Happy Halloween, from the The Romney.
It’s good to be back. This week’s FortCast is a wee bit later than usual, because I tried to do it all in one day. Oh, the insanity. Dave and Ed and Ethel, from Chub Creek, start us off, followed by more talking, a request from the folks at MapMuse, an update on the keystone pricing debacle and list of Consumer Friendly Yarns. We discover that it is likely that the Michael’s/ Warm Up America Foundation thing was probably a one off – Joanne Seiff finds her knitting guild – Chicago writer Franklin Habit receives an univited guest, and does so without apologies to Edgar Allen Poe. Music for Franklin’s piece was by JS Bach, performed by world class organist and pianist, Frederik Magle Many thanks to them both.- Wiki Wacky You. Sign up, and add what you know to the great knitting encyclopedia! – Special thanks to Syne Mitchell of WeaveCast, Heather Ordover of CraftLit, and Sage, from the Quirky Nomads podcast, for their anniversary felicitations.
KniTunes:
- Burning Bush – Honest Day’s Work
- Craymo – One Love One World
- Lee Maddeford – October Skies
- Uncle Seth – To Be an Angel
For some reason Itunes is not letting me download?
Help! I get an error message when I try to download the new episode! It is not on itunes either…….. But in any case- Happy Anniversary Brenda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH NOOOO WHY ISNT IT DOWNLOADING….!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡happy podiversary!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t download either but now I really need to sleep, so: Hope it fixes itself and I’ll hear you tomorrow!
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I love the new look! I was very lonely for those podcast-less weeks. Glad you’re back!
I’m not sure why you couldn’t access the file at first, however, it is most certainly available, and iTunes seems to be reading it now. Sorry for the hiccup.
You’re back!!! We missed you so much. I’ve been sitting by my computer all day waiting for the blessed event. I may even cancel my dinner plans so I can listen to your podcast. I look forward to listening to your next season. I’m sure it will be excellent. Thanks so much for all of your hard work.
Welcome Home!!
and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Yay, it works now! It is downloading as I speak and I’ll stay up and listen- I’ve waited for so long…….. 🙂 Happy Podversary!!!!!!!!!! Good to have you back again, we missed you!!!!!!
huzzah! welcome back Brenda, we missed you!!
Congratulations on a wonderful first year.
May we have many, many more.
I love these trips to Wales!
This was as always a great episode. You always inspire me and make me belive that we all can be more than the sum of our parts.
Thank you so very much,
Cheeky Red Head
Fabulous episode. “and the Romney says, knit some more”. Can’t wait until next week, when you knit some other great stories together….
Not on the list at Itunes yet. Will force me to have some self control and save the P-cast until I really need it….
Welcome back Brenda!
iTunes won’t let me download any of your episodes. Also, try to download from the site, that didn’t work either. What am I doing wrong. I’m going through withdrawls! I NEED MY CAST-ON!!!!!! Help, please?
Sonya
“Knitsomemore.”
Goodness gracious, that put a pause in my purling!
Happy Castaversary!
Must go wander through Wiki.
Teresa
Great to have you back, sorry to hear you were ill on your break. I loved Franklin’s piece, I’m sure we all recognised the ‘knit some more’ syndrome (although without the sinister sheep!). I know I’ve sat up nights frantically knitting things that need to be finished or things that I’m just obsessing over.
I love the new look, so grown up and sophisticated. So nice to hear your voice after a few, long podcast-less weeks. Happy Podiversary, babe!
Yay! Just in time. I really needed this!!!
Downloading now!
Help! I’m having trouble finding your link to “Age of Innocence” from your new website.
So good to have you back.
When I was at Rhinebeck last week, buying from Briar Rose Fibers, we chatted about how much we were missing you. I thanked them, both in words and sales, for their contributions to the show.
Great episode, Brenda!
Great podcast! Welcome back, and happy blogiversary and Happy Halloween!
Could you provide a link to the consumer friendly yarn company blogspot, please?
Happy Birthday, Happy Halloween – where’s the Monster Mash?
Great to have you back.
Sitting here, in my cozy living room, knitting and listening to podcasts, I heard the strains of Toccata and Fugue. And, I kid you not, as soon as the organ started playing there was thunder. Lots and lots of lightning and thunder. Mr. Habit, you have the power to *control the weather*. Nothing makes the Romney and the never-growing aran sweater scarier than when it’s accompanied by a good old-fashioned thunderstorm. And in late-October, even. What an unusual time of year for a thunderstorm. (This is New England. it should really be an early-season blizzard.)
And talk about a sense of place. Every time I hear that piece of music, I’m transported back to college, where I’m waiting in a back room of the chapel, with my bassoon, at midnight, as someone steps up to the organ and starts playing Toccata and Fugue to a fire-hazard of an audience on Halloween. Ever since college, I’ve preferred to listen to that piece in a setting that does justice to both the music and my deeply ingrained memories of it. Thank you, Franklin, for doing that for me!
You’re back! Finally!
I have been listening to your podcasts for a while, (yes, I started with episode one!) and I just love it! I just know that I have to visit Wales some time. Monday, october 30., I will be going to London for a 5 day visit, and I look even more forward to it with your podcasting in the back of my head!
(Do you happen to know a NICE yarn shop I should visit? No, I know the John Lewis one.) Thank you, and happy anniversary! From Janne aka sofen in Norway.
Thanks for starting your podcast again, enjoyed it! I actually did hear some repeats when I listened to “The age of innocence”. So I think I will have to sign up at Librivox…
An extra cookie to my favorite: Franklin at the Panopticon.
absolute perfection
thank you
Welcome back! We missed you! Love your podcast! Happy podversary!
Souhair from Australia
Just recently discovered knitting blogs and saw your iknit cast-on button for your podcast…I started with episode one and have been hooked since. I’m so happy your back, keep up the great work and Happy Anniversary!
So good to have you back, Brenda! Happy 1 year! It was great fun to listen yesterday evening and just chill and knit. ^_^ What a treat.
Thanks!
Elinor (usa)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Aw, thanx ever so much for your hard work Brenda. Your dulcet voice once again washes over my ears to wrap me in another fuzzy warm Cast-On blanket. MUAH!
Brenda
So glad you’re back. I’ve missed listening to your voice on the way to work (I like to listen on Monday’s because it gives me something to look forward to on a such a hateful day).
Happy Podversary! I’ve been a faithful listener from the beginning and I look forward to more shows to come.
I love Franklin Habit! Thanks for having him on again.
Brenda,
Glad you are back, loved the show and happy one year!
I do have to say, your essay about Wikipedia was good and your ideas about getting knitters to contribute is great. However, I was deeply disturbed by your comment of “Everything you want to know about anything is on Wikipedia.” As a professional librarian I know that there are many in my profession that quail at such an awful assumption. Librarians all over the world work tirelessly to supress such gross assumptions about the World Wide Web. We want to teach our students (of any age) to be good searchers of good information. We try very hard to teach our students to examine all the information they research with a critial eye and be cautious, while demanding high quality information, where ever they may find it. Many librarians use wikis on a daily basis, but one needs to recognize the fact that because they are open to everyone, some of the information put in them is not authoritative, factual or true. Unfortunately, your statement, which is one many make about the Web in general, subverts good critical and analytical thinking, which is what should be involved with any public sites (wiki or non-wiki) on the Web. So, while I support your ideas about people contributing to the knitting part of Wikipedia, I think you need to include the realities of what goes on. While there are a lot of people contributing great stuff to many places of information, there is also information included that is deliberately misleading, incorrect, and even personally damaging to other people. And, although it would be nice to believe that everything you would possibly want to know is on one site, or on the Web in general, it simply is not true. Just ask you local librarian and she or he will be more than happy to dig up accurate and authoritative information from a lot of places, in addition to what is on the Web. Librarians are not adverse to what is on the Web, but as we have advised for years, you should never use just one source, you should always verify your facts by finding your information in more than one place. So, yes, let us share our knitting knowledge on the Web as a way to knit our community together more tightly, I’m all for it, but let us also look at this as a constructive effort where we recognize there are many ways to do and think about things and seek out other sources of knowledge to include with our wiki information to make what is out there as comprehensive as possible. How about including book and article citations of other places knitters can go to get information? No, everything is not on Wikipedia, or on the Web for that matter (every heard of the Invisible Web?) but it is easier to find more information, on whatever topic you like, than you think . . . just ask a librarian.
Thank you and can’t wait for the next show.
AH! I’m at work and can’t download and list (stoopid state government firewalls) and if I were in water right now (and made of wool) I’d be felting I’m so excited to listen! 😀 Welcome back and I’m glad we’ve had the pleasure of your voice for this year! Keep up the masterful podcasting!
Hi Brenda,
I really enjoyed the show – you just keep getting better and better. Thanks for letting me be part of the fun.
Also, Dolores says she needs to return the Raven costume to the shop, so please send the tail feathers and thong back to her as soon as you’re finished with them.
I so enjoyed you – thanks for making this happen for us. This is also my one year anniversary. I left a library conference after attending my last session on wikis and blogs and went down to Best Buys and bought an iPod. I am normally a more measured person – not! I own two looms after all, but just one spinning wheel. I didn’t know when I found and downloaded you that you were a newbie like me. I laughed my head off today at the Romneys, at about 75 mph. You accompany me on my hour drive to work once a week and I have meant to say thanks before now. And I’m so glad you have a loom. This note, like everything I do, is hurried, but my sentiment is not~
Thank you for your podcast.
I took an episode with me to visit my 92 year old grandmother this weekend. She loved it too!
I taught her how to cast-on toe-up socks while listening to your episode “Forever Summer”.
Thanks so much for coming back .
If you haven’t already done it, I think you need to set up Knitipedia.com (or whatever flavor is available) for the knitwiki.
Now if only I had a cord so I could update my iPod. Good thing Mike gets home tomorrow!
I have looked so forward to downloading your new podcast. Thanks so much for your hard work, for getting better all the time, and for caring so much about the world of knitting! As a sad aside, Ashford enforces keystone pricing, at least in the US. So, enjoy your loom, but know that anyone who wants one will have to pay the MSRP.
So nice to listen to you again – and congratulations to Franklin Habit, I loved his Poe variation (much appropriated to Halloween).
Yeah! You’re back! Happy Anniversary!! Thanks for a year of great podcasts!
Happy Anniversary . . and many more! Great show, as always. Please keep them coming. They are very much appreciated! I learn so much about all aspects of knitting, I’ve been introduced to some really great music and I love the mental images I get of your knitting and life in Wales.
Deborah in Maryland, USA
I’m on Cast-On!! Whew Hoo! And, it only took me 4 days to realize it… Thanks for a great show, Brenda.
In case someone wants to visit my website,or drop by my blog for a visit, here’s the link again, since there might a problem in the show notes…:
http://www.joanneseiff.com
Thanks again, Brenda. It’s nice being part of your world wide knitting group! Joanne
I would actually rather see “another knitting wiki,” because I would rather have more control over culture, tone, and content reside with, well, frankly, Brenda, or Brenda and a group of the like-minded. Wikipedia is a great institution, but it’s got a lot of institutional baggage as a result (despite its relative youth), and that’s part of the reason why I’m no longer an avid editor. [Also, I got a job. :)]
Also, I’m not sure that I would choose the GFDL as my license. I might go with a Creative Commons attribution non-commerical license, instead. The question is whether and how folks want to influence people who will be using this content later; keep in mind that anything you put on Wikipeida can (and absolutely will) appear later on commercial sites that will use it to derive ad revenue. (Or, in theory, they could even appear in articles or books offered for sale, provided they handle the license correctly). These sites are obligated to attribute the source and maintain the license (i.e., they have to let other people use it too), but is everyone comfortable with other people making a buck on what they choose to offer for free? (I’m okay with it, for the record.)
One other area of concern: There are a substantial number of Wikipedia editors who are on principle opposed to recipes and how-tos on Wikipedia (there’s actually a separate WikiMedia wiki for recipes, now, I think.) Their argument is that instructions are not encyclopedic, and therefore do not fall under Wikipedia’s mandate. I’m not of this set, but having a lot of stitch patterns, say, might cause conflict with this crowd, and I’m assuming that a lot of the knitterly knowledge folks want to capture will be of this kind.
That said, I’m game to get my hands dirty on WP again. I guess the logical thing would be to set up a Wikiproject and maybe a Portal (although the portal thing was set up after I sort of withdrew, so I’m not sure I “get” it entirely). Wikiprojects are used to organize the kind of multi-article subject-area-focused group editing push that Brenda is talking about.
Don’t mess with the librarians. You’ll find yourself with a very large late book fee for a knitting book you’ve never heard of. Hee hee.
Happy Anniversary- Welcome back- it was a welcome treat on a crappy day to have a new episode to listen to. 🙂
Hi Brenda … great episode as always. Any chance of getting The Romney written down? I looked around Franklin’s blog but didn’t see his email so am leaving my request here. That poem and the reading of it were brilliant!
Missed the podcast so much!! Loved the take off on EA Poe – a smoking sheep – hmmmmmmm………………
HAPPY PODIVERSARY!!!!!
Thanks so much!!!!
Kristie Davis
Hot Springs Arkansas USA
Phew………….you’re back. Missed you SO much……………thank you.
Samantha
Welcome back and happy Podiverssary!! I loved the show and Franklin did a great job with The Romney!
I’ve been listening to the podcast for a while now and it just keeps getting better and better.
Thanks
Fifteen years ago, there were 6 independent bookstores in the town of 25,000 where I work. There is now one, and it is on the edge of closing. We are a book loving town – in spite of the small size, we have the second largest used booksale in the US to benefit our library each year. However, independent booksellers couldn’t keep bricks & mortar shops going and compete with Borders and Barnes & Noble, so gradually they all folded.
The same is true of LYSs. They are not going to be able to compete with the pricing of internet shops, no matter how strong their own internet presence is. Webs and KnitPicks are simply going to do a volume that they can’t match. Now I have been knitting for a long time and can get whatever I need over the internet, I don’t need to touch it or play with it to get an idea of how it will work. But a new knitter needs to be able to feel the yarn, see the samples, and get help from the shop when s/he gets stuck.
I dislike price fixing. But I dislike losing LYSs and the stream of new knitter even more. I don’t know the answer, but whatever it is, I hope it includes keeping all the yarn shops out there in business so there will be lots of new knitters, and plenty of yarn, in my old age!
Finally, I would bet *anything* that the Consumer Friendly Yarns site was created and paid for by internet yarn sellers and that consumers have had nothing to do with it!
Brenda, it’s so good to have you back! I listened to this episode on a long train ride last week and it made the time fly. Thanks for all of your hard work and happy anniversary. 🙂
Brenda, I like the new look of the blog. And I love that the image shows up in Bloglines. Very cool. Keep doing what you’re doing! I love it when I new episode shows up in my iPod!
For those interested in adding more to Wikipedia’s content: while doing some searches, I noted that the entry on Elizabeth Zimmermann is considered to have an “insufficient introduction” and there is no entry for Maggie Righetti.
Brenda, I’m adding this message on your blog post very late. I was debating whether to send you a separate e-mail. I’m slowly but surely listening to all of the podcasts from the start. I started listening to your podcasts about 4 weeks ago and I’m nearly caught up (okay, so I snuck and listened to ep. 50 last week). Please excuse this comment if it is redundant as I didn’t have the time to read all the posts above. As you spoke about contributing to the Knitting section of Wikipedia, it occurred to me that what you might be aiming to accomplish is Knowledge Management for knitting resources. Knowledge Management includes not just documentation of info and techniques, but the connection of people or ‘living knowledge’ sources. Also, it occurred to me that you and everyone else who listens and contributes to this podcast, blog and the knitting and fiber-craft related network online, is participating in the building of this knowledge management “system” (Ugh… sorry for using that word, “system” at least I didn’t use infrastructure). I admire your leadership and initiative in this movement to build a community of supportive knitters, you truly embody the spirit and the power of the collaborative net. You are my hero! Please do keep up the inspirational work. Thanks – N.