Knitting Podcasts: A Review

So, back in April I bought myself an iPod touch. It had been playing on my mind and when I suddenly found myself in the Apple Shop on Regent Street, London, it felt like it was meant to be. The new iPod goes everywhere, if only as a more portable web browser than my laptop and as a way of saving trees when geocaching (I still need the GPSr though as the iPod doesn't have the built in GPSr that is present on the iPhone). With a new iPod to play with I've finally started to get the hang of this podcast thing, something I've never done with my previous iPods or just with my everyday use of iTunes. So far, I've restricted myself to knitting podcasts; here are a few I've tried:

Sticks and String (Episodes 135, 136, 137)

Blurb: "A podcast by an Australian bloke who knits"

Pros: Clear and easy to hear; generally pleasant to listen to. Regular structure. Fairly regular and frequent publication. Provides show notes.

Cons: Content not always that related to knitting. Some localised content which was less interesting to me as an international visitor. Didn't really find the Easter show feature particularly interesting or easy to follow, there are photos in the show notes but I'm unlikely to have those to hand when listening (I often listen on the bus or in the car).

Overall thoughts: I listened to one episode of this in the car with Hobnob and it was sufficiently pleasant that he didn't demand I turn it off but we both agreed that the episode didn't really contain much knitting talk (episode 135). I listened to the remaining two episodes at work and of them all I enjoyed 137 the most - this was the only episode that had me looking at Ravelry and the Web in general to follow up patterns and yarns (e.g. Unique Sheep - I only just escaped without a KAL subscription!). I've unsubscribed from this podcast for now and *probably* won't resubscribe.

Knit Science (Episodes 31, 32, 33)

Blurb: "A podcast for the knitting enthusiast."

Pros: Clear and easy to hear. Provides show notes.

Cons: Infrequent and irregular publication. Varied talking speed. Content not always that related to knitting. This podcast felt slow, sometimes I just wanted her to 'spit it out' whilst at other times I wondered why she felt the need to say the same thing so many times. Didn't really engage me.

Overall thoughts: I didn't really like her voice/style which made it more difficult to listen to and we didn't seem to share taste in patterns (where they were mentioned). The science content was a varying degrees of interest but overall she never said anything that made me think "ah, of course - why didn't I think of that". She also made knitting sound like a chore in places which didn't appeal to me. I've unsubscribed from this podcast and won't be downloading any more episodes.

Double Knit (Episodes 32, 36, 37, 38, 39)

Blurb: "There's no single podcast like it!"

Pros: Two voices makes the podcast feel natural and easy to listen to. Clear and easy to hear despite background noises. Regular structure. Fairly frequent publication. Provides show notes. Lots of thoughts about a variety of patterns.

Cons: Some background noise, fairly quick speech. Slightly irregular publication. Later half of the podcast is not really knitting related. Occasional small-child related distraction (is this really a con?).

Overall thoughts: Found the show notes helpful, particularly where I was unsure spelling a pattern. The whole podcast was pleasant to listen to even if the later content didn't interest me so much. I'm keeping my subscription to this podcast because although it's not perfect, the knit-talk is really interesting and it's enjoyable to listen to. Also, I love so many of the patterns they talk about - every show increases my Ravelry queue/favourites.

Never Not Knitting (Episodes 36, 37, 38, 39)

Blurb: "A knitting podcast with funny stories, product reviews, project information, knitting help and much more!"

Pros: Clear and easy to hear. Regular structure. Regular and frequent publication. Provides show notes. Features special offers with show sponsors. Lots of thoughts about a variety of patterns.

Cons: Occasionally a little slow/fragmented speech.

Overall thoughts: I also love the Never Not Knitting blog, especially the fantastic photos.

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Coming soon, reviews for Stash and Burn, The Savvy Girls Podcast, Here's to Ewe, The Knit Picks' Podcast.

Any recommendations?

$85 for a charger??

The plastic covering over the wires in my Macbook charger has torn. Sometime between Hobnob arriving and him departing the tear has become more and more noticeable until last night I realised that the thing is about 30 seconds away from being two separate bits of plastic coating. Furthermore, my paranoia now prevents me from leaving the darn thing plugged in without my immediate supervision just in case the place burns down.

Decided to buy a replacement charger today on the way into CMU as Hobnob so wisely advised.

Slightly discouraged when the Apple Store on Walnut didn't open until 10am, but did get a chance to cast on a new knitting project (had to go back for a spare knitting needle when I realised I'd struggle to cast on over two needles if I needed one of them to do the cast on!) and to wake up a little more.

At a minute or so after ten I wandered into the store. I'd planned on finding the thing myself but the staff always seem to insist on helping you out so I let the bloke take it off the shelf for me. Got to the checkout to discover that the thing was almost $84.53 with tax - ouch! (So much ouch I had to go back to upgrade my wallet from the $65 I'd come out with).

Wonder what the profit is on those things? Pretty darned good I'd bet.

Oh No!

My Macbook speakers seem to have gone!

Still, at least there's an Apple store around the corner. It's not all bad.

And yet... :( No music.

Shopping goodness!

I am a girl, today I went shopping and enjoyed it.

I went to the Manchester Arndale centre today as I needed to drop my MacBook in for a repair (only the casing, hurrah). The Apple Store in the Arndale is pretty small and feels very different to the Regent Street, London shop. Just opposite the Arndale Apple Store is a very nice Waterstones, not the largest I've been in but easily the most spacious. I came home and told everyone that the Waterstones feels like an Apple store, it's yummy!

Anyway, I didn't buy anything in either the Apple Store or Waterstones but stuck my nose into Primark on my way back to Manchester Piccadilly and bought three t-shirts and two pairs of shoes (shoes!?! I really am a girl). Had just missed a train at Piccadilly so went to the HMV on the station concourse and spotted The Hoosiers album, The Trick to Life in the sale (it hadn't been in the Lancaster and Liverpool branches) so bought that, McFly's All the Greatest Hits (don't laugh) and Scouting For Girls self-named album. With student discount and a twenty pound gift card, the whole lot cost me a total of £1.53, bargain!

Zealous

A good Scrabble word if ever there were one. I played against myself today (awww...) but I got to put down Zealous and Pious and some other good words I have already forgotten.

Also, we discovered my computer doesn't work. Tomorrow I shall order a new one.

Oooh, and we made iChat work!

That's it.

That alt key

There seems to be an alt key in my way when I steal other people's computers. Where's that one that does stuff - where's my Apple key?

Gr.

Somehow my hands have taught themselves that the button of usefulness is just that bit further over than the control key. Ah well.