Christa Giles is responsible for the fabulous iKnit button. Thanks, Christa! Grab one, and tell the world what you do when you listen to Cast-On! (Right click and save the image, then upload to your own server, please.)
Breaking with tradition, this week’s episode is not named for the essay. It’s been a weird week. In addition, let me make it perfectly clear that the dog has been bathed. Twice. She is vastly cleaner than when she arrived. Anyone writing to tell me to bathe the dog this week, will be the butt of all my jokes next week. Moving along: Thanks to Ed and Ethel. A new Secret Pal exchange! Be a One Skein Secret Pal, with the help of Leigh Radford’s new book . – Project Linus on 501c3cast – IrieKnits (and podcasts) – Leonie’s freaky podcast – and foodies.
KniTunes:
- Geoff Smith – Not on the Radio
- Sean Wiggens – Mercury in Retrograde
- Finding Virginia – Come to This
- Anne Davis – Temple of Contradictions
LOL I just started listening to today’s podcast and I kept thinking of Dave’s parody during the intro too!
Yaaay Brenda’s back!
Ooh, I missed you so much. I loved the guest spots, but I really did miss your voice. Glad you’re back.
I am thinking about that idea of a fiber pod-casting network.
I have to say that this idea scares me. I like the fact that I am independent flavor of the Boston knitting universe. Creating a network feed might create a conglomerate radio effect. People will become comfortable with the network idea and not go forth and search for a local interest version of there pod-cast, or in my case not start a pod-cast all together.
It’s hard enough trying to get yourself listed correctly in iTunes, competing with a network may limit the listeners who come by your site.
I like the web lists and aggregators that are out there right now. These represent a very proactive listening audience. They search for knit, knitting, fiber, silly guy with a mic, and then they scan through the list of shows that might interest them. I also find it heartening the way that all the different knitting shows that I have heard so far really like to share other shows with their listeners. This seems to build a sense of community across the entire group of shows that might be lost if they are all in the same place.
Just my 2 cents.
Glad you are back and feeling rested, thanks for making such a great show…
-Guido (2Skiens) Stein
Hey Guido, great feedback. Thanks very much. That’s exactly the kind of well thought out opinion I was hoping for.
I LOVE the idea of aggregating! I can’t get enough of the knitting podcasts, as well as Weavecast, and CrochetCast.
In fact I have been considering a podcast of my own.
Thanks for the button!
Hi there Brenda!Glad to have you back. I loved the guest hosts you lined up, but am thrilled to hear you again. Guess what – I have a Cavalier named Toby, also. He’s 14 and showing his age so may not be around many more years (months, weeks), but has been a loyal and faithful companion all these years. We have a teenager named Tessie who is 2 years old, and got her for the same reasons you got Ruby! It does tend to perk things up to have a younger one around. I love this breed. They enjoy sitting and watching me knit! Keep podcasting!
Becky
Welcome back! Nice to hear your voice again.
Relative to the Fiber Arts and Crafts Podcasting Network (FACPN) 😉 … as a non-podcaster, I rather like the idea, but I do share your concern that growth might make it unmanageable. What I’ve seen of the knitting podcasts, you and Marie Ishard have taken a leadership/mentorship role with your encourgment…maybe a network would be an interesting experiment.
Thanks again for another entertaining hour.
Great podcast again! Thanks for the button! (Can someone tell me how to get that into my sidebar? I’m clueless about that).
Cute pup! I went to knitty.com to see his pic. Hope he stays around longer. My kitty will be leaving us soon.
I just recently discovered pod casts and your particular Knit Cast about two weeks ago – since then I’ve listened to EVERY episode. I love it! Thanks so much for putting your time and energy into such a high quality show. 🙂
Fun show. Glad to have you back! (Not that the guest hosts weren’t great. But I can listen to them on their own podcasts/blogs, so now I have you AND them ;>)
About the network…I’d need to know more about how it would work both for podcastors and podcastees.
Would you be able to, for example, sign up to receive the network and then filter out shows that didn’t jibe for you?
Would podcasters be able to join the network freely? Or would there be a review/moderation system?
Would it be recieved like a radio program with a single feed of interleaved podcasts (and you could fast-forward past shows you didn’t like.)
Or would it be more like a fiber-iTunes Music-Store where you could go and see what all the fiber-podcast offerings were and pick and choose from there?
It’s an intriguing concept, I just wonder which delivery model would work best.
–Syne
Congratulations on your new old pup! Ruby is an awesome name for a CKC. I am a knitter *and* a dog person (lots of training & volunteer work), and I commend you both for your podcast and your adoption of a dog-in-need.
My husband pointed me towards your podcast, and it is thing that finally has me using my ipod (bday present from August ’05) on a regular basis. Good on you, very cool.
Good luck with the housebreaking thing — CKC are such sweeties I can’t imagine you’ll have many other training issues. Enjoy!
Hey Brenda,
glad to have you back. Just a thought on aggregating: One of my favourite podcast, “Schlaflos in München” (“Sleepless in Munich” – a German Podcast by Annik Rubens) had made a creative common logo for podcast-listeners and podcasters. Maybe that’s also something, too….the logo is intended for international use. You can find it HERE. Anyhow, I’m going to spread this around the knitting podcast world and hope that all you podcasters out there would take up on the idea, too.
Take care! Great to have you back (and bravi to Dave, Sage and Franklin!),
Elemmaciltur
Hi Brenda,
I’m brand new to listening to podcasts and I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy yours! Thanks for taking the time to share your enthusiasm. I usually listen to your show while I’m doing things that prevent me from knitting (I work in a greenhouse, and I’m an aspiring artist, so my hands are pretty busy), so I can keep up with my obsession. I’m working my way through the archives and I can’t wait for your next episode. Thanks for the fun, quality show!
Hi Brenda,
Love your show! I subscribed a few weeks back and I’m finally caught up on all the episodes. Loved the guest-hosting stints by Dave, Sage, and Franklin as well.
I now have a happy iKnit button on my blog.
As for the podcast network, I think I would prefer a model in which visitors could pick and choose from the available podcasts in some way. I don’t think I’d mind being subscribed to new network podcasts automatically–it’s always fun to hear a new voice–but I would like to be able to opt out of ones I decided weren’t for me.
Thanks for all the great work you do, I look forward to your show every week!
~Yvonne
Welcome back. The guest host were ok, but you’re the true draw. I think a knitting podcast agregator is a great idea. New podcasts are popping up all the time, it’s hard to catch them all. I would prefer an option to deselect podcasts you don’t like since no all podcasts are to everyones tastes.
Congratulations and best of luck with the new dog.
Lisa
Brenda it’s great to have you back.I have six dogs that I have to bath today so image my surprise when I listened to your podcast this morning during my knitting time. Good luck with Ruby, time and patience and I’m sure she will make a great house dog for you. It just takes a bit of effort to turn a kennel dog into a princess.
aahh, all is right with the world (at least MY world) again. I truly enjoyed every single one of the guests but, I much prefer to have them do spots on the shows rather than the whole show. Yeah, you are back!!!!
BTW, Ed and Ethel really need to continue to make quirky guest appearances. That whole Addi-turbos skit was the best spot during your absence. My husband actually sat down to listen to it b/c I was laughing so hard listening to my Ipod. Thankfully, he is fully aware of the power of addi’s and, although did not find as much humor in it as I did, he was able to snicker a bit here and there.
Welcome back, welcome back,welcome back!
Welcome back! This weeks cast was, as usual, a complete pleasure to listen to.
I hope Ruby settles in comfortably. It’s always interesting to bring a new dog into a home that’s already got an established four-footed pal.
Please keep us posetd on the knitting podcast agregator/network idea.
Brenda,
I’ve spent the past few hours today on my sofa in No. California knitting & traveling (with my ears) from Wales to Oregon to Okinawa to Boston and I am excited about the idea of a fiberarts network! I give every new knitting related podcast I find a listen and would love to have a place where I could sample podcasts that I may otherwise miss doing an iTunes search.
-Christine
missed you! the others were great but i really missed you! glad you had some down time. now back to some great tunes and brenda! 🙂
Welcome back, Brenda! I thoroughly enjoyed Dave, Franklin, and Sage, but it’s so nice to hear your voice in your own podcast again. (Definitely recruite one or all of those folks next time you need a fill-in, though. They were really spectacular.)
My thoughts on a craft/knitting podcast network: I truthfully don’t think I’d listen, if it were set up as you described. I go through the podcast listings in iTunes every so often, to see what’s new in knitting podcasts. I’ve listened to most of the newer podcasts, and I know I have my favorites, and some that just aren’t for me. I’d prefer to pick and choose what I listen to on my own. What I do think would be really nice is a web page that listed all of the fiber related podcasts, with more in-depth descriptions than are on iTunes, and perhaps grouped to make it easier to find newer podcasts, or see which ones aren’t in product anymore. I’ve found iTunes to be a little frustrating when it comes to searching for new knitting podcasts, as keyword searches aren’t 100%, and often include podcasts that aren’t really knitting related. I know that a website or database like I described would take a lot of work to keep current and accurate, and I’m not suggesting that it’s something that *needs* to be done. But if you’re looking for suggestions on how to make it easier to spread the word about what knitting podcats exist, I think it would be a nice idea. If anybody with more technical expertise than me is up to the challenge. 😉
Nice to have you back, and thanks for posting my button! Do we get to see a picture of your popscreen too?
I was so happy to be sitting on the bus and knitting to your voice again… while Dave and Sage are regulars for their own work that makes its way onto my iPod, yours, for its content, length, and tone, is my fav 🙂
For the clumping of podcasts: I’d love to be able to download a sampler pack – either one full podcast from every new ‘caster, or maybe a mashup where each host donates a segment of their show that they think truly shows off their best work, to tempt us to find their podcast and subscribe ourselves! … and have said sampler pack be available on a certain schedule (Welcome to the May Sampler!), or a certain point (Welcome to Five Fresh Fibrecasts!) .. but that’s just me.
In Burning Man world, people would be telling me that I should just go and start this myself… but in Podcasting World, I’m too busy getting ready for Burning Man 🙂
X.
I think I remember reading your essay when it was printed. I liked it then, and liked your reading of it in this episode also. Well done.
Having a big aggregate feed/network of podcasts might be a little unwieldy to administer. People change websites, podcasts go silent, etc. If you have (or know someone who has) enough web-fu to stay on top of that, you might could manage to stay on top of all the changes that happen in this oh-so-fluid medium.
Re getting paid to podcast: I know Michael and Evo over on the Dragon Page have at least one podcast on XM radio. Have you ever thought about looking into something like that? Caveat: I know nothing about XM radio or its business model.
Love, love, love your podcast. I found you while recouperating from a stress fracture in my ankle from running too much. I run and I knit – I need that repetitive rhythmic motion to keep my type A personality calmed down. Anyhow, now I listen to you while I run – I only wish there were enough podcasts to listen to every time I run!
Thanks
Dear Brenda,
I love your taste in music. Your essay was wonderfully creative. And the tail thumping doggie made this episode perfect. Glad to hear your voice again.
Rock on!
I like Rebekkah’s idea of a website that includes the podcast. I would be willing to do the research, but I’m afraid my bloging skills are lacking at the moment. I’ve just started a blog or two myself through Blogger, but I’m not so great with the html. Would there be anyone willing to help me set up the blog, if I do the research for new podcasts??? I think it should be more official then I could do on my own???? My address dlam_1999 AT yahoo DOT com.
On another note, Brenda thanks so much for coming back with such much spark. I have to admit that I love listening to you not only because of the knitting, but because as a fellow American in England you experience things like I do. It makes me feel not so alone over here!!! Sometimes I begin to think I’m British….UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Thanks again,
Dawn
It’s not so bad you know.
From a Scot brought up in England and who now has Welsh children and an American father. Don’t feel alone. There are thousands of us, misplaced but knitting.
Brenda,
I’ve been telling myself I was going to write you since I started listening to your podcast 2 weeks ago and I just never did.
I’ve actually known about your podcast for a while but I was saving them up because I was going to have a podcast marathon to celebrate my new iPod. Then I changed my mind about getting one. So instead I started listening on my computer while I knit.
By the end of Episode 0 I was hooked with your mellow voice and great format. With each passing episode I loved you even more. Many is the time when my husband would call me from work for me to tell him…”not now, I’m listening to Brenda”
I love the essays. I love the sweater theme song (yes I sing along). I love the tales and I love my time with you. I don’t know what I’m going to do now that I’m up to date and will have to wait for a new episode.
I didn’t realize how much I missed listening to you until this weeks episode started. I’m glad you took the time off to handle details and the guest hosts did a bang up job but there’s nothing like listening to you.
I’m a total TV addict but I knew that your podcast had a place in my heart when I saw the icon this week and snagged it for my live journal. I have a very strict rule about my icons, they have to be something I think I’ll still be interested in 5 years from now. Even though I’ve been addicted to CSI (the Las Vegas one) since it came out I don’t have one CSI icon but YOUR show…well there was no doubt. Odd praise I know but trust me…very high praise indeed.
Keep up the fantastic job. I’m SO looking forward to the muses. I think I’m going to have to listen to the essay a few more times, that was a wonderfully written (and read) piece.
Carrie
PS…I love the idea of a fiber/knit podcast network thingamajig.
Welcome back Brenda! I just wanted to comment on the knitting podcast network idea. Like someone said already, if you do decide to do this, there needs to be a way to deselect podcasts.
I don’t know about anyone else but every time I go into iTunes podcast directory, new knitting podcasts show up. The number of knitpods is increasing exponentially. There is no possible way for me to consistently listen to all of the existing ones.
Hi Brenda!
Another great ‘cast; it’s wonderful to have you back (though the guests were fantastic).
I have a confession; I usually fast-forward through the music. I’ve just never been much of a music person, and I’d rather skip on to your next bit. But today I listened to the ‘cast on my commute, and believe me, I’m not whipping out my iPod on the Rome subway, so I listened to the music. And I really liked it! The first one was particularly fun, but I liked them all. From now on, I’m listening to the music, along with the great chat.
Thanks again!
Welcome back!! I loved the essay and hope someday it does become a book. I would love to read your wonderfully creative words in print. Until then, it’s lovely just to knit to them. Also, Ed & Ethel are a hoot! Hope to hear more guest appearances?
Great iKnit button, Brenda! I’m both thrilled for you and green with envy. I noticed however, that it’s in BMP (uncompressed) format. The Web developer in me couldn’t resist turing it into a GIF (at 1/5th the download size.) If you (or anyone else reading this) would like a copy of the file, you can download it from the right-hand column of my site: http://www.weavecast.com.
Knit on! (Unless you’re weaving, that is…)
Hey Brenda! I just discovered podcasting and I have to say, yours is quite entertaining! I really like the idea of the fiber podcast network however I agree It may get a little out of control.
I just stopped by to see if I could have a copy of your knitting MUSE essay. I would love to share it with my SNB. We are a group of (mostly) lit. majors who meet at the local bookstore and I know they would love your essay as much as I did.
Welsh Pride!
-Funny Guurl
Brenda, Glad you are back. I missed you. As far as the Fiber cast network, could we do something like the scifi podcast network? A place with links to all the fiber related podcasts. Just a thought.
Carry (KnitWit: Rantings of a Rabid Knitter)
Just an update on my idea above of making a website for craft podcasts…I’ve found someone to help me with it, so I might have a website soon where you can check out what is new, what has not been updated, and what is out there!
Great to have you back Brenda! I am so touched to hear about your new pooch-kennel and breeding life can be so sad -sounds like she has found the perfect and loving home. Hoorary for rescuing pets (I have 4 rescued critters). I’m more on the side of not being an aggregate feed – I prefer an a la carte menu to pick and choose what sounds good and I give the new podcasts a couple whirls before I decide on whether to subsribe and become a regular listener – just more freedom I suppose. What do I do while listening to cast-on on my i-pod? – walking the dogs or knitting (duh). Cookies and more cookies to you!
Welcome back–I missed you. Thanks for providing for us so well during your “break”….and thanks for today’s GREAT show! You rock!
Brenda, I would just like to say thank you for the wonderful work you’re doing! I’m totally new to the world of podcasting, and right now I’m thinking that yours is the only one I need. You have such great delivery, great voice, and great pacing, and I just get totally caught up in listening. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness goes into your essays. And of course, the content is fantastic – it’s nice to know that there are people even more obesessed with knitting than me, and inspiring to hear about all the sweaters you’ve finished. (If I ever get through making baby afghans for my FIVE pregnant friends, I’ll start my first sweater.) Thanks again for your wonderful work!
Welcome back, Brenda!
You’ve got me totally hooked! Your podcasts are perfect, the voice, the pace, the humor, the music… and so inspiring!
Plus, now that I’ve been gifted an iPod (spoiled for my anniversary), I can *really* listen to you in my ear… and pretend we’re enjoying freshly brewed tea, and knitting away!
So… nice button. Kudos to Christa. Gonna show it off now. 🙂
Thank you, Brenda!
Yay! Your back. I can paint again. 🙂
I’m catching up after being out of town, and I love the essay on the muses. Really brilliant. The muses must have come to you on your hiatus!
Hi Brenda. Welcome back. I’m newly hooked on knitting podcasts and love listening to your cast. What a wonderful community you have gathered together!
I love your podcast and am so glad to have a button for my blog. 🙂 You do a great job, Brenda. Keep it up!
I wonder if any of you have tried knitting using dog hair. My mother and I both collect and knit with the hair from our Afghan Hounds. We offer a service whereby any dogowner can collect their pets hair to be washed, spun, and knit into jumpers. We also use dogs hair collected from grooming parlours.
I also knit with hair collected from a grooming salon.
My dog wears a coat knitted from his own hair…
Does anyone here knit using dog hair?
FYI==the Afghan Hound Club of America Rescue has an address where Afghan Hound dog hair can be sent to be processed into knitting/crocheting yarn. They then sell it and use the profits.