More Podcast reviews

I’ve been listening to scads of podcasts and taking notes. I was listening to all I could find on iTunes but I suddenly realized that some of them had not been updated in months. Since there is not much point in posting reviews of old podcasts, I have deleted them and won’t be listening to any that haven’t had an update in 6 months. Those that have already been heard will get a blurb.

I also want to state that my personal preference is for 30 min podcasts. I can sit down and knit for 30 mins w/o interruption frequently. I found the longer ones tend to get listened to in bits because an hour w/o interruption is more of a luxury, and if I switch to something else along the way without marking the spot, it takes time to find the right place again. I listen to fitness podcasts while working out and that interrupts the flow of the knitting ones.

At the Yarn Shop: This is one that hasn’t been updated although it was interesting. The podcast was long, explaining a hiatus and the challenges of running a yarn store. Kathy Oliver owns Holly spring Homespun and discusses the stresses and rewards of owning a yarn store. She interviews her ‘right hand man’, then reviews yarns and provides a pattern of the month for fingerless mitts. iTunes only downloaded this one from March 2007 so I have to see if she has done more that aren’t on iTunes. From the website above, it appears that she has not.

Bean Knits and Spins: This one is set in Brooklyn, NY and if you don’t like the occasional expletive, don’t listen to this. It is rated ‘Explicit’. The language is not any worse than you would hear on the street on a normal day and I didn’t mind it. But some of you may not like to hear such words. Bean, who blogs at BeanKnit talks about her sock knitting, her yarn dyeing with Wilton dyes, and knitting shawls. Podcasts like this are some of my favorites as I like to hear what people are knitting, what they learned along the way and it makes me feel as if we are all in a knit and chat session together.

Another similar one is BritKnitCast, which is currently on hiatus. I really enjoyed this one though it was long. Carrie Ann Dennison talks about a Woolfest in her area. It was a rainy and windy day and she and her friends were camping. We hear interviews with vendors – one of whom talks about natural dyeing. She discusses her purchases, talks to a representative of the UK Knit Crochet Guild who is recruiting new members. The UK Guild is a non-profit, unlike the The Knitting Guild of America. It preserves historical objects and is looking for museum space. They have 10,000 items in their collection and Richard Rutt is the president. We also hear a chat with her friends (over a roaring campfire, I hope) with details of their purchases at the Woolfest. She finishes with a list of upcoming events and then says that she’ll be back next year with another series of podcasts. I will be waiting. I loved this because the experience was very similar to my visits to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck, NY (that I will be missing next weekend) but a half a world away. It made me feel very connected to the larger knitting universe to hear how similar these experiences are. And I love listening to different accents.