Are craft magazines done?

While talking to my hubby yesterday, I made the mistake of mentioning that I wanted to pop into the newsagents for a crochet magazine.

“Do people still buy magazines?” He asked

I assured him, that yes, I’d seen several people buying magazines in our local WH Smiths but it got me thinking. Will there be a time when we don’t need craft magazines?

If we buy them purely for patterns, Pinterest has that covered. For inspiration, there’s Instagram. Magazines themselves are going digital and my daughter now read her Kerrang on her phone.

To my mind, there’s something almost comforting about having a physical product in your hand. You can make notes on it (admit it, I’m not the only one!) and you can go back to it again &again & again. No ploughing through the internet for ‘that’ pattern, whose name you can’t quite remember.

Sharing a computer printout doesn’t have the same feel as gathering around a colourful double page spread.

The crochet community has exploded in the last decade or so. Where previously we may have learned about an up and coming designer or the new brand of yarn coming out, now we read blogs and watch online for trends and hashtags.

The first ever craft magazine I bought was Cross Stitcher. On the cover it had an autumnal scene, complete with cheeky fox and a wandering badger. I still have it, nearly 20 years later. The best thing is, now that I’m getting into corner to corner crochet, I have a use for those charts again. A computer file from the same time doesn’t invoke the same smile.

Over the years there’s been lots of crafts that led me to the hobby section of the newsagents. Jewellery making, tapestry, baking, sewing, paper crafts, knitting, beading and most recently colouring. The fact that there’s now several magazines purely for crochet is a joy, although choosing can be a trial.

There may be people out there that claim that print is dying, but there’ll always be a place for a magazine or two on my bookcase.

What about you, readers?

What was the first Craft magazine you ever bought? Do you subscribe to any or have you gone digital already.

Let me know in the comments below x

 

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