Going from broadband speed to half of dial-up speed was excruciating. Our connection was so slow my browser would time out if I tried to post here. The worst thing about losing broadband was I had a bout of cystitis this week that made even walking about the house uncomfortable. Stuck at home, too ill to work, all I wanted to do was entertain myself by wandering around the web all day.

Instead I listened to those podcasts that got me into trouble in the first place. And I wrote a bit of a review of them. (And then I wrote show notes for my own podcast – as I said, I was ill and desperate for entertainment.)

Knitcast by Marie Irshard
This was the first podcast I tried. You can tell Marie has experience in recording. She sounds very professional. The content is primarily interviews. Quality varies because she often interviews people ‘on the road’, but only once or twice has this made the podcast difficult to listen to.

Cast-on by Brenda Dayne
The first ‘personal’ style podcast I listened to, and the first containing music. Brenda is a natural podcaster. Her sense of timing, humour and purpose go a long way toward making this podcast a success. Not surprisingly, she has inspired many others to try podcasting, and she is encouraging and supportive of other casters.

Knittingnewscast by Rhonda Bell
The first few episodes were very clunky. Too much reading out of material in a drone and concentrating on ‘news’ made it cold and impersonal, and the blocks of recorded speech were so tightly placed back to back that sometimes the last word of the previous piece ran into the first of the next. But as I reached the forth episode Rhonda began to put aside her preprepared text and talk freely, and suddenly her voice had warmth and interest, so she got past my four episode test. (If the podcast doesn’t appeal after four episodes I stop listening). She’s also intending to add some music, so it’ll be interesting to see if that helps smooth out the jolty pacing.

Pointy Sticks by Christine Selleck
While she’s full of enthusiasm, I found there was a little too much non-knitting talk in this and by the time we got to the knitting bits I’d have to rewind because my attention had wandered and got caught up in something else. By episode four there were a few personal habits that began to bother me, like the contant repetition of ‘anyways’. Still, these things may not put other listeners off.

It’s a Purl Man by Guido Stein
He says it’s a podcast by a man for male knitters – except it’s really just a podcast by a man. By that I mean it isn’t directed at men, and there’s no impediment to women enjoying it. Guido’s writing on his blog was engaging, confident and tight, which gave me high expectations, but his first podcasts were very unfocussed and rambling. He states that he wants a ‘live’ effect so doesn’t intend to edit. I don’t agree, and the repedition of ‘anyway’ and ‘at any rate’ annoys me. I’m starting to see that this and the rambling problem is a sign of lack of preparation which results in wandering off the subject too often or not planning out the order in which to give information to tell a story.

Knitcentric by Shannon
I’ve only listened to three short first episodes but found myself wanting to hear more. Though the podcaster has a similar way of speaking to Christine – her voice often dips to a lower tone when she finishes saying something, which gives the feeling the speaker is trying to sound serious and important. I suspect that’s just a cultural difference (as in it sounds that way to Australians because we only speak that way when we’re trying to sound serious and important). She doesn’t do it as often as Christine, though, so it didn’t bother me as much.

I’ve learned that attitude and purpose go a long way to making a podcast good. If a knitter’s attitude swings toward making something entertaining and relatively polished, I’ll like their podcast better. If they have a purpose – intended format – rather than just ‘trying this podcasting thing’ they’re more likely to have good content. Having someone ramble at you is like being stuck at a party with someone talking at you. The long excuse for not podcasting on time or whatever is also pretty boring if it goes on for 15 minutes. I’ve also observed that I can tell if someone is reading out something rather than speaking freely while consulting notes.

I found my interest was more likely to be held by a knitter more experienced than me rather than a new knitter. That’s only natural, I think. I want to be inspired and gain insights. Personality also counts. You can’t expect to like every person you ever meet, and the same is true for podcasters. Sometimes they just aren’t the sort of person who appeals to you.

I have one more episode of It’s A Purl Man and one of Knitcentric to listen to before I decide if I want to continue with them. I also have several more podcasts on my list to try: Insubordiknit, Knit2BTied, Pixie Purls, KnitWit, Time2Knit, Knitty D and the City, Musings of a Peaceful Knitter and Knitting Psychos.

Just a few. I’ll definitely be watching that broadband limit this time!