Since I discovered podcasts several years ago, I have stuck with a couple of genres. Lately I have felt pulled to stretch out and find new things to listen to which are not knitting or religion related. I’m sorry to admit that currently there far too many knitting podcasts and aren’t any religion podcasts in my feed. While branching out I tried a several from the “stuff you should know” site but found credibility to be lacking on many. After listening to a string of episodes and yelling at the iPod that that information simply isn’t correct only to hear in the next episode the hosts admit mistakes in fact checking, I gave up on all of them. A few others I have tried and still enjoy are book reviews, real life stories, and most recently fictional stories.

While listening to a knitting podcast I discovered Podiobooks available through iTunes or the podiobook website. I have listened to Shadowmagic, a fun story about an 18 year old boy who wakes up in a dungeon in Tir na nÓg. While not particularly complicated, the author left me begging for the next chapter with his carefully crafted cliffhanger episodes. I’m a sucker for a good fantasy involving Irish mythology. Luckily for me, this audiobook was completed in 2006 so I was able to download the entire book and listen over the weekend. I also found his second book in the series and subscribed via iTunes. I am currently caught up and am afraid that at one episode per week I will be well into the new year before I hear the final installment although I have a strong feeling I know where the major plot lines are headed. The author promises the possibility of a third book. The first book is also available from Harper Collins in paperback. Please see the author’s website for more information.

• Podiobook website Shadowmagic
• iTunes Shadowmagic
• Podiobooks The Prince of Hazel and Oak
• iTunes The Prince of Hazel and Oak

I’ve been listening to these books while knitting a Deep Waters and Starlit Skies Shrug by Holly Priestley. The original was knit in blue, hence the name. Mine is a green with pink and green flecks. As I wear this during the winter, I’m sure I will contemplate the story line and a movie or two I’ve watched while working on it.

The least listened to podcast in my feed reader are fitness related. I tell myself that soon I will start working on that again. I used to post updates on Fridays about that. It was motivation for me to keep going. I wonder if I can guilt/pressure myself into action again.

by Edwin A Abbott
reading guide 1
reading guide 2
Flatland text from Project Gutenberg
Annotated Version of Flatland
Wiki background

a review/summary

I first started listening to this on Craftlit and found my attention span waning. I decided to stop listening to this book for a few episodes then checked out a hardcopy from the library. I started with the text on Project Gutenberg, linked above, and wanted to hold it in my hand and flip chapters. I found that I enjoyed understood it better to read first then listen.

While I don’t fancy myself anything special when it comes to reading deeper into what an author means, this author made it quite easy to see his points. The author used satire to convey his thoughts on social classes as well as gender inequality using personified flat two-dimensional shapes. I feel as though I can’t say too much more without revealing what can be discovered while reading. I found myself pulling for the poor square after a while. Please use the links above to read more about the book or the book itself as it is in public domain.

A long while ago, I found a site that challenged readers to make a list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days, if you search for posts here with the 101 in 1001 tags or use your favorite search engine, you’ll find it. I jumped on board and am almost half way through my 1001 days. I have made some progress, which is exciting and had to remove some things from the list that are no longer relevant or impossible to complete at this point. While I am fairly certain that I will be fortunate to complete 60 or more of the 101 things, I have learned how to make a more feasible list in May of 2011 if I choose to try this again.

Art/Craft
12. Purchase or make a drop spindle (9/2008 made 2), spin at least 6 oz. of pre-dyed fiber & knit into socks
18. Finish R2D2 hat, write instructions (11/2008)
21. Frog Homespun blanket and reuse yarn to make hoodie (2009)
22. Stamp cards to use for special occasions: have 20 in reserve – 10/20 (11/2009)
26. Calculate yards or number of projects in stash, get to work (this is in constant progress which would be finished if I would stop adding to the list and stash)

Education/Self-Development
1. Play guitar on worship team (requires learning to play guitar) no longer on the worship team, need new task

Health
2. Lose enough weight to fall into healthy BMI and keep it off (I do have an exact number for a goal weight) (in process)
4. Kayak at least 15 times each year as often as possible

Literature
1. Read/listen to 15 Classics (1 every other month) – in progress
2. Re-read Wheel of Time, creating personal encyclopedia to track characters/plots – 5.5 of 11 reread
3. Read 10 biographies from individuals who dedicated their lives to societal change (1 every 3 months) – in progress
4. Join a book club: IRL or virtual (2/2009)
5. Write a review for each book read as a result of this 101 in 1001 list – in progress

Organization/De-Clutter
13. Basement organize boxes into smallest floor area possible, maximize work area: accomplished when there is room to host video game night with friends or craft session (summer/fall 2009)
15. Sort teaching boxes, condense by at least one box (summer/fall 2009)

Random
1. Rediscover natural hair color, no dyes until 100% natural again (fall 2009)
2. Go to the beach at least once a year: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
3. Commit 9 random acts of kindness without receiving/accepting/admitting credit (in process 2 out of 9)

I like to check my site statistics every now and again to see how people arrived here. Sometimes I can’t understand how his/her search engine directed them here and other times I can. I hope he/she was greatly entertained if the search was a bit errant in sending the traffic here. I present a random assortment of phrases that landed many people here:

• writing prompts generator software
• prompt generator
• random writing prompt generator
• christmas prompt generator
• writing prompt generator
• tigerheart club
• books by janette walls
• the glass castle book club
• curious case of benjamin button
• the shack book club questions
• the shack book club guide
• bookclub reviews of the shack
• the shack bookclub review
• schacht matchless spinning wheel
• best travel spinning wheel
• suzie spinning wheel
• louet s51 dt
• lime and violet cant listen I admit, I don’t completely understand why the poor person was directed here for this one, the l&v part-yes, the can’t listen part-no
• alan dart finished knitting projects
• alan dart patterns
• spinning wheels have to go round
• tessellating fish pattern
• tessellated fish pattern
• yarn traverse pattern software I admit, I have no idea why the poor person was directed here for this one.

While at the time multiple copies of the same files didn’t bother me much and seemed like a good idea the time, I have reconsidered my stance on the subject. I must come up with a better backup/file transfer plan for various computers in my possession. Having four copies of an mp3 file is not really cool, well, if it were just one file it would be, but it’s not just one file there are probably at least 1500 duplicate files on the hard drive. Every now and again I sit down and hunt for multiple files, decide which to keep and delete the rest. I’m so far behind. On the brighter side my 750GB drive will be much less full when I am finished, some time in 2030.

I blog this random tidbit because it is part of my 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days. I’m not doing so great on that list. I’ve accomplished a few things, like the basement, that was huge. The basement is clean, well, cleaner and way more organized.

Late this summer my Nano developed a problem. I was no longer able to use the center click wheel. The iPod still played music/podcasts, I was just unable to select what I wanted to play in what order. It started at the beginning of the list, then I had to fast forward to the episode I desired. I attempted to fix this by only putting on a couple of episodes at a time, which was less than ideal, but worked as long as I had enough listening material. I toyed with purchasing a replacement wheel and inside electronics but was concerned about wasting money if I didn’t fix it. I was also a bit envious of the amount of space on newer iPods. When the Nano was in tip-top shape, I regularly filled it and had to leave off music lists or newer podcast episodes. On Friday, I will finishing paying for my “new” iPod Classic. I purchased it before Apple released its new line in September, but overall I’m happy with my purchase. I have a smaller Classic, 120GB, as opposed to the newer 160GB one that was released in September. I looked at other brands, other sizes, other others and decided that between the ease of use of iTunes and a similar price point for other mp3 players with comparable size, the Classic was what I wanted.

And it’s that time of year again, what’s on the iPod in the podcast realm. Many old favorites are still in the mix, some no loner on the list have discontinued new episodes, some have become a bit erratic, some just don’t suit me any longer and some I try again after a hiatus.

I’ve still decided not to review any of the new podcasts nor explain why others are no longer on the list. My skin isn’t thick enough when the podcasters leave me feedback. I feel guilty when I share my opinion which hurts complete strangers. Yes, they put themselves out there. Yes, I am trying to be unbiased, I have no stake in the success or failure of a podcast so I’m not playing favorites. Moving on . . .

Standard disclaimer-not all podcasts in my list are suitable for family listening, please check reviews left on iTunes and the shownotes for the podcasts to determine if you would enjoy or be offended by a podcast.

Still hanging on:

• CraftLit | iTunes
• It’s a Purl, Man Podcast | iTunes
• knit obsession with zknits | iTunes
• limenviolet’s Podcast
• The Moth Podcast – real stories told live without notes
• Never Not Knitting | iTunes
• Stash and Burn | iTunes
• Sticks and String Podcast | iTunes
• Stitch Stud and his Bride | iTunes – podfade? just noticed no new episodes since May 2009

New-ish, but staying for a bit longer:

• Alex Anderson Quilt Connection | iTunes
• The Anatomy of Knitting Podcast | iTunes
• Books on the Nightstand | iTunes
• Brass Needles | iTunes
• CraftSanity | iTunes
• CraftyPod | iTunes
• Double Knit | iTunes – deleted this one a year ago, giving it a try again
• Knit Misadventures | iTunes
• KnitMoreGirls’s Podcast | iTunes

On probation:

• The Sassy Sheep | iTunes
• Here’s to Ewe | iTunes
• Creative Mom | iTunes
• Crafternoon Tea with Grannyg | iTunes
• avocadoknits | iTunes
• Social Knitworking | iTunes
• Sapphires-N-Purls | iTunes
• Knitscape with Becca and Betty | iTunes
• Electronic Knitting Group | iTunes
• unhinged knitter | iTunes
• Y2Knit PODconnetion | iTunes
• Strings ‘n Things | iTunes

If I add too many more to my lists, I’m going to have to take a screenshot and color code them as old, new, and on probation. If you have a podcast or know of one related to literature, crafting (knitting, crocheting, quilting, scrapbooking, stamping, etc), gardening, real-life stories, etc that is not commercially produced (we all know that Lion Brand Yarn has good things to say about itself, but I’m still not going to listen) leave a comment.

I have used a WordPress plugin called “Now Reading” for several years to track the books I’ve read. Though it is designed to be more for my library collection, I use it generically. Some of the books I list I own, many I borrow from the library or friends. After the latest “upgrade” the plugin broke. I’m not heartbroken, but I am bit upset as I have over 150 books listed as read, reading or planned to read since Nov. 2007. Less than 10 books are listed as reading or planned to read. The error I get is, “You are not authorized to perform this action.” Creating a new users on my blog with admin privileges didn’t change the problem. I did find that if I worked backward from the blog to the plugin I could edit “currently reading” books, but received the same error if I tried to add a new book. Part of me things it’s a WordPress problem as my WordPress hiccuped a week or so ago, but I also upgraded this plugin around the time it hiccuped. I didn’t notice the hiccup until Friday. I do have a work-around since I know how to edit MySQL databases but man is that a pain. The plugin wrote a nice little interface that runs information across 4 databases in one little form. I’ll keep using the silly thing until I’m too annoyed with the upkeep and then I’ll switch. If anyone out there uses something similar, I’m taking recommendations.

Ok, after setting my categories and scrolling down the page, I can say it’s a WordPress problem. WordPress has merged my admin account with a contributor account, grrr. I thought I fixed this last week.

Well, after deleting all author/admin/contributor accounts except the admin one, I have had no luck in forcing Now Reading to work. Maybe it’s time to uninstall and reinstall or just replace it with Now Reading Reloaded. I seem to have fewer consistent errors with the new plugin. It’s written by someone else but based the original plugin, so it works with minimal effort.

It seems to be stable now, 20 minutes later. I’ve had to disable another coolie plugin as the install went totally wacky after a recent plugin upgrade-YARPP-yet another related post plugin. As of Aug. 28, an updated release of YARPP seems to have addressed the issue so I have reenabled the plugin and fixed the template to show the related posts on the index as well as the single post pages.

Every now and again I add or remove podcasts from my listening routine. It’s that time again, I’ve deleted many and am in the process of adding more into the mix. I thought that reviews of the ones I do/don’t listened to would be helpful, but I seem to have hurt a feeling or two. I’m going to rethink the “why I don’t listen anymore” statements. Feel free to search iTunes or the web for subscription info and show notes if one catches your eye. Currently, I don’t subscribe to video podcasts as my Nano doesn’t play well with video and I listen mostly while I am away from the computer “doing.” For the most part, I don’t listen to commercial podcasts, no yarn brands, craft stores, etc. Some of my currently listening podcasts are on summer hiatus, so please do not judge the first list by the last publish date, they are still recording as of the start of the summer of 2009.

Here’s the list of what’s been around for at least few months:

• CraftLit – absolute favorite, classic literature read to listeners with Heather’s literary criticism and craft talk.
• CraftyPod – only been listening a short while, not ready for comment
• Doubleknit
• It’s a Purl, Man >> Podcasts – long-time listener
• Knit Misadventures
• knit obsession with zknits
• Knitmoregirl’s Podcast
• limenvoilet – Both Lime and Violet have been recording lately, be careful, lots of language and inappropriate content for most, maybe even me.
• The Moth podcast – True stories told live without notes
• Never Not Knitting
• Stash and Burn – long-time listener
• Sticks & String podcast – long-time listener
• Stitch Stud and His Bride – long-time listener

Trying out these, but not subscribed to yet:

• Alex Anderson Quilt Connection
• The Anatomy of a Knitting Podcast
• Jackie’s Quilting Chronicles
• Knitting in the Round
• Patchwork and Pacifiers
• Quilted Cupcake Podcast

When a podcaster stops realeasing new episodes without much warning, it is said the podcast has experienced podfade. I’m caught up on most of my podcasts, other than CraftLit because it takes a while to listen to an entire episode. Since I have very little else to listen to other than CraftLit, I went looking for new-to-me podcasts on knitting and in the process I’ve decided to clean out those that appear to have podfaded.

Here’s my list:

• Vickie Howell last new June 2008
• Diva Knitting last new June 2008
• Knit Science last new Aug. 2008
• Knitty Nora’s last new June 2008
• StitchStud last new Aug. 2008 Released a new episode this week

There are a few more that haven’t released a new episode since Nov., but I’m going to wait a few more months before removing them.

I completed National Blog Posting Month 2008 in November. I am satisfied to be able to say I blogged every day for a month with only a few pre-planned posts. For the most part I wrote every post every day. Many posts I started ahead of time so that all I had to do was add the content or details. I can honestly say that I will not likely participate in Blog365, too much work and not enough to say. Having to blog every day did force me to have or plan some adventures to write about, how bad can that be. I’ve finally setup daily writing themes in the event I’d like to use them.