to park there. As we hadn’t done so, we must pay £2 at the car park ticket machine so he could cancel a pending fine. Advised by the ‘official’ my husband went to the machine and it swallowed his card. The man asked me to try a different card, which also disappeared into the machine. We then went to move our car. Very soon after a large amount of cash was stolen from each of our bank accounts. Please warn your readers, in case there’s a similar scam in their area. The man was very plausible and it never crossed our minds to grasp what he was doing. Thank you Anne for letting others know and sending you best wishes. (Full name and address supplied.)

I’ve known our reader for a very long time and, together with her husband, they’ve always been exceptionally vigilant and taken every possible care. They were terribly upset to discover they’d been scammed. There was also the added worry of losing their cards along with a lot of money. Additionally, they’d to wait several days for both banks to investigate. In due course it was concluded they were telling the truth, had indeed been robbed and were reimbursed by their banks. They’d not had their Blue Badge for long, so were unsure of all the requirements. Our reader asked me to tell you about her dreadful experience, hoping it may save just one of you from suffering the pain of what’s happened to them.