Knitting in the Red

It's a Purl, Man

2007-03-21T13:30:00.000-04:00

Guido (2Skiens) Stein hosts this popular podcast.

I decided to review It's a Purl, Man next, because he is just so entertaining. I really like Guido, he is very sincere and funny. I really like his style and his voice.

It's a Purl, Man is structured differently than most. He begins with introducing his show and playing his theme music, as many others do. But, after that, it's pretty much a free-for-all about whatever he would like to talk about for the day.

Recent episodes include: the State of the Knitting Blog where he and guest host (The Subway Knitter) discuss popular knitting blogs and what draws them to the online knitting community, Socks where he and Grumperina discuss the many splendors of the sock, and Going Old School where he and Stitchy McYarnpants talk about men's vintage knitting patterns.

Each episode is full of information and opinions on everything from patterns to yarn to designers. I have learned a lot about my own area's knitting community and a lot about the greater knitting community.

Overall, Guido does a great job of staying on topic and directing himself and his guests through an interesting conversation about various knitting items. The production is decent enough and the topics are funny and useful.

I would rate his show a 4 out of 5 stars. I do take away one star for production quality.

[Editor's Note: I realize that the past two podcast reviews are going to look like gushing, but there is something special about these two shows. I want to listen to them as soon as they come out (no matter what else I am doing).]

Unwound

2007-02-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

Kelli Robinson's Unwound is an inspirational podcast. In fact, her podcast has inspired me to review all knitting podcasts.

Kelli is a lawyer in Birmingham, AL. Her voice is very soothing, and she expresses her ideas and thoughts with clarity and ease. Her style is very laid-back, and I find it to be very relaxing. The title 'Unwound' is very appropriate.

The structure of the podcast is usually the same from week to week.

Kelli opens with a mini-monologue about what the content of this podcast will include.

Then, she gives thanks to all of the people that have helped her in any way. I really appreciate the thanks part of the show, because it starts the podcast out positively.

Next, she usually plays a tip from someone other than herself. She moves on to talk about her knitting and where she is with something. This is really great, too, because she shares her questions and uncertainties, and it helps me to feel like I am not alone in my questions.

Then, she talks about some knitting-related thing that she has researched. As a lawyer, she clearly has excellent research skills. She explains this thing in every possible way, and really understands what she is talking about. She conveys the information clearly and efficiently. The variety of topics covers yarn shops to charitable causes to knitting lingo and techniques.

Then, she has a special segment. This week, she had a listener from Japan submit an essay about the beginnings of her very interesting scarf.

And then, she does my favorite thing of all. She plays the listener poll feedback. This is when I get to hear voices from across the country and world talk about various knitting-related subjects. It is astounding to hear the variety of answers people give, and the variety of voices on the other side of the earphone. I participated in this last one, so we'll see if I make it on! :o)

Finally, she wraps up the show by introducing the listeners to three new books. She hasn't necessarily read the books, but she talks about them (basicially covers what you could read on the back of the book) and offers them in her drawing for others to review.

Overall, Kelli's podcast is really great. At this point, there is absolutely nothing I would do to change it. Occasionally, I feel that the listener call-in portion of the show is a little long, but I think that will change with Unwound's growing popularity.

5 out of 5 stars

I have a theme

2007-02-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about this tiny blog for quite some time... Considering what to do with it. I don't post about my knitting very much on my other blog, but it seems awfully redundant to post twice about the same things going on, with a little knitting thrown in on this blog. So, I have realized that I would like to review knitting podcasts on this blog. There are so many of them out there, and so few of them are any good. I have some really strong opinions about the types of knitting podcasts there should be, and what qualifies as a "good" podcast, in my opinion. Obviously, everything I say here will be in my opinion, and obviously, I am not the foremost reviewer of knitting podcasts. Rather, I hope to be helpful to those that may be searching for good content, but don't have the time to whittle through the dozens and dozens of podcasts available.

To open, I will state my philosophy of knitting podcasts (note: this is subject to change).

First, a knitting podcast should be mostly about knitting - it's history, good yarn and/or pattern stores, book reviews, etc.

Second, a knitting podcast should be enjoyable to listen to. Quite a bit of background noise and annoying "chatter" should be kept to a minimum.

Third, a knitting podcast should relate to and involve the listener as much as possible. Be it an essay series read and written by listeners or poll questions asked by the host and answered by the listener. This is very important to the vitality and variety of the podcast.

Those are my current criteria by which I judge whether a podcast is worth the time. I am really looking forward to reviewing all of the wonderful and not-so-wonderful knitting podcasts out there! I hope you can take some nugget of information from my reviews.

Thanksgiving projects are complete

2006-11-13T12:57:00.000-05:00

I have done it! I have cast off on all of my projects for the Thanksgiving batch of gifts! Yay!

Next, I have 1.75 socks of doom to knit and about 5 other projects for the Hunt side of the family. And, I have to add some finishing touches to two of the projects for Thanksgiving.

So, that's about it in the knitting world.

Oh, yeah. There is one other thing:

One of my new favorite online stores. She's been getting a lot of buzz lately in the blogging world, and I think she's pretty cool and has wonderful customer service. Just fabulous! So, try it out! ;o)

Deep breaths

2006-10-05T17:17:00.000-04:00

Deep breath

I must rip back Candy's shawl 10 rows. (I can't even think about how many stitches that is - something like 1200).

It's the lace. It got off, and it is completely unacceptable. I will be doing this tonight (if I am up to it).

I am not giving up on lace, though. I refuse! This is going to be a lovely shawl, even if I have to redo the whole thing! But, I don't. So, that's good.

Socks of Doom and other such stuff

2006-10-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

Hello!

As I mentioned on the Xanga blog (link on right), I have completed the socks of doom, and I was able to send them out yesterday. My killer socks are currently en route to Texas, where they will probably be knit up quickly and will come to me by the beginning of next week. We shall see, though... We shall see. After all, unexpected things happen in war.

Last night I almost finished the scarf for Karl. I am about one row and one bind-off away. I just couldn't stay up for another 10 minutes to finish. I'll show pictures when it's blocking.

I am wearing my first hand-knit socks for the first time today. I knit them in February thinking that I would wear them for the rest of the winter, but I think I got thrown off by the hand wash only part. Now, I am confident that I can handle hand washing these. They are great to wear (although a little ichy). I can't wait to make more for myself.

Knitting is back.

2006-09-22T15:46:00.000-04:00

Yes! The pattern has arrived for the Sock Wars... And just in time, too! ;o) I was able to go out at lunch and buy the necessary supplies. Now, I just need to get out of work...

Good luck, fellow opponents. Good luck.

Which Chick Are You?

2006-09-21T13:04:00.000-04:00

Yup. This pretty much sums me up. Wouldn't you say? ;o)

Which Chick Are You?

You are BELLA. Floating around in a cloud of patchouli, you're all about peace, love, and floaty shawls. You're quirky, generous and you don't give an organic fig about fitting in. Which is not to say you're not open to a little adventure. You've been known to stray from your vegetarian, new-age ways. Hey, as they say in yoga class, happiness is all about balance. Happiness is also your favorite yarn, the softest alpaca in the world.
Take this quiz!

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The scarf

2006-09-19T14:07:00.000-04:00

I am totally obsessed with this beautiful scarf. Here it is at about halfway complete. The picture is terrible - I'm very sorry. The problem is the dear husband (DH) is using the real digital for work, so I have to use my camera phone. Sorry. The color is much more brilliant than this. It is beautifully shiny and good. I love this yarn! While I haven't worked with much other yarn, it's my absolute favorite yarn. It's so strong that Kiddo (the darling cat, DC) can play with it over and over and it still doesn't break (not true of the 100% wool yarn I bought for the Lotus Blossom shawl). Maybe it's the silk?

I'm hoping to get this scarf completed by the time the Sock Wars start. I have about 8 inches left of cabling on the other end, so I'd say I'm pretty much on track. Fingers crossed...

Speaking of the Sock Wars... I'm totally unprepared. I don't have needles or yarn, thus I haven't done a guage swatch. Oh dear. I'm not sure I'm going to get anything purchased by Friday, either. Although, I do have a work knitting circle on Friday, so I really should get everything by then, then I can dilligently work on the sock while at the knitting circle. This is all-out war, people, and I haven't even done basic training, yet! Deep breaths... I'm sure I'll die in the first round... It would be a true miracle if I made it beyond that.

So, on the backburner is the Lotus Blossom Shawl, a pair of socks for another Christmas gift and Ethan's blanket... I think I have decided that I am a focus knitter. I didn't think I was, but now that I have four projects going on at the same time, I'm realizing that it's best for me to work through the projects one at a time. It helps with my guage and determination. Now that I can see the finish line of the scarf, I am more determined than ever to get it done. Call me obsessive. I dare you.

2006-09-12T08:38:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't heard of it, Jessie (my knitting missionary sister-in-law) and I are playing in the yarnmonkey's sock wars. It's going to be so great! I don't think I'm going to make it very far, but it will still be a ton of fun!!

In the meantime, I am also working on Karl's Christmas present: a maroon cabled scarf.

Here is the pattern: http://cu-needleworks.com/Patterns/Scarves/DoctorScarf/doctorscarf.pdf

I'm using KnitPicks Gloss yarn in burgandy and it is really great. I love the silk/wool blend, it's so soft and strong and warm. I just hope Karl likes it.

I just started a week ago and I'm already about 1/3rd done! Pretty cool, huh? ;o)

The work on the shawl is going really well. I only have 33 rows to go (plus the extra bind off). I hate to show you pictures, because it looks so ugly before it's blocked. But, it's coming along very nicely.

So, there you have it... My knitterly pursuits.

2006-08-24T16:12:00.000-04:00

I am just posting so that I can show the pictures I took of the lace shawl for my mother-in-law. I don't really have anything else to say... It's going swimmingly.

This is how big the shawl is currently. About the size of one couch cushion.

This is an approximation of the color. Also, a nice close up of my stiches. I really hope that looks a lot better after blocking.

Of course, 30 SECONDS after putting the yarn out, Kiddo MUST play with it. Then, of course, I must take a picture.

Progress: About 25% complete. Wow. Only 3/4 more to go...

2006-08-22T16:37:00.000-04:00

OTN: I'm not sure if this is true knitty lingo, but OTN sounds good (meaning On the Needles).

I am in the process of making two lace shawls: one for my mother and one for my mother-in-law. Since this is my first lace project, ever, I decided to use the same pattern, but in different colors. Here are the results of my swatch, in the color for my mother-in-law:

This is the pattern with the black for my mother's shawl. The pattern: Lotus Blossom from Fiddlesticks, the yarn (both kinds): Blackberry Ridge Fingering Weight 100% Wool.

And, I'm about 20% of the way done with the true knitting, but I don't have any pictures. Soon, they will come!

Oh, and I'm using KnitPicks Options needles to knit, and they are so lovely! Although lately, the cord has been having a little too much memory.

My knitting story...

2006-08-18T17:12:00.000-04:00

...It all began during the Christmas of 2005. My sister-in-law, a voracious knitter, had received an inappropriate knitting gift. She had recieved a kit for a beginner. So, she passed it off to me, certainly unknowing of its effect.

I began working with the kit (and the DVD!), and I was hooked. Here was a craft that didn't require tens of minutes of clean up or concentration (like painting or mod podge, both popular crafts in my college years), and I could take it with me! Plus, there is obviously a huge knitting community and a great little yarn shop only two blocks from my apartment. What could be better?! I dived (dove?) right in.

Currently, I am working on Christmas gifts for all of my family members and my best friend. I have another day-to-day blog, but they all read that, so I have decided to begin another blog dedicated solely to the pursuit of all things knitting related. So, here it is. Enjoy.