In Praise of Podcasts

I thought I'd like to write a little bit about podcasts I listen to. I've really got into podcasts lately. I only got my ipod at christmas, and it took a while till I was savvy enough about the whole thing to even realise you could get podcasts, but when I did, I became a little addicted :) I've got a nano, which at 4gb you would think would be enough space for my music and podcasts, but I have to rearrange it every week without fail. And if I'm going on a long bus journey, I can be on itunes for hours the day before, trying to figure out what music and podcasts I want to listen to. I listen to a lot of music anyway, but trying to squeeze all the podcasts I listen to on there too . . . I think I need another ipod just for podcasts and audiobooks. Oh, yeah, I forgot about the audiobooks. Or I need the 160gb ipod classic that I keep drooling over in the argos catalogue!

Anyway, I'm catching up on podcasts just now. I like to listen to a series right from the beginning and catch up before I listen to new ones, and I listen to one series at a time. But if a new episode comes up from a series I've caught up on, that gets priority.

As far as knitting podcasts go, I've listened to and caught up on (in the order I listened to them in) Cast On, Lime and Violet, Stash and Burn, and Yarncraft. Today I'm going to start catching up on Knit Picks podcasts.

I like them all for different reasons. I really got into the two host podcast thing for a while there (see Lime and Violet, Stash and Burn, and Yarncraft). I like the way a two person podcast can ramble off topic (especially Lime and Violet! I love their digressions), and it seems more friendly, like a real conversation. Some people like knitting podcasts to stay on the topic of knitting, but I think it helps to get a more overall picture of what the podcaster is like, and how knitting influences their own lives, not just abstract thoughts on a topic.

I find that podcasts influence my own knitting. Lime and Violet makes me want to buy yarn. Lots of yarn. Stash and Burn makes me want to knit all that yarn up right now! All podcasts make me think about different patterns than I would normally think about, when the podcasters talk about what they're making. Kind of like when I see a WIP or FO on someone's blog, and start thinking, oh I might want to make that too. Cast On makes me want to write stuff, because the articles etc on that show are really well written and spoken. Yarncraft is interesting because there's a lot of talk about behind-the-scenes stuff at a yarn company (lion brand), and each episode is structured around a specific theme (as is Stash and Burn), and I find that makes me think about different parts of knitting in different ways.

I also listen to Shimmy Cast, a podcast about belly dance. This is the only talking belly dance podcast I could find out there, please if there are more, let me know! I subscribe to a few music ones, but I like talky ones too. I love this show! It's so nice to hear discussions on belly dance topics, and there are reviews on dvds, cds, books, etc. which is really useful. I've even ordered a dvd based on a review from this podcast. It should be coming through this week hopefully.

I never really listened to radio before, but podcasts seem like the best kind of radio. I like being able to download shows on a specific topic that interests me, and there are so many great ones out there. And they're free! It's really mindblowing, how all these great resources are out there for free on the internet. But I think that's a whole other post topic. :) I really admire anyone brave enough to create one, sometimes I would like to, but my voice is not one that is good to listen to. So to everyone out there who has made a podcast, no matter what it is about, thank you for taking the time and effort to make them. I know it must be a ton of hard work, and I'm really grateful for the end product. Now, back to actually listening to them! :D

I Won!!!!

Yay! I never win anything, but I got an email from Anala Rabari at Shimmycast saying I had come fourth in her competition (a draw of people who had replied to questions on her forum). That's so cool, I saw the email and was all excited, yay! So I get to choose a cd from magnatune.com ( a very cool, not at all evil site!), and I'll be getting a magnetic photo frame too!
To be 100% honest, I would have been answering the questions anyway, it was just luck that Anala was running a draw at the same time. I only found the podcast a little while ago, actually I only found all podcasts a little while ago, and I've been going through the episodes from the very beginning. I love it! It's exactly what I was looking for when I searched belly dance on itunes. It has music, articles, reviews and I love that there's a forum to discuss points from the show with other belly dancers. I understand there's some groups on tribe.net, but I've been busy looking at other things on the net (I blame craftzine.com for taking up a lot of my time recently), but Anala has provided what is exactly what I was looking for with her podcast and forum. If you're interested in bellydance, go over to shimmycast.blogspot.com and listen to the podcast, try it out.
Now, all I have to do is go to magnatune and pick a cd. Sounds easy, but there's a few I want. I'll have to go choose!

Late For The Party

I've been shopping!

I got some acrylic/wool 85/15 yarn from a charity shop, enough for a sweater (even though I already have about five projects lined up in my head) and a couple of magazines.


The new Knit Today - I love that magazine, and all the patterns in this edition look like stuff I might actually make! You know when you get a magazine and it has 2 great patterns, then the rest are stuff you KNOW you'll never let anywhere near your needles? Well, this one doesn't have any of those for me. I know other people will have different tastes, but I liked all the patterns in this one - even the baby ones are nice, and I never really pay attention to baby patterns, not having any babies to knit for.
And on the left, that's VK from Winter 1989. I was looking through it and, OMG, big boxy colorful (intarsia) patterns were big then! But there's a few I might make (smaller, less boxy, less colorful ones), and it's interesting to look through it to see what knitting was like 17 years ago!
I saw a Jean Greenhowe book as well, but was trying to be good and frugal, and I thought I don't knit toys so I'd leave it. I'm kicking myself now, well, the insane collector part of me is. Maybe I'll go back see if it's there still. I don't know. I've still got stuff coming through the mail that I'm waiting for. Do I really need another book that I probably won't make stuff from for years, if at all?


I also bought some old sci-fi novels. I love the old style sci-fi books, the thin ones with the cool artwork on the front. They're just so full of imagination, and I spend nearly as much time looking at the cover as I do reading them!

It's just a shame I can't read them while I'm knitting - too fiddly with little books like that. But I did discover podcasts! (I know, where have I BEEN?) and have been listening to Cast On while knitting the blueberry top. I'm going through all the old episodes, and was listening to the one with the Rogue sweater, where she describes the big craze in 2004! Where have I been? I only just discovered blogs last year, and I'm only starting my own just now! Still, that's me, always the last one to the party! We'll just say I'm fashionably late, huh?

Oh, speaking of podcasts, is there anyone out there who knows how to put buttons onto the sidebar in Blogger? I can't figure it out. I can get links up there, I can get pictures up there, but I want a picture that is a link, if you know what I mean, so I can put one up for Cast On. If there's anyone out there that could tell me how to do it, I'd be so grateful, I just can't figure it out!