Saturday, May 10, 2008

Podcast Suggestion

I have listened to a "fu-million" (i.e., f-ing million) podcasts in an effort to find at least ONE that I like. Let me tell you, it was really difficult.

You all know about my issues with podcasts. I simply couldn't sit still long enough to listen to one. But I knew that, with ALL of the knitting podcasts being produced, there just had to be at least one that I should like.

So I went on a listening expedition. I used iTunes to download many on my iPod...some were suggestions from you guys, and some I chose because the iTunes descriptions sounded interesting.

I made a couple of rules. (1) Listen to them to the end. My God, sometimes this was hard to do, but I wanted to give all of them a fair chance. Also, I wanted to be able to really (2)make a list of things that I'd want a podcast to do for me. Although there were many things on the list, they all boiled down to these:

(1) Don't be boring. If you have a monotone voice, I'll fall asleep on your a--. I was really drawn to those where it was obvious that the host was really excited about knitting, and had an upbeat voice. And don't ramble.

(2) Have an obvious outline/structure to your show. There are a lot of podcasts out there where you can tell that the person is just sitting there with the microphone and every random thought about their knitting/life just flowed from their lips. I like to hear about the things you're working on, but in the context of a more structured format.

(3) Teach me something. Give me an objective review on a new yarn. Tell me about new books coming out and when I should line up to buy them. Teach me a new technique (Well, as much as you CAN teach on an audio podcast.) If you can, have an interview with a knitter (either one of us regular folks, or a well known knitter) who can give advice on how to make my knitting better. Or do whatever else your creative brain can think of to make sure I can "get my learn on".

The podcasts that I liked had at least one of these characteristics. The first one that I am recommending is:

Knit Picks' Podcast.

Take a listen and see if you like it.

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