When I was first starting on my knitting journey (fall of 2006!), I found a few podcasts. I was already pretty much of a big geek, and this seemed like a fun way to enjoy my new-found hobby by listening to others talk about it! I had just gotten my first iPod at the time, and learning how to use these audio files was great fun.

cartoon kristine: mascot of the Yarnings podcast!

Fast forward to a few years later, and podcasts were such a joy to me when I was mostly bed-bound from my illnesses. I started to interact with some of the podcasters on twitter and ravelry groups, and I got brave enough to meet a few of them at OFFF, and they encouraged me to start my own podcast (the currently inactive Yarnings Podcast, which I still think may come back some day). These lovely ladies and others I've met through podcasts are some of my dearest friends now, through the wonder of the internets to keep us connected.

Last year, I got an iPad, and was able to really explore videocasts in a bigger way. Between that and the boom of knitting friends on instagram, I was able to keep up with friends in a visual way, and I love that!

note the pink earbuds!

If I'm not listening to music at home, I'm listening to podcasts. If I'm out and about on my own, my pink earbuds are with me and I've got on something encouraging or entertaining. If I'm sitting in bed knitting, it's a regular feature in my instagram feed that you'll see what I'm knitting with my iPad featured with what I'm watching. So it's a pretty constant thing for me!

So without further ado, here are podcasts that I love and listen to/watch (links go to the podcast websites, where links can be found to download in a podcast app or listen directly from the site):

For non-knitting friends, the acronyms WIP, FO, and KAL might sound silly - they stand for "Work in Process", "Finished Project", and "Knit A Long" :) I've been knitting more the last few months, and it is making me super happy, and considering all these things. Ravelry is open in more browser tabs than I will admit most of the time! I've also been missing reporting on these things on my fairly defunct podcast, which may make a return someday.

FO: my On Caspertine, In Love socks is another attempt at a sock pattern I really loved and wore them out. I did a bit of math to make things work a little better this time around. And I used some yarn that reminds me of a movie which reminds me of love: Stardust, the airship's is Caspertine, and that's the colorway. Great movie, E and I watched it on our anniversary one year and so it will be forever linked with LOVE in my head. So the yarn colorway inspired the socks, which inspired picking a pattern with hearts that I loved, and it reminded me of love throughout! Yarn is from Toil and Trouble, with "bookishly inspired" colorways.

WIP: my Enchanting Temptress is the Tempting cardigan from Knitty in Knit Picks Imagination. It is a striped cardi that has been in my queue for years, and when this yarn was on sale, I picked these two, hoping they would go together for a steal. They most definitely do. current status: knit in one piece to the armholes, cast on for sleeves in the round, two at a time. need to buy buttons!

WIP: my lichen tide cowl is a long cowl using the lace pattern from the Low Tide cardigan I made earlier this summer. I cast on with JMCO and left those stitches live for easy grafting at the end. My friend Jennifer even knit a few repeats at coffee the other morning for me :) current status: I'm just knitting it until I run out of yarn! 17g of yarn left.

WIP: a re-knit of a pattern I designed several years back and haven't released yet. woot, I LOVE it, with Yarn Vs. Zombie yarn.

letting you in on some of my hopes and dreams and queuing it up in bite size chunks! If I had a podcast, these would be some of the things I shared ;)

next up, to watch: I just finished a complete re-watch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I still have one season of Angel to go. Before next season, I'd like to get caught back up on the end of last season's Bones. And the next big thing I want to dig into with Eric is Supernatural. I still need to own Avengers so I can watch the specials!

next up, to read: We are slowly making our way through the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (now on Soul Music, #16). I'm reading a wide variety of Health and Cookbooks from the library. And my next personal fiction listen will be Divergent by Veronica Roth. my goodreads profile

next up, podcasts: While the last few months have been super full, I've let the list of podcasts I was listening/watching get neglected. I'm working through back episodes of several of my favorites finally - I think I made it through 4 different shows this week that I really wanted to see the whole while-I-was-gone collection! There are others I'm going to have to declare podcast bankruptcy and mark as read and start from now!

next up, to knit: I've been collecting yarn and patterns to knit once I got closer to my goal weight. There are 6 contenders for the next sweater/top to cast on. All of these are in my stash, it's just time to figure out which is going to be the best one to have to wear next. And beyond that, there are the socks on the needles, a skein that needs to be turned into socks or a shawl for my anniversary trip. I also have several designs that need knitting/reknitting/test knitting, and a few things I set aside for a little while. my ravelry queue

pattern+yarn contenders 1

patterns+yarn contenders 2

 

next up, in the house: I'm doing a lot of deep cleaning. There are several closets that need a complete overhaul and several trips to goodwill. I need to determine what to do with the handknits that are too large for me. And I need to put a bunch of my stash up on ravelry as available to destash. I hope to "renovate" a drawer area to utilize for spices to free up another area of my countertop for useful tasks.

next up, in life: my anniversary is coming up soon :) Further out, I need to determine what the holiday season will look like and begin planning. My business will flourish, in the future. And I will keep working on my health very closely.

 

Yesterday was November 1st, and it was a great day to refresh my sites and shop with everything new I've been working on lately.

Podcast is Live! After finishing recording my 3rd episode of the Yarnings Podcast, I decided to make it live to my main site and share it with my friends outside the knitting circle.  from the site: "The Yarnings Podcast is a new audio blog that talks about fibery/crafty projects with stories of cooking, geekyness, and more." 

kadyellebee patterns.  Even though I've been designing my own patterns for a while, I didn't have any live until yesterday.  The patterns site launches with the Wren Shawl, a knitted pattern for a round shawl designed to wrap around the wearer many ways.  This pattern itself has both charted and written instructions. 

kadyellebee on Etsy refresh.  3 new product lines were added to the kadyellebee shop, and all products got a retouch in their descriptions and keywords to make things easier to find.  The 3 new lines are the Wren Shawls, Rambaldi Scarves, and Woven Purses.  This is the culmination of hundreds of hours of designing, knitting/crocheting, and photoshoots!  

Three big things for a big day.  It is a great start to the holiday season, and makes me very excited for things to come :)