About that iPod

A few years ago, I got a non-iPod MP3 player and discovered the Knit Cast podcast by Marie Irshad – gasp! A new addiction, just what I needed. I put her on CDs so I could take her with me when I drove. I plugged her into my ears to keep me company while I did housework. And of course, she talked to me while I knitted. And when I had finally gotten all caught up on her archived episodes, and for the first time had to wait for the next one . . . oh my gawd, I really missed her!

However, I had also made a new friend during that time, Brenda Dayne with her then-new podcast Cast On. And yeah, I got really attached to her too, and had the withdrawals to go through again after getting all caught up on her podcasts. It was around that time that I had added the Yarn Harlot’s blog to my morning coffee routine.

They changed the way I knit in that I now want somebody to talk to me while I do it, and I looked at new yarns and patterns that I might not have discovered on my own. One of them, I forget which, turned me on to Knitty.com. Seriously, was there ever a period in which Knitty wasn’t a part of our world? The Yarn Harlot is to blame for my Webs habit (they have a wish list feature set up over there, now!). Brenda Dayne is at fault for making me think about my yarn and pattern choices responsibly. And it was Marie’s innovative self who started this whole virtual knit-together that brought me out of my world and into the knitting world.

So, last Christmas I got a proper iPod that works with iTunes. What changes did that bring? Glad you asked, ‘cause that’s where I’m going with this. iTunes is where podcasts live. Yeah, the episodes are on everyone’s website, but this program will go fetch ‘em all for me. When I plug my iPod into the ‘puter, the two will straighten out which episodes have been heard, which ones are new, and it’ll put just the new ones on my wittle iPod. And the best and most dangerous part? In iTunes, I can browse all the free podcasts for new addictions. I’ve subscribed to a bujillion of ‘em now, for World of Warcraft, knitting, and my current course of study medical coding & billing. Oh yeah, and there’s news on there too.

With so many new shows to listen to, I’ve got enough archived episodes to catch up on to last me a good long time (squeal!). The same Santa who gifted me with that iPod also got me a little ‘boombox’ thing to go with it. Between that thing and the sock I knitted for it, I’m never ever without my iPod. Housework has improved, knitting has sped up, and I even got inspired to start this blog to put all these thoughts and responses somewhere.

The iPod wasn’t a magic pill for enthusiasm. The people I listen to all the time are the inspiration and motivation and just plain fun.

Note: there are tags for ‘clean’ and ‘explicit,’ but none for heartbreaking content. There was one by Brenda Dayne about a knitting friend who had died, that made me squall in the grocery store’s bread aisle. If you listen to podcasts like I do, be sure to have your ‘public face’ firmly on before listening while out and about. Tears for some and peals of laughter for many might just get me institutionalized one of these days.