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Knit and Crochet Now! Ending after Season 13

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Annie’s has announced that the latest season of “Knit and Crochet Now!,” which is the 13th, will be the last. The show, which has aired on PBS stations around the country, is currently midway through the season, which will wrap up at the end of April (at least on my local station)

According to a statement on Facebook, Annie’s decided to cease production, but all episodes of the series are available for viewing by members of Annie’s Creative Studio.

“After 13 wonderful seasons full of creativity, excitement and love for all things knit and crochet, we would like to extend our thanks to all of our excellent instructors, and to you, our loyal fans,” the post said.

“Knit and Crochet Now” is a program focused on building knit and crochet skills and demonstrating patterns on a theme. A changing set of hosts and guest instructors has been on the show through the years, with some of the current series instructors including Lily Chin, Britt Schmiesing, Lena Skvagerson, Kristin Omdahl and Rachel Alford.

Annie’s Creative Studio is a monthly membership program that gives people access to more than 1,900 videos and 1,500 patterns related to knitting, crochet, sewing, quilting and home decorating. New content is regularly added to the platform.

Annie’s is currently offering a 15-day free trial of the program, which costs $7.99 per month. You can also purchase individual episodes for $3.99 each if there are only a few episodes you need access to.

The plan is to keep the Knit and Crochet Now Facebook and Instagram pages open so people can continue to share and learn in those communities.

While it’s always sad to see fiber arts publications and programs go away, “Knit and Crochet Now” has been a great resource and introduction to the fiber arts for many crafters over many years and we are thankful for its legacy.

[Photo via Knit and Crochet Now Facebook page.]

 

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Comments

  1. Beautiful shrug. I like how you made such a versatile use of a little bit of yarn. I don’t have a Sentro (yet) but I do have 2 flatbed knitting machines and love to design garments on them, a real superpower of these machines!

  2. Thank you! I have a flatbed machine as well and I need to do more patterns for it. You could definitely do this on a flatbed, you’d just make one long flat piece and then fold and seam the sleeves.

Have you read?

Knit a Garter Stitch Blanket with a Twist

When I first started knitting again after a long absence from the craft (which has now been almost 25 years ago!) I really didn’t like garter stitch that much. I found it super boring, somehow even more boring than knitting stockinette stitch in the round, even though it’s exactly the same thing.

Over the years I’ve softened my opinion, and even grown to like garter stitch. There’s nothing wrong with being plain, and actually the texture of garter stitch is more interesting than stockinette.

Also there are fun things you can do with garter stitch to make it more interesting if you want to, such as adding stripes, working on the bias, or doing fun effects to change the look.

That’s the way with the Bernat Twist My Way Garter Knit Blanket. Using combinations of casting on and binding off creates what they call a Swiss cheese effect along two sides of the blanket. This is a lot of fun in the self-striping ombre yarn they chose for the pattern, but it would also be fun in a solid color or making your own stripes.

Despite the dramatic effect, this pattern is rated easy. It’s worked from side to side (if you consider the “cheesy” edges the top and bottom) and has an eight-row repeat that involves binding off and then casting on again to make the holes. They’re kind of like giant buttonholes.

Once you get the hang of it it’s a pretty easy repeat to remember, and it will be smooth knitting as big as you want to make it.

You can download this pattern from the Yarnspirations website for free, or you can buy a kit direct from them that includes the yarn you need (and knitting needles if you need those, too). Bernat Sport Ombre Twist, which is what is used in the pattern, comes in 12 self patterning colors and is a DK weight acrylic yarn.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]