It's raining, it's pouring.

I'm currently sitting in my car in my driveway knitting...

     (Vehicle is parked. Do not freak out.)

... and catching up on The Knitting Samurai's video podcast. Why?

    (Hi Steph!)

It's pouring and I don't want to leave the car. (Also, I'm just a few rows from the end of this hat!)

   (Gah. Did not realize rain would happen, would've taken the flag in.)

So, how's Monday treating you?

Get Your Ears On!

So, you're off for a lovely month-long vacation in the Bahamas.

Oh, you're not? That's okay, I'm not, either! I do have some time off from work coming up, though, and as the majority of my plan centers around "relax and knit, possibly with a cup of tea", I'm going to need something to listen to whilst knitting, tea-drinking, and otherwise goofing off. Since holiday music started up well before US Thanksgiving this year (mid-November!), I'm fine with finding something else. So... how about a new knitting podcast?

The lovely Hoxton Handmade, she of the Electric Sheep Podcast, recently did a Special Crossover Episode with APlayfulDay. This is a fact. I have listened to it (and giggled quietly, and been glad I'm the one that opens the office and I'm alone for an hour or so each morning, since while it is possible for *me* to work as I giggle, my coworkers want to know what I'm listening to that's so darned entertaining, and then we all gather 'round and nothing gets done.)

So: I have now downloaded the entire run of APlayfulDay off iTunes, but you can listen directly through the blog, too, right off the internet! (That Holiday Crossover excitement I mentioned? It's Right Here. The blog has not only information for each epidsode, but lots and lots of other fun reading - the very first post, in fact, deals with something I see all the time: commuters freaking out because THERE IS A GIRL KNITTING RIGHT THERE OMG (it happens all over the world, it seems), and there are all sorts of Social Networking Contacts to keep you in touch with All Things Playful (or you can joing the Ravelry Group.



And if you haven't listened to The Electric Sheep? Oh, PLEASE do, it's wonderful! There's the blog, of course, with show notes and knitting and wonderment (Oh, look, you can subscribe to the blog! DONE!!... or I will be once I get my confirmation e-mail... hurry up, confirmation e-mail!), again, if you don't have iTunes (and on iTunes? Make sure you get The Electric Sheep by HoxtonHandmade... not the other one!), you can listen online, too. There's a Ravelry Group that's a HOOT (see the "Feed the Sheep" thread).


Because I was looking at Knitting Podcasts on iTunes, I also stumbled across NeverNotKnitting - which also has a blog with lots of lovely photos and interesting things, a listen on-line option, and... a map of the world showing all the places you can get the lovely patterns! (I'm rather fond of world maps involving Knitting Things.) Oooo, look, it's got a Ravelry Group, too!


Well. That should certainly give me a week of things to listen to. Possibly two. Or three... hm. Maybe I could slip off to the Bahamas for a month?

Fun things I found to share

Spiffy New Thing for all the stitchers out there (you know who you are): Kniterdone of Meet me in the Dayroom fame pointed out the new Stitching 'n' Junk podcast, which is a hoot. Clicky on the picture to listen, free!


You can also subscribe through iTunes (which is what I did). it's kicky, it's offbeat, it's fun, and hey - you can listen and stitch at the same time!


As long as we're discussing Spiffy New Things, I spotted this at A.C. Moore weekend-before-last:






Yep, Debbie Stoller, of Stitch 'n' Bitch fame (TAKE THAT, people in NYC who tried to TM the phrase! Ain't gonna hold up!), has her own line of yarn. Read all about it on the StitchNationYarn site! Looks like the Full O Sheep is a good felting yarn; I'm sure there will be a felting class (or, hey, a felting O.W.L.) in my future at HPKCHC, so I'll keep that in mind. But yay, Debbie! Yarn!!

Also, added this to my library: Shirley Paden's Knitwear Design Workshop: The Comprehensive Guide to Handknits. Wowza, this is a great resource - and it's spiral-bound, so it actually lies flat!! (I'm all about spiral-binding. I took the spines off of most of my sheet music complilations & spiral-bound them so I could actually put them on the music rack and play. Spiral-binding is a wonderful, wonderful thing.)


If I hadn't already known about this book, I'd have picked it up on the basis of the sweater on the cover alone! However, I found out about it from The World's Best Knitting Video Podcast, Let'sKnit2Gether. If you're not already watching it, you should check it out!!

Okay, that's enough fun new stuff for this week....!