Podcasts...listen while you...whatever

I am addicted, yes, I admit it. I love to listen to podcasts while I knit, spin, do housework, whatever. It gives the brain something to do while the hands are busy with something else. (Sometimes it also provides the bribe for myself to do the housework.) I've been a TV knitter/spinner for quite some time, but the advantage to podcasts over TV is that I can continually look at my work so the chances of dropping a stitch is minimized. Here are all my current favorites, which can be found at i-tunes, which I find the easiest, or on their individual websites listed below. So here it is The List of my favorite podcasts:

Barnes & Noble: Meet the Writers: short interviews with authors about their writing.

[A brief note: There are several podcasts on this list about books and writers. I like learning about other people's creative processes, it inspires me, not just to write but to be creative in general. Hey, I think I've watched the appendices of the The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy at least 50 times, and I have no intention of ever making a movie. And now back to the list]

BritKnitCast: a monthly UK knitting/fiberarts podcast.

Cast On: The Venerable Brenda Dayne combines a great soundtrack with spoken pieces about a variety of knitting related topics. Very much "the knitting magazine for your ears."

Geek.Farm.Life: Two Geeks from the city now living on a farm in rural Indiana. (I lived in Indiana and miss it sometimes.) This is a really informative podcast that defies categorization. Andrew and Misty talk about all things farm-related, including spinning.

Joel Osteen: Positive messages, great Texas Accent

Lime and Violet: Their description is: a podcast for the yarn obsessed, which is true (Ok, yarn pr0n anyone?) it is also one of the funniest, upbeat things I have ever heard, it makes me happy.

NPR Books: Gleanings of NPR shows about books and authors

Sticks and Strings: More knitting, this time from a bloke in Australia. He has great essays and music too.

WGBH Classical Music: Classical musical offerings, great background music!

And that's The List
Holly

Sock Yarn

I have been so inspired by the sock fanatics over at the podcast Lime and Violet. I understand the basic concept of socks, but had only knit a couple of simple pairs before this. Of course, once I understand a basic concept the creativity kicks in so I thought I would go ahead a design a sock using one of my favorite lace patterns. Because I plan to submit this design to a publication I can't share particulars about the sock but I can wax poetic about the sock yarn. I was looking for a particular color (a light gold) and found my color in the Louet Gems. I ordered my yarn online from the Loopy Ewe, (a Fantastic shop, will definitely be ordering from them again). And sat to wait. The yarn showed up and was all that I expected and more. So soft and knits like a dream, I am knitting on size 1 needles and the definition in the lace pattern is beautiful. Another thing I love about this yarn is its durability. I decided to try toe-up socks for this particular pattern (now I have never done toe-up before, but I am nothing if not ambitious). After some research I came up with a way of beginning that I could do and liked the look of, however it took a try or two to get it perfect, so this yarn was cast on, actually like 4 times and was just as nice the fourth time as the first.



So here I am knitting away on my pretty golden yellow socks when, listening to Lime and Violet (they really are quite influential, enablers in the best sort of way), I heard about a sock contest over at Hill Country Yarns, so I had to enter. I ordered the chartreuse color of the sweet feet yarn. This pattern was not near as easy to come up with, but after some starts and stops I have come up with another lace pattern (I'm feeling the yarn-overs, what can I say), but completely different from my Gems socks. The yarn is also very different, for one thing it is actually sock weight, whereas the Gems is more of a lace weight. I am doing the pattern on twos and it is coming out quite nicely. I love the semi-solid nature of this yarn. It makes the design really pop! I was at first apprehensive about the feel of the yarn, it wasn't as soft as the Gems but once knitted it makes the most comfortable fabric. And that is my tale of two socks.
Holly

Am I a compulsive joiner?

Probably. I did actually give some thought to this, though, I want to make sure that all of the things that I do are deliberate and fall in with my new focus. The first thing that I joined was Runagogo . My hope is that the goal and encouragement (which is really awesome, go on, look at blog, you'll see what I mean), will be enough to get my butt off the couch and out the door. This is definitely in line with "live with less" (less butt hopefully). Thanks to Carole for also being a joiner, then writing about it 'cause that's where I saw this one.

The second thing I joined was holiday headstart , who sadly, doesn't have a button. This KAL is all about getting ready for Christmas way, way ahead of time. I haven't really knit things for Christmas, mostly, because it gets to be November and I realize Christmas is just around the corner and I haven't even thought about gifts. This also falls in with "live with less" especially if I knit out of my stash. Thanks to Abigail who showed me the way to this particular KAL.

The third thing I joined was The Organized Elf, (again, no button). Ok, we are going to have a very crafty Christmas next year, and hopefully a less expensive one too. This really speaks to both of my goals. Using up what I have and being more organized so I don't go out and buy stuff I already have, or don't need.
Wow, all this joining makes me feel invigorated, I think I'll go for a walk (2 miles down, 98 to go.)

Holly

Fast Knitting

Last week the community education brochure came in the mail. I teach knitting for them so it wasn't a big surprise to see my classes listed. The surprise was that they had actually listed them correctly (they did not in the fall), including the line "if you would like to see pictures of these projects please click on my website." My immediate reaction was run to the yarn room (yes my stash is that big) to find some socks and the bag that I knit last year for these classes to quickly photograph them and upload them up on the website. Socks: no problem, bag: nowhere to be found. So I rushed out bought a skein of wool-ease (because that room of yarn is mostly handspun, which new knitters find intimidating), and oh so quickly knit a bag, which incidentally is much, much better than the former bag.

Here are the pictures

Holly

Tasty Tuesday

Now I know that there is someone out there who is looking at this picture and saying to themselves, "this woman is pathetic, she's never made hamburgers and tater tots." Well I have made hamburgers and tater tots and this is not it. This is a picture of a venison burger and tater tots. Recently we purchased a quantity of venison. As I have never worked with this meat before I immediately went to the local library and check out both books on venison (I was impressed that they had 2), Oh Deer, The Venison Cookbook for Beginners, by Cheri Helregel and Venison by Rebecca Gray. There were a lot of good recipes in these books but none for an easy hamburger so I kind of made it up. It is really hard to just squish the meat into patties like hamburger because it is so lean so I added a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce and a hand full of breadcrumbs and it tasted pretty good. It got rave reviews from the family. I have one more food picture: when I put the tater tots on the stone to cook the reminded me of Stonehenge, yea I know I'm a little weird.
Fiber Content

The pink socks are done, woo hoo. As this is my only bit of Christmas knitting that I am doing this year, I feel very good about finishing before Christmas. Now I just have to pack them up with a nice how to care for your handknit socks tag and get them off to their intended recipient.

Holly

Technorati tags: cooking,knitting

A Perfect Friday Knit Night, Almost

Ok the husband is out, the daughter in bed what is there to do? Relax, of course. At least that is what I did last night. I found the podcast Cast On. Now normally I am not a big fan of listening to other people talk, however I love Cast On. Brenda has a voice that is so comfortable to listen to. She blends stories with music in just the right way. I am hooked. While I was listening to various past episodes I was working on my sample project. I was feeling nice with a fire in the fireplace, listening to Brenda and company read great stories with fabulous music, watching the fair isle pattern come to life beneath my fingers. It was wonderful. So when I realized that I had made a horrible, horrible mistake, it was ok. I know, I know, about gauge. I read the section in Knitting Without Tears on gauge, I understand it. It is just sometimes I don't think that hard and fast rules actually apply to me, and of course, they do. Here is the rule which I declined to aknowlege: smaller yarn=smaller gauge=smaller garment. So, long story short, I ripped out the whole thing, got bigger needles and started a gauge swatch. On the bright side, I will not have a great story to tell my knitting class about why knitting a gauge swatch is so important. Now, I am off to bake Christmas cookies.

Holly

Teaching Thursday
Teaching Knitting:
I have taught knitting classes for about 5 years. I like it because it is completely different than teaching school. The people in the classes are adults and generally want to be there, sometimes there are people who are humoring the friends who dragged them along, but usually everyone is eager to learn. The odd thing about teaching adults is frequently I am teaching women who are old enough to be my mother and that is a bit intimidating. The class I teach most often is beginning knitting. It is freqently funny when first time knitters walk into the class. There are double takes, stares and the question "Are you the teacher?" Appearently people expect an eighty-two year old instead of a thirty-two year old. But they quickly get over it and we move on in style. My classes are very workshop based, essentially what I do is introduce the project, get everyone started, then move from person to person, helping them and moving them along as each person is ready. I find the students respond to this because they are not pressured to keep up with everyone else, and can work at their own pace, which reduces stress.

I have see this question posed in several venues, so I thought I would endeavor to answer it. "How do you get started teaching knitting classes?"
There are several ways.
8 Check out your local community education department. Ours is assoicated with the public schools. Almost all of the districts around here have them. This is how I got started.
8 Go hang out at your local yarn store. Many have drop in knitting nights. Make friends, influence people, heck, just come right out and ask if they are looking for a teacher.
8 Check out the big box craft stores like JoAnn's and Michaels , I have seen want ads for teachers in their stores from time to time.

So to conclude this Teaching Thursday post I have a small, but exciting, announcement: I am extending my teaching to my local yarn store, Neigborhood Knits. I will be teaching two classes this winter, I am very excited.

Holly
Technorati tags: teaching, knitting

Tasty Tuesday

I did it, Yea! I made something new and exciting for my family for dinner. I was looking for something to do with left over turkey, and found it. This is the Pampered Chef's turkey cranberry holiday wreath if you are interested the recipie is here. It looks really spiffy, but is not actually that hard.

I thought that the pre-stuffed wreath looked really pretty, like a star. Here is the finished product. I served it with green beans. It got a big thumbs up from the husband, but just a lackluster "can I have more green beans" response from the daughter. I thought it was very tasty.

Fiber content:

Well, knit unto others is done for this year. I didn't win any of the cool prizes. What I did win is the good feeling that happens when you help someone else. I also won a new habit. The habit of knitting for charity. I am almost done with my second hat, I am into the second decreases. Here is a picture: I did finally cast on my sample (pics and more on Thursday), and I need to finish the pink socks. I have no spinning to report, because I am just too busy knitting.

Holly
Technorati tags: knitting, cooking

Tasty Tuesday
Abigail had a great post last Monday about cooking ahead. This got me to thinking. Actually this is a subject that has been percolating in my brain for some time. This is the thing, I don't love to cook, I like to eat somewhere where I don't have to cook and, more importantly, clean up. However, lately, I have been convicted about eating out. We do it too much. So for economical and health reasons I have put myself back in the kitchen on a more regular basis. There is just one problem: I have a repertoire of 8 recipes, and when my beautiful daughter says "mom are we having spaghetti again?" I know it is time to step out of my comfort zone, gastronomically speaking. So I am instituting Tasty Tuesdays, where I will be trying a new recipe and letting all of you know how it goes. Hey, maybe I'll even try making a button, hmmm. Don't worry these posts won't be entirely fiber-free (the knitting/spinning variety, not the bran variety).

Abigail here is a recipe (one of my 8):
Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Cheddar cheese
1 bag tater tots
Directions.
Brown ground beef, drain. Mix ground beef and cream of mushroom soup together in casserole dish. Shred as much cheddar cheese on top of mixture as you like. Artfully place tater tots on top of cheese in a single layer. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (or until cheese is bubbly and tater tots are brown).
*sometimes I mix in mushrooms, peas or mixed veggies (either frozen or fresh) with the ground beef.
*This can be made ahead of time and frozen or refrigerated
*Browning the beef ahead of time saves time.
Some actual knitting content:
I am still working on my hat. It is so much fun...but I must..cast..on..knitting...class...sample. I have been so tired of late with all of the cleaning I am doing that simple, no brain involvement knitting, rather than complicated colorwork is more up my alley, but alas and alack I must cast on this sample.
Holly

Technorati tags: knitting, cooking

Finished and Begun
I've been working hard on my hats for charity. I think that this will be a great expirence simply because it will put me into a habit of knitting for others. I am kind of sad that I will not be able to devote all knitting time in these two weeks to knitting for charity because I have to knit up a sample for a class that I am doing at a local yarn shop. I am really happy that I am teaching at a local yarn shop though. More on that at a later time.

Here are some Pictures of my finished hat and my begun hat (which will be eventually be a doube knit hat). I don't know where right now I am going to send the first hat but it will find a worthy home.

Holly

Technorati tags: knitting, knitting for charity

Washing Yarn

I washed some yarn this weekend. I tend to wash in quanitity. When I finish spinning I just chuck the yarn into a basket unitil I have a bunch. The basket was overflowing. I was afraid I would have to stop spinning because my drying rack finally kicked the bucket (again) I don't know if it is fixable or not but I needed a drying solution for my yarn and I found one Yea! I am hanging my yarn on an old (plasic) broomhandle between the i-beams in the basement. Pretty smart huh.
Holly

Technorati tags: knitting

Casting on for Charity
In preparation for Knit unto Others I rolled my skein into a ball. A short explaination may be in order: I don't own a swift, this is a very sad thing, but I get along nicely with my child's sized rocking chair. And what a ball it turned out to be (the Barbie is just for scale purposes). I may get three or four hats out of this yarn. I've cast on for the Carrot Top hat from the Knit Hats book. I'm going to use it to swatch from since there is soo much yarn, then maybe make some double knit hats as those are warmer and most desired by the charities I'd like to donate to. (The double knit would also nicely hide the not so great colors of yarn that are of the same type as this, which was orginaly white.)

Happy knitting all

Holly




Technorati tags: knitting