Colonial Spindles?

I really enjoy reading about the history of fiber arts, particularly from a European/North American perspective.  I just stumbled across this article, Request for Documentation!, and I found it very interesting.  Maybe you'll like it, too.

Of course, I did my "stumbling" on Ravelry.  Last week, I found this nugget on Ravelry - The Hearth Library.  Oh My.  Notice the search function - I typed "spinning" and I got 1127 books.  What fun!

Felted Rocks!

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter, Grace, and I decided to make little purses.  We wet-felted some merino onto rocks!  It was fun, relatively easy, and the purses came out really cute.

Here are my purses, next to the rocks that I used.  Too bad that I didn't include a measuring device - the blue one is approximately 2.5 inches in diameter, and the green one is approximately 3 by 4 inches.

Here is the other side of the purses.  The blue one is pretty much the same on both sides - the center bead is a little different, but that's all.  The green purse...had a problem.  See how the rock is white?  Well, so was the wool, and I couldn't tell that the wool was REALLY thin in one little spot.  So, I needle felted some colorful yarn over the thin spot.  Where the yarns lie side by side, they are hiding the thin spot.  Hey, it worked!  It might not be terribly attactive, but it worked!  The yarn provides strength to a really weak spot.

If I do this again, I'll either use non-white rocks, or I'll cut the neck out of a balloon, and then stretch the balloon over the rock.  Then, I don't think I'll end up with thin spots.

So, here's how we did it.  We wrapped the rock in saran wrap.  Then, we layered thin whispy bits of merino top this way and that, wetting slightly to get it to all hold together - sort of.  We dabbed a bar of Ivory bath soap here and there, and gently rubbed to get the wispy ends of the fiber to lie down and behave.  The gentle rubbing causes foam to form, and this sort of holds everything together.  We added more fiber, and gently rubbed some more.  The rubbing was more of a turning and turning - like you would do with a bar of soap when you are washing your hands - that around-and-around motion.  

When we were satisfied that we had added enough fiber, we dropped the rock into the toe of a knee high stocking, and sort of twisted the stocking so that the rock was held firmly in the toe of the stocking.  Then, we jiggled it with an orbital sander.  No sandpaper was attached - we just held the rock up to the rubber pad on the orbital sander.  We'd sort of gently rotate the rock while jiggling it, around and around.  It worked great!

After making sure that all parts of the rock had been jiggled, we rinsed the rock and took it out of the stocking to test for felting.  We'd do this by poking (it should feel firm, and not spongy or cushy) and by pulling (no fibers should be able to pull free from the surface).  When we were satisfied with the felting, we rinsed out all of the soap, and then we dunked the rock into a really hot pot of water, and then dunked the rock into a really cold pot of water, and we repeated this a few times.  This finished up the felting process, nicely.

Grace and I did the dyeing parts differently.  I dyed my rock purses by simply heating them up in a pot of koolaid - Lemon Lime for the green purse, and Berry Blue for the blue purse.   I stuck the purse in there, rock and all - I was afraid that if I had cut the rock out, that the cut edges would stretch or something.  Grace cut her rock out, and dyed her purse in Rit.  Her way worked better, as it dyed the felt through and through.  My purses dyed only on the outer surface, which isn't a huge problem, but I think it looks nicer to have the inside dyed, too.  Oh, and her edges stayed nice.

After dyeing, we let the bags dry.  Mine were still on their rocks, so I hung them in net bags so that all sides could dry.

We cut the rocks out by slicing the felt with an Xacto knife.  This was much easier than I had anticipated.  I adjusted the opening so as to receive a zipper - I sort of squared the edges of the slit. 

We sewed in zippers.  The little blue bag has a really old, really soft zipper, and it was very easy to install. 

Sorta looks like a Muppet.

This purse is really small, so I had to cut the zipper.  First, I made sure that the installation was just how I wanted it, then I whipped the zipper closed.  Then, I cut the zipper, and whipped over the edge.

As a finishing touch, I whip stitched the outer edge of the zipper tape to the inside of the bag, just to sort of make it neater on the inside.

This green zipper was so soft, that it followed the curve of the opening without any further work.

However, this pink zipper is rather stiff, so I had to do a little extra work in order to make it lie nicely.

Can you see the whip stitch over the edge?  Now, can you see the running stitch just inside of the whip stitch?    Now, can you see the small vertical slits cut into the zipper tape?  Each running stitch goes over one of the slits.  Can you see them?  This allowed the zipper to curve nicely. 

First, I sewed the zipper into place - I used numerous rounds of whip stitch to hold it into place.  Then, I cut and finished the end of the zipper.

Next, I cut the slits into the zipper tape, and then I ran the running stitch, gently pulling the thread to make the zipper curve.  Then, I knotted the thread, holding the curve into place.  Last, I whipped the edges of the tape into place.  I think that it turned out nicely.

I stuffed the purse with net bags (onion bags) and zipped it closed, and then needle felted the yarn onto the outside of the bag.

Here is Grace's purse.  She added a strap so that she can use it as a shoulder bag.  It is so cute!!!

See how hers is dyed inside and out.  This looks much nicer.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a photo of a black hole?

In the photo below, and in the first photo of the black purse - I had to adjust the exposure so that it would show up nicely - in reality, the purse is jet black.  These photos seem to show that the purse has a greyish tinge, but no, that's just the exposure.  The entire purse is like in the photo above - BLACK!

Since she was planning to make a proper purse, she made her felt pretty thick so that it would be durable.  My purses were to be small, "treasure" bags, and I wanted for mine to be pretty thin.

This was a very fun project - and, wow, your hands are never as clean as they are after a wet felting project!!!

(All photos click for big, and click again for even bigger.)

Enjoy!

Knittergirl plays the piano, too!

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Grace and her friend, Rebecca, playing a little Beethoven for you. They are both 17, and are Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Way to go, girls!

They are working under the direction of Veronika Afanassieva, of the Veronika String Quartet.

I know that this post has absolutely nothing to do with knitting, but what can I say - I'm proud of these girlies! Should you want to see more, and you know that you do, then go here - GracefulPiano.
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I like this photo

this photo was taken last summer, when I was spinning THIS skein of alpaca.

I just like this photo.

Sam's Doodle

My son, Sam, is quite artistic. He's always been a doodler, and for the past couple of years, his doodles have been of this one particular celtic knot design. Above, you can see one of his first designs, which he drew onto the surface of his desk. Yes, I know that it looks like maybe it's on someone's skin, but no, it's on his desk, lol.


Here it is on his skin. I HATE it when folks draw on themselves - shame on you, Sam! You are going to get ink poisoning!

You can see the basic doodle in this fancier doodle, and you can also see it in the owl -
Sooooo..... I thought that it would be fun to try to knit this doodle!

I didn't know too much about cables, and I knew absolutely nothing about charting cables. I threw myself on the mercy of my email pal, Susan, who knows everything there is to know about knitting, and she launched me on the right track.

Many sheets of graph paper later, I had a design to swatch.

This is much harder than it looks! The pink swatch was my first one, and it's... meh.

What helped me to get a swatch that I like is to chart only the "pattern" rows. You know, like charting lace, where you chart the "pattern rows" but not the "resting rows." Eureka - I had that little brain storm and then I was able to actually make it work.

When I finally got a swatch that I liked, I trotted on down to the yarn store, and my friend, Joyce, was there and I made her pick out some yarn, heh. It's so nice to have such nice, accomodating friends! Joyce selected this wonderful, heathery, Cascade 220 in the most manly of manly colors - sort of a heathery army green. Perfect!

The way that I solved the problem of the "circles" is to not solve the problem at all. I find that this way is *always* the easiest, lol.

In the photo above, you can see that I got to a spot where the two smaller circles would have to cross the large, center circle, in an area where the slope of the upper circle is pretty much vertical. I swatched and swatched and scratched my head and scratched my head, and I never could figure out how I was going to make this work with traditional cable techniques, so I just ended the cable, put it on pins and decided to just sew them together. It works perfectly!!!

Actually, I didn't exactly sew the cables, it's more like I crocheted them. I held some yarn on the inside of the hat, and I fished a loop through one of the knit stitches of the cable. Then, I fished a loop through the other knit stitch of the cable. I found that this side-by-side arrangement is important so that the stitches sit properly.

My first attempt was to just embroider the cables with a chain stitch, and they came out way too flat and ... well... flat. Cables stand up from the knitting - the stitches are sort of at an angle to the plane of the reverse stockinette. Am I overanalyzing? Probably.

Anyway, so I fished the two loops through the last knitted loops of the cable. Then, I fished two more loops through and so on, always fishing the yarn up through from the inside of the hat, until I closed the gap, making sure that I had the over and under crossings correct.

The two little side circles took only two rounds of "fake knitting" while the large central circle took something like 6 or 8.

There's a little problem, though. The reverse stockinette background is visually composed of horizontal lines, right? Well, knitting going horizontal is also composed of horizontal lines... sigh. So, the cables don't pop quite like I'd like for them to, especially at the bottom of the design. However...

Sam loves his hat and recognized his doodle, straight away. YAY!

Oh, and yes, Sam's hair has blue streaks. This is what happens when you have long hair - and teenaged sisters. Sam's hair is wet in these pictures - when dry, the blue is MUCH bluer, heh heh heh.

Here is a side view...

And one from the top.


Do you see his hands? Next post - Sam's Mitts! Stay tuned!

NEW Spindle! NEW Mitts! NEW Earband! Hooray!

My dear e-pal, Susan, sent me a lovely batch of fiber for Christmas. She dyed it herself! I love the colors! And, look what else -

A beautiful spindle, which she made herself! It's so beautiful, and it spins so nicely - it sort of floats. The nice flat sides mean that I don't need a notch! It's nice and light, just how I like my spindles, and I think that I'm going to use this spindle very often, and...

I'll fight anyone who tries to take it away from me.

Yes, Emma, I know - awful joke.


By the way, yes, it's true, Emma's hair, fingernails and bathrobe are all the same color.

Which makes me want to sing, too, Emma darling.


I think that Emma gets extra points for being perfectly willing to stand out in the yard on a frigid morning, posing for pictures, wouldn't you agree? The fact that she was perfectly willing to do completely silly things means that she'll get to have ice cream for breakfast whenever she wants.

Thanks, Emma!Anyway, back to the project. So, I was thrilled with my Christmas present, and I got to spinning right away, later that Christmas day.
I had in mind a pair of fingerless mitts and an ear band, right from the very start.

Susan sent me a nice 4oz bunch of fiber. I split it cross-ways in half, and then I split one of the halves the long way, and I spun each of the three pieces in my favorite way - Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly method. I'm working on spinning softer, less tightly spun yarn this year, and I was off to a good start with this batch, and then I slowly reverted to my old ways, slowly getting tighter and tighter. Old habits are so hard to break!

My good friend, Joyce, came over on New Year's Eve, and like the wild women that we are, we sat and knitted. I don't think that we even had much to say to each other - we just knitted, and as I recall, Joyce went home by around 10:30 - woot! What a raucous New Year's celebration!!!

She worked on a hat for her daughter, and I played around with some scrap yarn - I had been out shopping with my daughters the week before, and I saw a sweater in a shop with a very interesting stitch pattern, and I wanted to copy this pattern for my mitts. I messed around and messed around, and I never did figure out that stitch pattern. Instead, I discovered this one, and I like it so much better than the one I was trying to duplicate. I love it when this happens.

Does this stitch pattern have a proper name? Surely, someone has knitted it before?

It goes like this. Cast on - join in a circle. Knit three rounds. On the fourth round, k1, then stick the point of the right needle into the stitch which is three rounds down and knit the stitch then pull the knitting so that the stitches above it unravel, then k1 and repeat all the way around. Repeat these 4 rows ad infinitim, alternating the rows in which you dip down. That's it. It's really easy, and I love it! It makes a THICK fabric which is highly textured.

I got such a kick out of the fact that the stitch pattern and the striping of the yarn are almost an exact match - each 4 row repeat is in a different color. Well, almost each repeat. Anyway, it was fun watching this happen!

Notice - both mitts start and end in aqua blue. I was so excited that I nearly cried. Nerdy?

It's something like brioche in that what you end up with is so much wider than what you started out with, so careful swatching, and an exceedingly loose cast on is in order. Also, the stitch pattern doesn't show up very well, and the ultimate width of the stitch pattern isn't readily apparent, until 3 or 4 rounds of the pattern has been worked, so swatch for quite a few inches before you make your decisions.

Like I said, I divided the fiber into three parts - the larger part was spun to make the ear band, and the two smaller parts were for the mitts.

I spun one of the smaller parts from one end, and the other of the smaller parts from the other end. so that the striping on each ball of yarn was opposite from the other. I knitted both mitts from the cuff to the fingers and I started knitting from the beginning of the spinning. So, as you can see, the mitts have opposite striping patterns - one of them goes, from the cuff up, blue, gold, pink, purple, and the other one is the opposite. Yes, I am, indeed, this nerdy.

They are knitted in the simplest way possible - just a plain tube for a while, then I switched to knitting back and forth for a vertical-slit thumb hole, then back to knitting in the round. I used my favorite mitt cast off - the applied i-cord bind off. It's so durable and non-stretchy so that the finger end of the mitts keeps its shape really nicely.

I knitted the ear band with my old standby ear band pattern. Swatch to determine how wide you want it. Provisionally cast on this many stitches, then knit a stockinette tube for about 3 inches. Then, switch to a k2p2 rib-tube for about 2.5 inches, then go back to knitting stockinette. When it gets long enough, kitchener the tube closed and you're done! This makes a nice, thick layer of smooth knit stitches across your ears and a cinched up length of k2p2, which goes under your hair. I love this pattern - it's also nice to have miles of stockinette for those public knitting sessions, such as knitting at the coffee shop - this keeps my hands busy, but I don't have to think about what I'm doing.

This time around, however, I was terribly afraid of running out of yarn, so instead of doing the little "under the hair thing" in a tube of k2p2, I did a sort of a three needle bind off, without the binding off step - - I guess I could call it a "three needle stitch reduction" so that I ended up working a k2p2 single-layer for the under the hair part. It worked - when I was all finished, I had only about 5 yards of yarn left over. This is cutting it way too close for my comfort. *pant* *sweat*

It came out much nicer than I thought that it would. Here's what I did, to the best of my recollection. When you knit a k2p2 tube, and you fold the tube flat, you can arrange it so that the purls of the front layer nestle into the knits on the other side, or the back layer. So, I just knitted or purled these together, one stitch from the front needle and one stitch from the back needle, which reduced my tube to a single, flat layer which required only half the yarn to go one round. I knitted back and forth for about 1.75 inches, and then I wanted to return to a k2p2 tube.

If I recall correctly, this is what I did. I inserted the tip of the needle in between the legs of the stitch below the next-stitch-to-be-worked, and pulled a loop through, then slipped the stitch which should have been worked. Now, I have two knit stitches on my right hand needle - one just added, and one from the previous row, but both are pulled through the same stitch on the row below. I continued across, adding either knits or purls as the situation warranted. When I got to the end of the row, I turned.

On this row, I knitted or purled the stitches which had been slipped on the previous row, and slipped the stitches which had been added. When I got to the end of the row, I turned.

I got out another needle, a dpn of the same diameter, this time working the previously slipped stitches, and slipping the previously worked stitches onto a dpn. Turn.

Now, resume knitting a tube.

It sounds like more trouble than it really was, and it saved probably about 10 yards (or more?) of yarn. It looks really nice, too. In fact, it looks exactly like all of my other ear bands. Funny how that worked out. Maybe I'll do all of them this way?

I really like earbands and mitts. Here in Southern Colorado, our winters are exceedingly mild, and often, it's just not cold enough for a hat. However, I wear my long hair pulled back into a bun, exposing my delicate ears, and an ear band is perfect. Same goes for my hands - my hands often get all sweaty in mittens, but are just right in fingerless mitts. Folks who've never worn them often don't understand how they help at all, since it is your fingers which get cold, not your palms. All I can say is - try them and see for yourself. They work very well, and your fingers are free.

As an aside, my daughters' ballet mistress requested a pair of mitts a few years ago. See, she and her husband studied for their pilot's licenses for their 70th birthdays! WOOT! She thought that mitts like this would be so perfect for flying, as there is lots of wind in the cockpit, but she can't wear gloves because of needing to operate the dials and so forth. Just a couple of weeks ago, they bought a plane of their very own. It's from the 40's, and it's bright yellow. Hey! I just thought of something! I should make new mitts for her, and a pair for her hubby to match their little yellow bird! Good idea!


Back to the program...

A little tip - next time you need to replace a lamp shade - pick out this shape. Loosen the thumbscrew at the top, and you've got yourself a really nice swift!

Another aside, have you ever seen such cute wrapping paper? This is what held my spindle and fiber secret until Christmas Day. Yes, I took photos of the wrapping paper, and yes, like I said before, I am that nerdy.



What amuses me is this - my children were so enchanted that I got presents from someone that they never met that they insisted that these be the first presents that I opened. I don't know why this charmed me so, but it did. All three of them watched and waited while I opened these presents, and they oohed and aahed right along with me. It made me so happy!

Thanks soooooo much, Susan. While Emma is the model, these mitts and earbands are keeping ME nice and warm on my daily walks. The fiber made such nice yarn - more boingy than I've experienced thus far. It was a delight to knit. I absolutely adore the colors, and like I said, it spun up to be almost the exact amount needed for this project. I'm using the remaining 5 or so yards for skein ties for my sweater project. And the spindle - the spindle is a complete work of art.

THANKS A MILLION TIMES THANKS!

Hugs!
RST

Cute Pumpkin set for Baby J

I can't remember when I've had so much fun knitting something. Domino can't remember when he's had quite this much fun, either. Patient cat.

Take a look at these booties -

-they are so cute. These are Christina's booties, and they're easy to knit. The tie is ended with "Just a Leaf," a pattern that I found on Ravelry. I see lots of "Just a Leaf" projects in my future. These leaves are a snap to knit, and so fast and easy.

The little slipper and hat set comes from this flickr page. I used "Just a leaf" instead of the leaf recommended in the slipper modifications. You could actually do the icord as an applied i cord, but since it's not much sewing, I chose to just sew it on. I provisionally cast on and knit the i-cord, ending with Just a Leaf. Then, I picked up the provisional stitches and knit the other half of the i-cord, once again, ending with Just a Leaf. I used the tails at the middle and at the tip of each leaf to sew everything to the slipper. Fast and easy!

This little set is for a great niece who was born on my birthday! Woot! I turned 50 and she turned just-born on the same day (Oct 22)! I am quite amused by this.

Grace's Cabled Purse

A few weeks ago, my daughter wanted to know how to knit cables. I was busy cooking at the time, so I explained as best as I could, promising to actually show her just as soon as I was done in the kitchen. Later, I said that now would be a good time for a demo. However, she was already halfway through this little purse.

Clever girl.




It zips open to reveal a nice linen lining. The linen is reclaimed from a pair of pants purchased at the thrift store for just such a use. I can't pass up nice linen - I feel like we'll use it somewhere in the house.

The way she made it is really clever, I think. She provisionally cast on, and knitted back and forth for about an inch and a half, which would be the bottom of the purse. Then, she wanted to switch to knitting in the round, but instead of picking up across the sides of the back-and-forth-knitted part, she cast on the amount of stitches which would equal this measure and then she picked up the provisional cast on and knitted across it, and then cast on for the other side, and then proceeded to knit the body of the purse in the round. After she was all done, she stitched up the small slits left at either side of the bottom. Clever girl. You know how you can never quite match up the gauges when you pick up along a side edge? She got around the problem altogether.

She mounted this button on her purse.

Which pretty much sums up my daughter, Grace - a truly amazing person.

Listen while you knit!

I have always loved recorded books, even back when they were on vinyl record albums. Back in those days, I'd walk to the library, and come back with an armload of records - they were mostly plays back then - and I'd tape them onto cassette tapes. I'd listen to the plays over the course of a week or so, then start all over again, with a new batch, re-recording over the tapes until they'd finally break, then I'd have to get new ones.

It was such a nuisance because the point of recording the books onto cassettes was so that I could listen to them on my walkman while I took my daily walk, this being long before I discovered fiber arts. I didn't want to have already heard the recording, so I had this elaborate ritual of putting the needle onto the vinyl, clicking the pause button to get the recorder going and then I'd run out of the room, as my system wouldn't record if the volume was turned down. I'd return in about 15 minutes (if I remembered to) so that I could pause the tape, switch out the record, and repeat. Often, I'd have forgotten, or the side would have lasted much less than 15 minutes, so I'd have to back up the tape, find the end of the recording, which means that I would have heard some snippet of the story (Oh Horrors!) and go from there.

What a nuisance!

However, I gladly participated in such tedium because I was an addict, and it seemed such a small price to pay. Looking back, it's kinda hilarious, actually. What a lot of work.

Now, of course, it is so much easier! The library has carried books on tape for a very long time, and nowadays the library has books on CD, and some libraries even feature downloadable recorded books. What luxury!

I'm as happy as a pig in mud.

Add to this mix - the wonders of PODCASTS! I'll never be out of listening material ever again.

So, Santa visited Rosemaryknits a little early this year. Just a few days ago, I bought myself a Sansa Fuze and I couldn't be happier. I downloaded about 10 books from the library, and a whole bunch of podcasts. As I keep discovering more and more podcasts I'm wondering how I'll ever listen to them all!

I am getting a lot of knitting and spinning done these days, I can tell you that. Listening to something interesting is what allows me to participate in such mundane, tedious tasks as washing fleeces, or painting diningrooms, or folding towels. Instead of putting off such tasks, I am happy to have something to do while listening, heh heh heh. Without something interesting to listen to? I'm afraid that I just don't do any of these things.

So, I thought that I'd post a few of my favorite things, in case you are interested, too.

My favorite listening device, the Sansa Fuze. Quite easy to use, and affordable. My favorite headphones are these - Panasonic Slimz .

A few of my favorite books:

The Help - I just finished this book last week. Oh My Gosh, this is as good a book as I've ever listened to. The voice actors are superb. What's eerie is that this book is like I wrote my own memoirs. I was Mae Mobely, and Aibilene was our maid. My mother was Miss Lefolt, but she was a zillion times nicer to the maid than was Miss Lefolt. It was creepy weird, like I was looking into my own past, but through a really weird lens. This is exactly how I was raised, and I was 3 in 1963, just like Mae Mobely. This book is set in Jackson, MS, and I grew up in New Iberia, LA, but otherwise, it was pretty much the same. It gave me the skin crawling creeps in many ways - like I was being watched - so many things that the characters said, I could so relate to, especially the part about the little white girl visiting the home of her maid - the behavior of the little girl, the behavior of the maid, the behavior of the maid's neighbors - the author captured that part exactly - but Oh My Gosh, this book is just superb in every way. All throughout the book, I kept having that "someone's walking on my grave" feeling because not only could I picture what the author was saying, I actually lived it - it was so close to my actual upbringing. The ending is so hopeful and promising. Listen to it!

Harry Potter 1- 7 Audio Collection - these are awesome. My family and I used to read aloud every night. For many years, I was the reader, but then after about 15 years, I decided that I had read enough, and it was someone else's turn, so I had the kids read to ME. Besides, by this time, I had taken up knitting, so it was their turn to read, and my turn to knit. Then, we discovered this audio collection - Oh My Gosh, the reader, Jim Dale, is so wonderful - we've gone through this series three times, maybe four?

I read aloud from books 1 through 3 or 4, then we learned about the audio books and listened to the whole series, from the beginning. Then, when book 5 came out, we had to listen to them all the way through again, and then we repeated this trick when books 6 and 7 came out. Do you know that they never get old? Every time we've gone through the series, I "hear" something new - something that I missed the first time or two through, some little clue that I missed. Anyway, if you want to learn how to listen to recorded books, then here is the best teacher I can think of. This is a stellar audio performance, and a really good story, too. These are great car-trip-vacation books.

Sadly, listening to Harry Potter sort of spoiled us for actually reading aloud anymore. Since then, we've mostly listened to books but every now and then, I force one or the other of my kids to read a book aloud - the last one was The Princess Bride, beautifully read aloud by my then-17 year old son, Sam.

Another favorite that we've listened to over and over again is the Dark Materials Trilogy, Book 1: The Golden Compass, Book 2: The Subtle Knife, and Book 3: The Amber Spyglass. Now, these are a little different. While most recorded books are read just as the author wrote them, these are slightly different. They are performed with a cast of readers, and the readers leave off the dialogue tags, for the most part. So, the listener learns what each character sounds like, and the performer doesn't say, "he said," he just, well, he just says it, like in radio theater. The author narrates the parts of the book which aren't conversation, and the whole thing is completely delightful, besides being a really good story, too. We've listened to these over and over again. Some folks are offended by the story line.

Right now, I'm listening to the James Herriot Series with my family - there are too many to list them all, so I'll post this link, All Creatures Great and Small, and you can follow it to the rest of them. I knitted a darling little baby set while listening to All Creatures Great and Small, and I'm spinning my Coopworth while listening to All Things Bright and Beautiful. These books are wonderful. I can't think of an author who puts the reader there like James Herriot does. He paints wonderful word pictures, just wonderful. He's an excellent story teller. Were you aware that these are actually fiction, even though your public library shelves them with the non-fiction? There are 4 or 5 books in this series, along with lots and lots of compilations and offshoots - many hours of knitting pleasure, lol.

Edited later in the day, because Janice reminded me in the comments section - one of the best ever recorded books is Anansi Boys - certainly one of the best audio performances ever. I loved this book, and knitted this while listening to it.

So many of my friends tell me, "I've tried recorded books, and I just can't get into them." The truth is that you have to sort of re-learn how. I say "re-learn" because we all know how to listen to stories being told - it's in our bones. This is the oldest form of human entertainment and interaction, isn't it? Story Telling, and therefore, Story Listening, goes back to the beginning of humanity, so yes, you can learn how, you just have to give yourself a little time, and you have to select the right book. If you don't have any ideas, then pick any of the books listed above - all are very interesting and engaging, and all have good vocal actors. Some recorded books are such duds that I can't follow them either, and I'm a complete addict. Some, however, turn on the movie projector in your head and provide hours of listening enjoyment.

You can find audio books at your local library, from Audible.com, from Amazon.com and many other places, too. You can find some excellent selections at Librivox.org, too. Some livrivox recordings are excellent, and some are so bad that they make me want to stick my knitting needles into my eyes, so don't give up if your first few librivox downloads are awful. Keep looking, you'll find something you like.

We've also listened to The Bartimaeus Trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate with great enjoyment, too. It's funny how, with each book I mention, I can remember the projects I was working on when listening to the books, lol. While listening to this series, I spun the skeins which I entered into the Taos Wool Festival. These books are great fun, and the voice actor is top notch.

Other books that I've recently enjoyed include -

To Kill a Mockingbird - my all time favorite book. This version is read by Sissy Spacek.

A Clockwork Orange - exceedingly disturbing, excellent vocal actor. I've tried to read this book, and the made-up language threw me. This actor brings it to life, and makes it perfectly understandable.

The Year of Living Biblically - very interesting. I washed fleeces to this book, which seemed somehow fitting, lol.

The Eyre Affair - This is a series of 5 books, and they are very good stories, and well performed, too. I did lots of spinning while listening to this series. My favorite one is The Well of Lost Plots

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - Hilarious! Don't listen to this with headphones while knitting at a coffee shop because you will laugh hysterically and folks will look at you funny. Just warning you... Anything by David Sedaris is funny. Oftentimes raunchy, but really funny. Offensive to some, so listener beware.

The Book Thief, I am the Messenger, Blink, and sooooo many more. These are just the last few in my reading notebook. I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.

Thirty years of addiction to audio books has provided me with a very long list. What started it all is that a very long time ago, I worked for a vision-impaired scientist who was able to get these special record albums and special record players through a foundation for the blind. We'd listen to books and stories and so forth while spending hours upon hours peering through microscopes, examining cotton chromosomes. Sometimes, we'd work right through lunch and stay late that night because the story was so engaging. That lady was pretty smart, if you ask me. Smart in oh so many ways.

From then on, I was hooked! To this day, I have absolutely no use for TV and can hardly sit through a movie, but give me a recorded book and I'm in heaven!

A few months ago, I discovered something new! New to me, at least. PODCASTS! Cue the chorus of angels...

My teenagers fixed me up with itunes on my computer and a quick tutorial, and here I am, happy in podcast land. Here are my current favorites.

Cast On - always interesting.

Craft Lit - Oh my gosh, she's doing Flatland, be still my heart. She also interjects so many interesting facts and observations - I'm loving this! I only learned about it a few days ago, and can't wait to listen to her previous books.

This American Life - I've listened to this radio show for years and I'm thrilled to be able to listen to the show even when I miss it when it airs. The most recent episode is online for free, back issues are available for a modest charge.

Car Talk - once again, I have loved this show for years, and I'm happy that I never need to miss an episode just because I have to go somewhere during their air time. My kids were raised with these guys - every Sunday, we listen to Car Talk and we get all upset if we have to miss it. Not anymore! Yay for podcasts!

Stuff You Should Know - I LOVE these guys! I wish they'd learn the subjective case vs the objective case when it comes to "I" vs "me" but I'll overlook it because they are just so darned CUTE!

Tech Stuff - I like to listen to these guys while spinning, just for the juxtaposition of the world's most ancient technology - a spindle - and the world's most modern technology - the stuff that they talk about. It makes me feel modern and edgy, lol.

Science Friday - a nice variety of science issues.

Please Explain is always interesting and informative, and you never know what you're going to get - large variety.

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is excellent for car-listening, as it is engaging and fast moving enough that you stay alert, plus, it's just hilarious.

Do you have any excellent recorded books to recommend? Do you have a favorite podcast? I'm trying to walk more, and there's nothing more encouraging than a good podcast to get me out there, getting my exercise. I've learned that I prefer audio books for knitting and spinning, and most housework and yard work, but that I prefer podcasts for walking and driving. When I listen to a book on tape, presuming that it's a good book, then I sort of "go there" and not pay such close attention to what I'm doing, which is not a good thing when I'm driving, heh heh .

Edited later to add - if you are a recorded book aficionado as well, then please check the comments section, as I hope to get lots of recommendations. Thanks!