Knit and crochet now points to two different things depending on what brought you here: real published media covering both crafts, including UK magazines like Knit Now and Crochet Now and the earlier PBS series Knit and Crochet Now, or simply the practical question of which craft to actually pick up today. This guide covers both, starting with the real media worth knowing about, then giving a direct answer for anyone ready to start right now.
Real Knit and Crochet Media
Knit Now and Crochet Now are established UK craft magazines publishing seasonal patterns, technique guides, and designer features on a regular schedule, often bundled with exclusive pattern booklets or small tool kits with each issue. Knit and Crochet Now! was a PBS television series that ran from 2017 through 2020, hosted by Bret Bara, pairing a knitting expert and a crochet expert in each episode to demonstrate techniques for viewers at home.
These resources remain useful reference points if you want structured, regularly updated pattern content beyond free online sources, since a magazine subscription or an archived TV episode typically offers more thoroughly tested material than an average uncredited free pattern found online.
If You Want to Start Right Now
If the phrase brought you here because you are actually ready to pick up a hook or needles today, crochet is generally the faster craft to get a usable result from on your very first sitting, since single crochet only requires learning one repeated motion and mistakes stay contained to a single active loop. Knitting takes a bit longer to feel comfortable but rewards you with stretchier, more drapey fabric once the basic rhythm clicks.
A basic cotton dishcloth remains the most forgiving true first project for crochet, using only single crochet worked in straight rows with zero shaping. For knitting, a simple garter stitch scarf, using only the knit stitch across every row, offers the same kind of forgiving, mistake-tolerant starting point.
What You Need to Start Today
For crochet: one hook matched to a ball of worsted weight yarn, and a pair of scissors, which is genuinely all it takes to complete a first small project. For knitting: a pair of straight needles sized to your yarn, the same worsted weight yarn works fine, and scissors. Neither craft requires a significant upfront investment to try.
Where to Access These Resources Today
Knit Now and Crochet Now remain in active print and digital publication in the UK, available through newsstand purchase, digital subscription apps, or specialty craft magazine retailers that ship internationally. Back issues of both magazines circulate widely on secondhand marketplaces, often at a fraction of the original cover price, which makes building a small reference library affordable even on a limited budget.
Since Knit and Crochet Now! ended its original PBS run in 2020, finding new episodes requires checking whatever streaming or archive platform currently hosts PBS’s older craft programming, since availability shifts over time as networks reorganize their back catalogs.
Other Well-Known Craft Media Worth Checking
Beyond these specific titles, several independent crochet designers run their own long-running YouTube channels and podcasts covering similar seasonal pattern content and technique instruction, often at no cost compared to a magazine subscription. Print magazine subscriptions can still be worth it alongside free online content, since the curated, tested quality of an established print publication is hard to match, even with so much free material available elsewhere.
The PBS series Knit and Crochet Now! ran from 2017 to 2020 and has since ended, though archived episodes may still be available through PBS or other streaming sources.
