Adventures in Not Podcasting

I am extremely lucky in my friends for many reasons.  Not least of which is that many of my close friends are also makers of one sort or another.  Crochet, knitting, sewing, cooking, tatting, weaving, drawing, painting.... name a craft and I bet someone in my circle does it, has done it, or is already planning to learn how.

Jess, Koren and I have a regular hang-out scheduled for most Friday nights.  We have dinner together, talk about what we're making, watch some TV or a movie, or maybe have a YouTube Dance Party.  Some variation of a weekly gathering has been happening at my place for years.  

About a year, year-and-a-half ago, we discovered knitting podcasts (this is all leading somewhere, I swear).  I was a late adopter -- I sort of peripherally knew that knitting podcasts were a thing.  And now I actually can't remember what prompted me to check them out and start listening.  It might have been something on one of my blogs, or that I saw on Ravelry.  Who knows?   The point is, I started listening and then bullied badgered convinced Koren and Jess to listen too.

And we started thinking about the conversations we have most Friday nights.  What are you working on?  What are you reading? What have you finished? What do you think of this pattern?  Hey, that designer has her patterns on sale... that sort of thing.

And then somebody made a joke about podcasting and how we should do it.  And someone else pointed out that she sounds like a 12 year old girl who's been caught sucking helium again when she's on tape (she actually said "on tape" because she is old).   Then someone else pointed that the second someone was ridiculous.   The conversation sort of devolved at that point.

But the idea of the "Not-a-Podcast" was born.  We occasionally sit down to a bit of semi-structured talk about what we're making, what we're watching and reading, and what's got us excited.  It's a great way to keep excited about our crafting lives, and it's really fun.

This past Friday there was a plague in two of our houses, so we decided to cancel Friday night. But Koren very cleverly pointed out that there was no reason we couldn't still Not-a-Podcast if we got on Google Hangouts.

So we very seriously set up a Google doc for our show notes, and proceeded to have a delightful time.  There were a few initial technical hiccups, but all in all it was a great success.  I may or may not have started out by saying, "Welcome to Episode 1 of Yarny Tonkin'.  I'm Bekah, also known as ... Bekah."  A bit of an homage to the KnitGirllls there.

No.  We aren't really going to do a podcast.   But if we did, we'd totally call it "Yarny Tonkin'".

A quick update on what's on my needles this week -- I'm 14% done with Lilli Pilli (why yes, I do have a spreadsheet, why do you ask?)  That's about 32 garter stripes into the first section.

I have a bit more to do, and then it's on to the first lace section.  I can't wait to add in the orange.

And then I started a hat for 25000 Toques -- a group that is organizing hand knit hats to give to Syrian refugees in Canada.  I think it's a lovely thing. Check it out, if you've a mind to.

I'm making Barley out of the yarn leftover from Rowan's Bankhead hat (good news on that front -- it fit and he likes it.  Much better than last year's hat attempt).  For some reason I cannot for the life of me get a color-accurate picture of this yarn.  It's actually a very pretty olive green.