New hard copy subscriptions

NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS Our magazines are mailed to subscribers on the first Thursday of the preceding month, so our August 2025 issue went out on Thursday 3rd July. You’ll find full details of the August magazine in the shop.

If you’d like a new hard copy subscription, it will start with our September magazine. No money is taken with your order and September will be mailed out to subscribers on Thursday 7th August.

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.

High quality digital version

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. New high quality downloads of January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August 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/

August update

Dear Readers

A pretty top always hits the spot, so I’ve included a mix for you this month to suit your machine or stash. If knitting in pattern is just too much of an effort right now, remember you can always transfer a stitch or two across a few rows, to open up the fabric. Leave needles out of work to make ladders and variegated yarn gives instant colour, especially when time is short. Find a favourite stocking stitch pattern that works for you and use it as your starting point. Quite honestly, the difference a bit of pattern will make to the tension is negligible with 15 cm or 6 in ease. If in doubt, always make a size larger as the last thing you need in heat are clothes sticking to you, other than a swimsuit!

If you prefer things more close fitting, a sleeveless top has lots of wardrobe possibilities. They’re a perfect fit at any time under a smart jacket and give a streamlined look worn with a cardigan. One design I’m sure you’ll earmark from this month’s selection is Clair Crowston’s lovely sweater on Page 18, with a choice of three sleeve lengths. Head for your stash and see if you’ve some Bramwell Artistic hidden away. This very popular yarn was 100% Acrylic and marketed as 2-ply but we were told it ‘knits as 4-ply’. (Joan Lafferty has her own opinion about that on Page 50.) During manufacture, the yarn was treated to give it the glossy look of mercerised cotton. It was very smooth to knit and an odd length of it made a good substitute ravel cord. So, see what’s in your stash and you know what needs to be done… knit a tension swatch. As long as your yarn can match the tension of the pattern, anything will do! Well, not quite because yarns do vary in the way they look and hang. A fluffy mohair is probably not the best choice for Clair’s lovely sweater. We’re looking forward to featuring more of Clair’s designs in the future and she often used Artistic. So perhaps now is a good time to find some new favourite yarns, to knit the great patterns from some of machine knitting’s iconic designers. Knit happy!

NEXT ISSUE September 2025

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 7th August

On sale Thursday 14th August

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

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.

Grey skies?

Hello Anne

In the February 2025 issue and the pattern for ‘Blue Skies’ on Page 22, only Chart A is shown. I can find no chart for Punch Tuck Rib B. Please help and many thanks, Marjory

Thanks for asking Marjorie, but you only need one card. As you’ll read, it’s the carriage settings that change the pattern.