The Hills are Alive ... Part 1 - Golden Oldies

As Maria famously sang in, what is one of my all time favourite films (who doesn't love a film where the heroine makes clothes out of the curtains?) the hills are alive with the sound of music!  In today's case, they are alive with the sounds of those wonderfully brave people who choose to make the fabulous crafty podcasts which I could not craft without.  It has crossed my mind on more than one occasion to start a podcast but a few things prevent me from doing this:

1 - My accent is very, very, very broad and northern and I'm pretty sure people outside of the North of England would struggle to understand me
2 - The thought of battling with sound recording equipment scares me to death
3 - I hate listening to the sound of myself recorded and therefore would be unable to edit myself

Luckily, however, there are many,many brilliant podcasts well worth downloading and to suit everybodies choice of crafty chit chat.  I have no less than 10 different podcasts on my phone and so I have decided to share these with you - hopefully there will be something out there for you!

NB:  Due to the rather large number I have to recommend,this blog post I am going to keep the reviews short and sweet and this post will come in 2 sections - Golden Oldies (this is no reflection on the age of the presenter) and New Kids on the Block (relatively new podcasts).

iMake
iMake is the first podcast I ever listened to after being recommended by a friend.  The lovely Martine from Guernsey presents a very professional show covering all aspects of craft from soap making to baking and, the main topic of converstaion, knitting.  I love listening to her and have learnt lots about Guernsey, a place I am now very keen to visit!

Electric Sheep
Electric Sheep is also a fabulous podcast all about knitting.  When I first listened to this podcast I wasn't a knitter at all but I absolutley loved it and downloaded all of the back issues immediatley.  Hoxton Handmade is the easy to listen to presenter and The Sheep often crops up in his own adventures (usually involving gin and cake!) 

Caithness Craft Collective
Caithness Craft Collective is one of my favourite podcasts ever!  The lovely Louise from Caithness in Scotland presents a beautifully rounded podcasts covering knitting, crochet, sewing and spinning amongst many other crafts.  Her Scottish accent is rather relaxing to listen to and the Daisy laugh makes me chuckle every time.  Sandy introduces segments wonderfully and even her husband gets in on the act in 'The Drams Section' which, as you might of guessed, is all about whisky!  She has a very active group on Ravelry where you can join in knitalongs and swaps.

A Playful Day
A Playful Day podcast by Green Triangle Girl is a British podcast all about knitting.  Again, it is easy to listen to and full of interesting information.  Her recent features on designers and other crafty folk where fabuklous to listen to.  Well worth a listen!

The Knitmore Girls
American mother and daughter GiGi and Jasmine (and now there's even a grandaughter who no doubt will be a future presenter), present the Knitmore Girls podcast all about knitting with a bit of crochet, spinning and sewing thrown in for good measure.  They even have their own smartphone app where you can stream episodes straight to your phone.


Miss Elle Knits
Miss Elle is a rather funky chick based in the south of England.  She has a rather cute voice that I love listening to and she chats about her love of knitting and crafting and helping out in a yarn shop (super jealous!) I think I saw her at Wonderwool but I was too scared to go and ask if it was her (incase it wasn't and said random person thought I was a bit strange)

Yarns from the Plain
Finally, for this section, we have Yarns from the Plain.  This Cheshire based podcast is friendly and easy to listen to.  Covering many aspects of knitting, crochet, spinning and other textile based craft, we find out about our presenters wonderfully woolly escapades.  She has, most recently, been involved in Woolsack, the project to make cushions for all the athletes at this years spectacular Olympic and Paralympic Games.

That's it for 'The Golden Oldies' of the crafty podcast world (no offence intended).  All of these podcasts can be downloaded from iTunes and the subheadings link directly to their blog, website or podbean site.  They can all be found on Ravelry and have their own very active groups to share ideas, projects, knitalongs and swaps!

Don't forget to keep checking for the second part, 'New Kids on the Block'!