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Craftsy Offering 45 Days of Free Classes

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I’ve been writing about the news surrounding Bluprint/Craftsy and its new owners for a while now, so it seems like it’s time for an update on the next chapter.

Quick recap: back in May, NBCUniversal, which had purchased the online crafts education platform Craftsy back in 2017 and renamed it Bluprint was planning to shut it down. Then in July, TN Marketing, which runs several craft themed educational websites, said it would be buying certain assets of Bluprint and revamping the site again, changing the name back to Craftsy.

That change has now happened, and to celebrate the company is allowing free access to all classes for 45 days. (I assume this is the same as when Bluprint did it that you can watch the classes but not access downloads such as patterns).

A monthly membership, which allows you to access unlimited classes, will run $7.99 a month or $79.99 when you purchase a year’s access. You can also purchase individual classes. I looked at the knitting classes and it looks like they range from $4.99 to $39.99 depending on the length and complexity of the class.

People who had membership to Bluprint or had purchased Craftsy classes in the past can access the free membership by using the email associated with their account to change their password. The company notes that people who have purchased classes cannot access them through their accounts right now but they can stream them as part of the free access.

I signed into my account and it looks like I have a premium membership through Oct. 16. As mentioned above I cannot see classes I bought previously, but it does look like this premium access allows you to stream classes as well as download patterns, unlike when Bluprint had free streaming earlier this year. I did not give them credit card information so I assume at the end of the free period I will go back to not having a membership but at some point will be able to access those classes I purchased. I will continue to update as things change.

What do you think of this new change? Are you going to give the new Craftsy a(nother) chance? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Comments

  1. I always enjoyed Craftsy. Glad they switched the name back, most crafts people can relate to that name rather than Blueprint. I like the idea best to just buy what classes I am interested in.

  2. I had several classes in my library. I hope I will be able to access them. If I can’t, I will be reluctant to purchase any others.

  3. I purchased several classes through craftsy which were supposed to be mine to own forever and then I became an annual member and used the membership frequently and was given several free own forever classes which I took advantage of. Now it appears that I cannot access any of that which makes me very reluctant to join again. What is the deal with this. I was charged $150.00 to renew my membership in a company that no longer existed but did complain and get my money back. I am really frustrated and confused.

Have you read?

Learn a Flower Bobble Technique to Knit a Fun Shawl

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier. 

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project. 

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible. 

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge. 

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects. 

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy. 

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project. 

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Xandy Peters]