Podcasts

With it getting closer to the end of the year I'm still in the mode of making lists. No pictures today but I should have some hand spun yarn to show soon.

The topic of podcasts came up on Ravelry a little while back and I thought it might be useful to have a review type post on the ones I like.

Cast On - By far, Brenda Dayne has set the bar for sound quality, content, and mood. I started from the very beginning so I never dealt with the wait involved when she took breaks. I would definitely recommend this podcast for any knitter. Be prepared to wade through some woes as Brenda tries to find herself and decide if she can make money from podcasting. It's worth it to keep listening - her essays are wonderful and the music she includes is varied. She's now back to a weekly format and decided to make money from patterns, CDs, books and retreats. It's great to hear her so happy again.

Fiber Beat - This is a fairly newer podcast by Michael Wade. Great sound quality and content here. You can really tell that he puts a ton of time into the production of each episode. At first I was distracted by all the little sound clips during the interviews but now I really like how it breaks up all the talking. Even if you're not into the particular fiber art of the interviewee Michael still makes it interesting. He doesn't talk over the person, no constant agreeing while the person is talking and great thought provoking questions. So far I think he's covered knitting, spinning, crochet, weaving and a few more. Definitely start from the beginning on this one.

KnitaJourney - Susan Dolph has a good voice and I love her slight Midwest accent. I didn't start from the beginning with this one but I may go back and listen to them all if she ever decides to take a hiatus. I started in the middle of her current series on perma-culture and how it relates to our knitting and larger life. There are some parts where she discusses friends and work issues but I don't mind that too much. Her knitting style doesn't match mine but I like the way that she approaches knitting in general as something larger than a hobby.

SpinDoctor - Sasha Torres is an American living in Canada and started this podcast as a forum for reviewing all things related to spinning. As a relatively inexperience spinner I love being exposed to new products and fiber vendors. My favorite part of her podcast is that she is brutally honest. It's refreshing to hear some cons along with the pros in each of her reviews. I started from the beginning with this one too and haven't quite caught up yet. I did see on Ravelry that she's going to include more personal information about her own spinning and I'm open to that as well. She's big into fiber prep (which I am not) and trying out all kinds of fibers. I would love to do a rare wool breeds study someday based on all of the interviews and vendors she's profiled. This is a podcast that I have to listen to at my desk so I can look up things she mentions as we go. So informative.

Sticks & String - I'll admit, I was drawn to this one because David Reidy is a guy who knits and spins and also happens to have an Australian accent. The content that he's able to provide kept me listening. I've started from the beginning with this one and I'm no where near caught up with 105 episodes to go. He interviews people local to him and while it's interesting I'm probably not going to be able to buy from them. I end up listening to this podcast while I work out since each episode is about 35-45 minutes long and the easy listening music he plays helps with passing the time on the treadmill. While I'm not into the same kind of knitting he is I like hearing about how he chooses yarn and patterns from a guys point of view, "sometimes guys just like plain boring patterns in plain colors, just be ready to knit a lot of stockinette stitch to make them happy and they'll wear it."


I have several other podcasts that I used to subscribe to but they all either quit or pod-faded. I tried CogKNITive for a couple episodes and while the content was interesting I couldn't get past the lecture style while driving in a car. There are a ton of people who like this one but it just didn't mesh with me. I may try it again later on in life. Next on my list to try is SpinControl.

Speaking of lists, here's a great Wiki on Ravelry that lists all the podcasts out there that are fiber related and still active. I'm always open to new ones and I use this all the time to find new ones that I might like.