We have some exciting news from Red Heart yarns - the new UK website is now live!

There are 31 different yarns available, from fashion, basic, and baby to sock yarn, in a wide range of colours. There are also over 100 free knitting and crochet patterns to choose from, including this striped jumper and this boys' Prince cardigan - and more new patterns are added every week. 

This week's free Tuesday tea cosy comes courtesy of Libby Summers of LibbyTDesigns, who designed this in aid of Breast Cancer Care's Strawberry Tea Party campaign.

This annual fund-raising campaign takes place every summer, and this year it starts on 1st June and runs until 31st August. Breast Cancer Care are asking you to get together with friends and family this summer, and host a Strawberry Tea party, to help raise money to support the 55,000 people diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK. 

Patterns for tea cosies, mug hugs and coffee pot cosies are some of our most popular projects, so we've decided to treat you to a new free pattern each week! To start off, here's Louise Butt's striped cable set, with a tea cosy, coffee warmer, egg cosy and table mat... perfect for breakfast, or a warm pot of tea at any time of day.

Find your next knitting project!

Explore the best free and paid patterns from around the world in Craftsy’s Pattern Marketplace. Discover a wide range of designs, from chunky cardigans to chic handbags, adorable baby booties, and more. Then download your favorites in an easy to use high-quality PDF format, so you can get started right away. Browse the Craftsy Pattern Marketplace and support indie designers today!

As you probably know, in the UK we celebrate Mothering Sunday a couple of months earlier than our American friends, so we've already posted several great knitted project ideas to spoil your Mum with. But we know a lot of our readers are overseas, and in the USA, Canada, and Australia, Mother's Day is less than two weeks away, on Sunday 12th May.

We had six new quick and easy Mother's Day gift patterns by Kyoko Nakayoshi in issue 103, including this chunky cable bag, plus a corsage, mug hugs and more. You can download the whole set for just £2.99 here, or if you'd prefer to catch up on issue 103 you can buy a digital iPad edition here.

We've been working hard on the new look for our Simply Knitting newsletter, and it'll be winging its way to you next week. In every newsletter you'll get a fabulous free pattern (and we'll reveal the next one on Monday!), and you'll also get a glimpse at the contents of the latest issue of the magazine, details of our new competitions, expert knitting advice, and great reader offers... 

As well as the new fresh look, we've also added new features to make the stories in the newsletter easier to share with your friends, through Facebook, Twitter, Ravelry and Pinterest. And other enhancements will make it better if you're visually impaired and use a screen reader. 

If you haven't already signed up, don't miss out - enter your email address at the top of this page and you'll be added to our list. And we promise we won't send your details to anyone else, or clog up your inbox with junk.

Nothing beats a bargain, so you'll love this collection of our favourite free knitting patterns from The Making Spot. Download one of these patterns for your next project, guilt-free, and enjoy being a true bargainista!

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This Cute as a kitten hat pattern is available in three sizes: 0-6 months, 6-12 months or 12-24 months. It makes the perfect gift for a new baby in the family, and since the pattern is completely free you can splash out a little on some gorgeous yarns.

With the Easter holidays now underway, there's no better opportunity to get creative with your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or cousins. Over on The Making Spot we have a great selection of projects, whether you're interested in knitting, crochet, papercraft or cross stitch - and best of all, there's a half-price sale too - see below for our discount code!

These are just a few of our favourite projects to while away the hours this weekend...

Brighten up your home this Easter with this fabulous free papercraft bunting template by Jo-Anne Cavanagh. Everyone will love getting involved to make it, and it looks so pretty.

And if you're having a special family lunch over the bank holiday weekend, why not get the younger members of the family to make these personalised place settings too? The template is also part of the free download pack.

It was great to see so many of you at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show over the weekend, knitting bunting along with us. 

If you weren't able to make it to London, you can now download the pattern for this pretty bunting, designed by our Technical Editor Faye. Simply click here to download the PDF.

We've heard from a reader, Laura Moore in Bristol, about a new charity project in need of help from kind crocheters.

Reuben's Retreat (registered Charity Number 1150436) was set up in August 2012, after Reuben suddenly passed away aged 23 months. He suffered from a rare and aggressive cancerous tumour, and since his parents were unable to donate his organs due to the cancer, they have set up a charity in his name.