Cools news if you live (or work or attend school) in Toronto!

You can download digital copies of the following knitting and crochet magazines for free with your library card (which is also free to get if you don’t have one, by the way):

Interweave Crochet
Interweave Knits
Knit Wear
Knitter’s Magazine
Crochet Traditions
Knit & Spin
Knitscene

(other types of mags too, but I figure most of ya want fibre-related ones)

The service is called Zinio eMagazines and is now available on the Toronto Public Library website (direct link here).

Zinio offers unlimited (no time limit, no limit on # of magazines) access to current issues of popular magazines. I’ve started using it on my iPad already. It’s pretty sweet.

You have to create two accounts using the same email address and password – one at tpl.ca/zinio to access and checkout magazines and a zinio.com Reader account (tpl.ca/zinio will guide you to go there after you register and check out your first magazine) to read checked out magazines via streaming online and download offline via the free mobile app (iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry).

*Important note:* to check out a new magazine, you must go back to the Toronto Public Library Zinio eMagazine page. If you try to select a magazine through the Zinio website or the app, you will be prompted to pay for it.

A Getting Started with Zinio eMagazines page also appears on the library website providing updated title and subject lists, a one page Zinio User Guide and a Frequently Asked Questions section.