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Catch Up with Season 4 of Knit and Crochet Now!

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knit crochet now 4The fourth season of “Knit and Crochet Now” is currently airing on public television stations across the United States (check here to see when it airs near you), so it’s a perfect time to check in with in-house knitting expert Kristin Nicholas.

Kristin is known for her love of color knitting (though she admits this season she’s not a fan of lace knitting!) and is able to explain knitting projects in ways that even newer knitters can understand.

I’ve watched a couple of episodes of this season so far and it looks like a great one. Check out an interview with Kristin Nicholas below and stay tuned next week for an excellent giveaway related to “Knit and Crochet Now.”

And if you want to learn more about Kristin check out the interview I did with her a couple years ago for About.

Sarah: How did you get involved in the program?

Kristin: I’ve been in the needlework business for almost 30 years. I was the Creative Director of Classic Elite Yarns for 16 years. One of the first people I met was Candi Jensen. She was the Creative Director of Crystal Palace Yarns. We hit it off and have been friends ever since. When Candi became the Producer of “Knit and Crochet Now,” she asked me if I wanted to be a “knitting expert.” I had never done much television but I decided to give it a go.

Sarah: What’s your favorite part of the show?

Kristin: No favorite part, but my favorite project from Season 4 is the wreath with the sunflowers. The flowers come from my latest book 50 Sunflowers to Knit, Crochet and Felt.

Sarah: Do you have a favorite project from the last season or a favorite technique to teach?

Kristin: I enjoy teaching colorwork. I find so many knitters are fearful of working with two colors at a time. It isn’t hard but there are some tips I share that make it more successful. I demoed a simple kid’s vest with a chevron Fair Isle Design.kristin nicholas

Sarah: Anything else crafty on the horizon for you?

Kristin: Right now I am working on a book called Crafting the Colorful Home (Roost Books, 2015). It has 20 DIY projects including knit, crochet, fabric painting, printing, interior decoration, felting, and embroidery. I am really looking forward to its release, once it gets finished!

Sarah: Anything else you’d like my readers to know?

Kristin: I live on a working sheep farm with my family. We have over 300 sheep and lambs. We also raise chickens and have 3 Border Collie dogs to help move the sheep around. I have my own line of yarn with Classic Elite Yarns which is sold by Annie’s.  I write a popular blog called Getting Stitched on the Farm where I chronicle our life on the farm and what I create.

 

Comments

  1. I am looking for the free pattern for episode 410. Wreath with knit flowers and crochet flowers. If the free pattern is here I can’t find it.

Have you read?

Easy Knit Baskets to Use All Your Stash

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts. 

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts. 

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects. 

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version. 

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want. 

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do. 

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like. 

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.