We're here to help you stitch sustainability into every aspect of your making.
With our carefully curated selection of non-superwash, plastic-free yarns and notions, we have everything you need to get started on your next project - and the one after that.
Here's to a wardrobe of knits we love and want to wear for years to come!
Introducing Easy Read Issue 6!
Since we launched Issue 6 at the beginning of the month, you may have heard us mention the easy read version, and while we've talked about it here and there, we thought it would be a good idea to write this post to tell you exactly what it is and how you get it!
We’ve created this new version of Issue 6 specifically for our non and partially sighted members of the community. We've been working closely with a fantastic accessibility expert, Renee Van Hoy, to transform Issue 6 (and Issue 5!) into a format that is accessible for our community members with vision impairment or low vision.
So how does Easy Read differ from the print & digital versions?
- Each pattern has been reworked to integrate all the written directions into the instructions, so there are no charts.
- The font has been changed and the size increased to make it clearer.
- All photos include descriptive and alt text.
- Easy Read Issue is also screen reader compatible and has been tested with all the major software available.
- There are very few abbreviations in the patterns, so when using with a screen reader the instructions will be read clearly.
How to purchase Easy Read?
If you didn't already know, we have an Easy Read version of Issue 5 & Issue 6, and both are in digital format. You get access to the easy read versions when you purchase either the print or digital of either Issue 5 or 6. For example, if you purchase Issue 6 in print, you get the print version plus the digital version and the Easy read version. If you purchase Issue 6 in digital, you get the digital version and the Easy read version.
How do you access Easy Read?
How you receive your copy of Easy Read depends on where you purchase your copy of our magazine. If you purchase a digital version from Ravelry, the easy read version will automatically be included in your download. If you purchase either the digital or print version from our website, the easy read version will be automatically emailed to you using the email address you use to make your purchase. In that email, you will find a link to a dropbox folder that contains all the files for the easy read version.
Why does Easy Read have so many files?
As each of the patterns have been expanded to include all written instructions and eliminate the charts, they are much longer than in the original publication. With the addition of the enlarged font, it created a long document that felt a little clumsy to work with. To make it easier to navigate, we have split it up into sections. When you download the easy-read version, you will find the main file titled ‘Start Here’ that includes all the editorial content such as the letter for the editor, all articles and artwork, plus an introduction to all the patterns. Alongside this file, we have separated each pattern into its own file. This way, when you want to knit a particular pattern, you can work just from that pattern file, and not have to go back and forth through one long document. If you need any help at all navigating the easy read version after downloading, please do send us an email and we'll be happy to help!
So that's all our information on Easy Read Issues 5 & 6! This is still really new territory for us, so we'd appreciate any help to spread the word. If you know anyone who you think may be interested in the easy version of our magazine, please do point them to this post, and if you have any questions at all, please let us know in the comments below!
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Also in Blog
Thoughts on closing down a knitting magazine
As a lot of you might have suspected I have, at last, made the decision to definitely close down Making Stories Magazine after Issue 14, our 2025 Fall & Winter issue. This means we still have two issues to go - Issue 13, coming out in March (Confetti & Rainbows!!), and Issue 14, coming out in September. I wanted to share this decision with you bright and early as I don’t feel like holding this in when we publish our last Spring and then our very last Fall & Winter issue. I want to celebrate those issues, and the work that we have done over the last eight years, and I want to be able to share the bittersweet feelings that will inevitably come up when the list of “lasts” still do be done gets shorter and shorter.
Read More
All the knits I finished while recovering from surgery
About three weeks ago, I had surgery. Nothing major, and it was planned - but it was my first time undergoing general anaesthesia and facing an uncertain recovery period, both of which made me quite nervous. I knew that I was going to be in the hospital for two days, if everything went well, but then it was between one and three weeks of recovering at home, depending on how fast my body was going to heal.
Needless to say, I packed knitting for the hospital, but I didn’t feel like picking up my needles until my second day in the hospital. And then I knit. I knit, and knit, and knit. Curiously enough, I always get the urge to clear off my needles this time of the year - something about the weather changing, sweater season approaching, maybe? And this year, this urge coincided with me wanting to do something while watching copious amounts of Netflix without having to think very hard about what I was going to knit. Win win!
Art Nouveau Sample Preview Video - Issue 12, Fall & Winter 2024
Let’s wander the streets of Brussels and Paris, searching for the hidden architectural Art Nouveau gems – houses, doors, windows, street lamps. Let’s explore Berlin’s Jugendstil tile art, marvelling at the colors and shapes taking form. Let’s get lost in the work of water color artists, glass blowers, jewellers, embroidery artists, and myriads more, who dive into the shapes and curves of plants and flowers, moving, flowing, mirroring.
Read More
