Celebrating Scottish culture, from Nessie to Braveheart, bagpipes to whisky, this fun book is full of Caledonian national treasures. You can knit your own Loch Ness monster, legendary warrior William Wallace, and even comedian Billy Connolly. Read more about the book on page 48 of The Knitter issue 53.

It's Twelfth Night tomorrow, marking the end of the festive period. So now you've had two weeks to play with all your lovely new knitting gifts, what would you recommend to your yarn-loving friends?

We have an errata in the Francine Beret pattern by Louisa Harding in issue 53, where a needle change instruction was omitted.  

In the first column, after working the striped rib, the pattern should read: "Now change to 4.5mm needles and yarn B and work increase rounds as folls:"

Have you knitted a garment or accessory that you are particularly proud of? Over at The Knitter we’ve been admiring the many  gorgeous knitted items appearing on our readers’ Ravelry profiles and in our knitting groups, and we would love to share them with other readers by publishing the pictures in our magazine.

Whether it’s a design from one of our issues, from your favourite designer’s latest book, or a download from Ravelry, we’d love to print one of your photos in our ‘In The Loop’ reader gallery. Just supply the image, along with a few lines from you about your experience of knitting and wearing the piece, as reader Judith Thiery(pictured left) did.

In the final part of our masterclass on knitting with beads, Jane Crowfoot will explain how to place a bead using a crochet hook.

I was recently taught this technique by a workshop participant. It is a little fiddly, but is a fantastic method for adding beads as you go along.

No pre-threading of beads is required, but you will need to get a really tiny hook.

Happy New Year! How was your New Year's Eve? If, like us, you're looking at this heap of yarns and wishing you were small enough to curl up amidst the squidgy balls, why not take today as the perfect excuse to hide away with some neglected knitting project and perhaps even complete a few rows?

Failing that, it's the time to think about your new year's resolutions, and how you plan to advance your knitting this year...

Whether your aim is to tackle a new knitting skill...

Join a knitting group...

Knit for charity...

Attend a knitting workshop...

Or just finish that long-overdue knit-in-progress!

Whatever you choose, we wish you a very happy, successful and fulfilling 2013 from all at The Knitter!

We’re delighted to unveil our very first book! Knitting Masterclass is a compilation of our most popular and informative masterclass features from the past four years.

Accompanied with beautiful patterns from the magazine, it will equip you with all the know-how you need to acquire some new knitting skills.

Okay, not the whole world, but perhaps one corner of it! The WORK+SHELTER  foundation helps women from the slums of New Delhi by offering them the means to make a living via knitting.

You can help too, simply by buying one of the WORK+SHELTER accessory patterns available on the Sweatshop of Love website. We love this cabled clutch. There are also mittens, snood, leg warmers, funky handwarmers, and so much more.

A great way to get you new year's knitting off to a fabulously altruistic start!

Welcome to the first issue of The Knitter of 2013! If the new year has prompted you to embark on a yarn diet, then we sympathise! Rosee says: “I’m very much looking forward to buying a skein or two of my favourite yarn in 2013, after spending the past 12 months on a ‘stash down’.” 

You may notice a few changes to The Knitter this issue. We’re excited to bring you our first-ever Mini Mag, with three patterns for children. We've also launched a new monthly column, with our first from Jane Sowerby, author of Victorian Lace Today.

Jane is still discovering new treasures from those Victorian knitters, and has designed an exclusive shawl for readers of The Knitter, which you can adapt to your own style. 

we also have a stunning home knit from Kaffe Fassett and a pretty beret by Louisa Harding. Louisa has designed a series of hats as part of her campaign for Macmillan Cancer Support. Find out how you can help on page 71.

If, like Rosee, you’re addicted to Ravelry.com, then Mimi Hill’s tutorial on photographing your knitting is perfect for making sure your project photos really shine.

Now that December’s knitting ‘work’ is over, we do hope you'll make something for yourself from this issue, and wish you a very happy and healthy 2013!

In part four of our masterclass on knitting with beads, Jane Crowfoot will explain how to place a bead within a stitch.

This is probably the speediest method of adding beads to your knitting. However, the bead can easily slip through to the reverse of the work. For this method, as with the methods one and two, the beads are threaded onto the yarn before casting on.

Once placed, the bead is held within the stitch and lies at a slight angle on one side of it.