Episode 12: Green

When you are looking for advertisers why don’t you look for ones that sell products that we are interested in, like yarn companies or related things.
Love your podcast.

You should definitely set up a Beeton gallery! Grumperina, of Jaywalker sock fame, set up a Jaywalker gallery, and it’s great to go through. I’m the kind of person who loves to thoroughly research projects before she knits them, which includes scouring the internet for photos of how other knitters have interpreted the pattern. It’s such a treat to find a cache of finished object photos all gathered in one place.

You have a amazingly talent son!! My oh my!

Alice

As always, enjoying the knitting content on your podcast. What I am not enjoying over the past several shows is all the talk about podcasting itself. I don’t know how you define your audience, but I’d hazzard a guess that there are a lot more knitters than knitting podcasters, and that focus is getting lost. Easily 15 or 20 minutes of the show is about the mechanics, details, equipment, advertising, etc. etc. etc. If it were print, I’d skim, but audio has no equivalent.

Dear Brenda: Your idealism and philosophy about advertizong made me weep for such idealism is so necessary today, and so essential for our kids and the future of the human race. I think you can start a movement and a revolution in thinking and acting. Thank you for reminding me that such things are possible.
I really couldn’t wait until Friday this week to listen to you again, and you get better each time. Thank you again!Be good to yourself; the world needs you….

Brenda,

Loved the latest episode, as always. What a thrill to hear WeaveCast mentioned on your show. Thank you for the great review!

“What if it were different?” what a wonderful concept. I’m going to start using that question on sticky situations, see if I can’t shake a few things loose.

Will definately be here when the Cast-On hiatus is over, pointy sticks at the ready.

Rock/Knit on,

–Syne

Great show, as always. I agree with Carol. Your description of how you work through sticky problems really hit home. And I love the idea of your talented son trying to find a singer for your show. That’s a good kid.

I wrote an article about podcasts for an e-zine, and listed yours as one of my favorites. It’s at:
http://www.pikerpress.com/article.cfm?form.id=1804
The fact is, I was holding out against iPods pretty well until I learned there were knitting podcasts. Then I knew I would have to have one.

I have just one small request. Could you please make a little time during your hiatus to give us a final update on how Team Wales and yourself did on the knitting olympics? I’m on Team First Sweater and your olympic moments have been a nice segment in the show lately.

Hi Brenda,

I LOVE your PodCast. I’m with the early post…Cast On has disappeared from iTunes. Waz Up?

Your the best.
Wendy

I’ve been listening to your podcast for a while and I just had to comment and tell you what a great job you’re doing! (Hello from a fellow Buffy fan.)

And I really enjoyed Zach’s music.

I have to agree with Theresa – the knitting content is good, but there’s far too much non-knitting content. A little is fine, but most of us don’t want to hear about your headphones or where the buttons on your program used to be (or where they are now, for that matter). Plus, waxing poetic about how advertizing can be turned into a grand humanistic tool? Boring, and doesn’t hide the fact that it all boils down to trying to make money from your listeners. It’s kind of insulting, really.

Please stick to knitting or you’ll be losing a lot of listeners like me.

Hi Brenda,
I was awed, amazed and delighted by Zach’s Acoustic Daydream. It actually made me put down the pointy sticks just to listen more closely. I hear a lot of music on podcasts and seldom does this happen. Even more rarely is it that I find myself wanting to purchase an album or find out if the musician is playing in my neck of the woods. Thanks for playing his piece. You are truly a family that has been blessed by the genes of creativity.

Cheers!
Maura in Sendai, Japan

Hello Brenda,
What about Lakeland? Perhaps they would take some space with you after all the good things you’ve said about them.
What do you think this passage is about? Does anyone know? I just found it in a 1905 story by Violet Jacob a Welsh/Scottish writer. She writes –
“Jessie-Mary presented an expanse of white apron to the world; a bunch of turkey feathers, in which to stick knitting needles, was secured between her person and the band of this garment, the points of the quills uppermost.”
Is it for speed or just somewhere to rest the work while you do something else? Perhaps Lakeland would make one or adapt a device.It sounds a bit uncomfortable or lethal even!
Great podcasting – thanks.

I have no plans to podcast – yet enjoy the talk about the mechanics. I think hearing someone chat about the stuff that interests them is usually fun, if they have a well-modulated voice (as you do – ie not monotonous). So I disagree with the posters above who feel you should stick ONLY to the knitting content…

Also – have you checked out http://www.craftsanity.com/ , which has the anticrafters on this time? Perhaps an interesting podcast to mention.

And by all means cover your expenses by getting ads if that works for you – I don’t see it as you making money out of your listeners, but it enabling you to continue giving me a free hour of talk radio on my favourite subject!

Hi Brenda,

Have you ever heard of http://www.newdream.org/? Check it out; it will probably lead you to some useful links. Vive la revolution!

Thank you so much for another wonderful broadcast. I really wanted to thank you, not only for the ‘Green advertising’ and your wonderful selection of music (two aspects of the show that even my husband enjoyed), but also for ‘this week’s sweater’.

A really inspiring show.

Brenda,
Thank you thank you thank you! I sat, entranced, while you eloquently shared your heart regarding this advertising vision. Please post the Green Code on your site, would you? I think every reminder is a good thing. I listen every week because I feel like a better person afterwards. Selfish, huh? Often it’s because I realize I’m not the only take-a-cheap-thing-to-do-a-keen-knitting-job afficionado, or because I am always empowered to be a better knitter after your descriptions on Today’s Sweater. I feel like I can be. But today was different, because I could hear the catch in your voice, and I wanted to start that advertising company, and put the green code in contracts, and make people listen, and make it different. I wanted to cry and I wanted to wake up someone (it’s 11pm right now) and say, “You’ve got to hear this, she says it so well,” and well, I can’t, so I’m writing to you instead.

This podcasting thing is in its infancy, and so was once radio, and television, and at some point someone is going to figure out how to get money out of it and how to put advertising into it and how to harness it (or at least large chunks of it) and if the podcasters and the community that loves them doesn’t set the parameters and own the system, then someone else will gladly come in and ClearChannel the whole darn enterprise, which would be sad and stupid.

If you need someone to proofread your proposals, let me know.

Brenda,
I’m a huge fan of your podcast. It’s pathetic how excited I get when a new one is out- I wait until the exact, perfect time to listen to it. It’s like savoring a delicious chocolate. Yummy!

I have to disagree with some of the commenters who don’t like your “ramblings” about podcasting. I think it’s valuable for us to hear that kind of discussion- especially for those who are considering podcasting themselves.

I appreciate all the time and energy you give to Cast On. Your passion for your craft(s) comes through loud and clear. (And please pass on to Zach how much I enjoyed his music. More, please!)

Brenda, there are so many things I want to say on how much I love your podcast and how often I find myself nodding in agreement to your musings on life and knitting. I think advertising is fine, especially green adverts. I just wondered if Knitty.com thought that advertising had changed the content of their magazine (I doubt it?). Anyway, hope your break is fruitful and inspiring – can’t wait to hear your next episode as it keeps me sane at work and lets me get my knitting fix without anyone knowing!!!

Brenda,
Stash, to me, is like buying your school supplies in September. As a student, and then as a teacher, there was something so hopeful and full of potential in that trip to the stationery store. That new-folder smell, those pencils with complete erasers. That special excitement when a new school supply was requested by your teacher — I remember my first jar or rubber cement, and felt an imcerdible thrill when I first acquired both a protractor and compass.

Those new school supplies, unwrinkled and unused, that held the potential of the best school year ever — no more lost homework now that I have this Trapper Keeper! And now I get to learn geometry like my older brothers — I must really be growing up! Or as a teacher, you know that this is the year you will light the lamp of creativity in your students, since you have purchased wonderful journals for each and every one of them.

These unused school supplies precede all bad grades, lost assignments, and indifferent students. As does your stash. Stash is what you have before you forget to account for selvedges or rip that same three inches out for the third time.

Stash is a knitters potential. It promises to erase all the past disasters or uninspired projects, the bad yarn choices, the gauge errors. In my stash, my Manos says this beautiful yarn will make a beautiful garment, and my Noro says this time, your sweater will fit you perfectly. My unused Koigu is a pair of perfectly fitting, unslouchy pair of socks, my Blue Heron, the stuff of my dreams.

Thank you for sharing your son, Zachary’s, music. He is fantastic. I loved it and would love to listen to more. (The rest of the podcast was great, too, as usual.)

I love your podcast. It’s your voice and your essays that do it for me. I like that you talk about whatever is on your mind: birds at your window, software irritations, weather, relatives, whatever. It’s a nice glimpse into someone else’s world. I’d probably continue to listen even if there were no knitting content –although I’d miss the sweater segment .

I say take all the breaks you need. I’ll keep listening.

With regard to the advertising thing, it wouldn’t bother me. I guess it would be best if it were in your voice, like you were recommending new products or online stores to us (which you already do anyway). But maybe it would be different if we knew you were getting paid to recommend those products. Hmmmm…

I’m more than willing to listen to advertising. Especially knowing your dedication to finding green sponsors. I very much enjoy the podcasts and I want to see them continue…and, like the Public Radio Granola Boy that I am, I also think it only fair that I pay for the wonderful product I enjoy. If that payment is giving up 30 seconds of my week to listen to ad content, well, I’ve done more for less. I’d send you a check if I could. I’ll buy overpriced merchandise if you ask me. After all, you’re a married woman now — Tonia needs a new pair of shoes!

I think you are fresh and fabulous, you have a persepctive that has changed the knitting landscape and tapped into the lives of people heretofore uncounted in the knitting communitiy. You didn’t exactly deconstruct knitting culture — you reconstituted it.

Plus, you have a voice that could coax paint from the wall. So please, don’t go too faw away and don’t stay away too long. I, for one, will be waiting.

I hope the “boring” comment made previously doesn’t take precedence over all these positive, constructive comments that have been made here – you said it yourself – if you don’t like listening you know where to go.
I don’t mind your musings and ramblings – it’s all very stream-of-conscious and its all part of the Cast On appeal.
Just a note though, was there an essay about stash or did I miss it?

Don’t stay away too long.

Hi Brenda,

I am one of those knitter slash geeky people who love the marriage of knitting and technology so I adore your podcasts. I also believe in giving back a bit and working with integrity-very refreshing in this dog eat dog world. I own a knitting shop-bricks and mortor and have an online merchant site with a blog and online tutorials-love the computer thing!-I choose venders that give back-like Peace Fleece and Manos and I support the ever disappearing agricultural lifestyle so I buy products, fleece, roving and the like-from local farmers. I am also a farmer myself raising Cashmere goats and I edit the Eastern Cashmere Assoc’s newsletter-so I practice what I preach. Living with integrity is busy, hard and hectic-but exhilerating, creative and satisfying. If you choose to have green advertisers-I feel it would be an honor and an opportunity to advertise on your show to keep what you are doing -going strong. Good luck and I look forward to more podcasts-they make pricing yarn a bit more enjoyable!