I’m a big crafter, Guru. What should I buy?

AGuru loves how ‘craft’ can just be lumped into a single category. That’s like asking, “hey, Guru, I’m a big fan of moving from place to place, what the heck do I do?” and expecting Ol’ Uncle Tips here to pick out a method of ambulation for you. So rather than a rifle-shot answer, here comes a GaGu blunderbuss blast of recommendations.

Like cutting out bits of paper and/or vinyl? Forget your scissors, because a machine could do it much better. Get a Cricut Maker 3 (from £400, pronounced more like ‘cricket’ than ‘cry cut’, which is probably for the best). It’s essentially like a combination of a plotter, which you might remember from school depending on your age, and a knife, which may also bring up memories depending on your particular comprehensive. Very good for papercraft, decals, stencils, whathaveyou.

Like to stitch? Guru’s mum is a big vintage Bernina fan, so she’ll probably clip him round the ear for recommending the Janome Memory Craft 500E (£1,500), but it’s worth a look. It’s a computerised, automatic embroiderer able to loop lurid designs onto everything from stretch fabric to denim and costs nowhere near the £6,000 of Brother’s barmy six-needle PR680W. It’s not a sewing machine, though. To attach fabric to other fabric, try Janome’s Atelier 6 (£1,300) with its 196 different stitches, or maybe just use some glue. Nobody will notice.

For knitting? Silver Reed is the only manufacturer still going big on knitting machines – the SK840 will cost around £1,100, but it does at least go beyond punch cards for its patterns. For art? Copic Classic alcohol markers will help you do incredible things but they have an MSRP of £110 for 12, which is steep.