Latte: Ben is working on Borough mittens from Knitty.com.
Abby is working on Dahlia, Shalder, My Heart Beets 4 U socks and Meisi gloves.
Grande: Ben finished the herringbone mittens.
Abby talks about fast vs. slow knitting and tight vs. loose knitting. She mentions combination knitting as a way to keep a more even tension when knitting back and forth.
Bitter Cup: Abby runs into difficulty with her Dahlia sweater, and praises the patterns of Chicknits and Ysolda Teague for their stylish designs and wonderful construction.
Abby tried to add conductive thread to the Meisi gloves using a technique from the Teknika gloves on Knitty.com.
Chai: Ben spent New Year's Eve at Occupy Wall Street. Abby shared what a wonderful time she had meeting Sasha Torres, host of the Spin Doctor Podcast, and she also did some interesting studies with different religious leaders, which culminated with a trip to the Islamic Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ben talks about seeing a wonderful frog exhibit at the Museum of Natural History.
Take a Bite: Abby asks for moving advice.
Bite Back: We were asked for yarn suggestions for the OpArt baby blanket. Ben recommended something with cotton; Abby recommended Cascade 220 Superwash, and they both discussed the pros and cons of Encore. We were also asked why people get so excited about knitting socks, and we had many answers.
Menu: Ben baked Challah and also made a modified version of Winter Minestrone and spaghetti squash. Abby gives her "generic frittata" recipe and she made Squash Parmesan soup with so-so results.
Tip Jar: Ben talks about discovering the Readability extension for Mozilla Firefox or Chrome. The extension allows you to save an online pattern in Kindle format and then mail it to your Kindle, leaving out the pdf conversion. Abby shares the tip of putting the bulk of your sweater into a drawstring project bag (hers is from Knowknits) when you are working on, say, a sleeve, to keep the bulk out of the way.
Announcements: We talk about SOPA, pending legislation which could severely impact everything online from photos to podcasts, and paves the way for unprecedented censorship. We urge you to speak out about this danger to our freedom.
We will both be attending the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival. Information about a podcaster meet and greet will follow, and we hope to see you there.
