Check out the Power Purls Podcast to Learn about the Business of Knitting

I have to admit I’m not much of a podcast listener. I want to do better because I know there’s a lot of great content out there, but it’s hard for me to listen to words while I’m writing words, and I just haven’t made myself sit and knit while listening, which would probably work better.

But I want to try. I’d love to hear about podcasts that you love, but right now I want to share a new podcast with you that I really want to listen to regularly.

It’s called Power Purls, and its produced by Kara Gott Warner, who is the executive editor of Creative Knitting magazine, previously a freelance designer, editor and technical illustrator who has a great depth of knowledge about knitting and the business of knitting.

The podcast launched today, will include a new interview each day for the first week, and will then become a biweekly podcast focusing on stories from the business, including chats with designers, yarn company people and knitters of all stripes.

She says in the welcome message for the podcast that she wants to provide empowering and encouraging stories from the business and help listeners to “be a scrappy designer so you can stay in business doing what you love.”

This is such a great idea for a podcast because we knitters are spread out all over and trying to make a living in a lot of different ways. It isn’t always easy to connect with other knitters and talk about the business and learn best practices, so I think this will be super useful for knitters who are looking to become designers and designers who want to have better, more sustainable businesses. And just for knitters who are interested in knowing what goes into knitting magazines and other publications and who want to be more mindful knitters.

I mention all this because I’m going to be on the podcast, probably in December, but I don’t want you to wait until then to check it out.

If you do go give it a listen (as I write there is an interview with Tricia Malcom of Vogue Knitting and an “Ask Kara and Tabitha Anything” with Tabitha Hedrick of Sweet Georgia Yarns, talking about design proposals) I’d love to know what you think!

If your family is the sort to do a turkey trot for Thanksgiving, or even just to take family pictures, you’ll want to get started knitting up some Turkey Sack Hats with this pattern from Underground Crafter.

The pattern uses super bulky yarn and is rated easy. It’s knit flat but there are a few skills in here around the shaping of the eyes, which includes changing colors, working bobbles and doing a wicked purl 3 together decrease. Twice.

But that’s all in one row, and the rest of it is pretty simple. The beak is worked separately and sewn on, and the side of the hat is stitched up to make it into a hat.

What’s great about this one is that it comes in 10 sizes, ranging from newborn to adult large, so you really can make one for everyone in the family. And because it uses super bulky yarn you can knit a bunch pretty quickly if that’s a thing you’d like to do.

It’s also fun because you could use this base pattern to make different animals or for different holidays. Make it all in orange and stitch on a jack o’lantern face for Halloween, or make a white one that’s a snowman, for example.

In any style this would also be a fun gag gift for that person in your life who has everything or doesn’t want gifts, or if you do a secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange at work or elsewhere.

And make sure whether you’re making it a turkey or some other character that you include the pom poms at the top! They’re just so cure and a great way to add a bit more color to the project, and they’re easy to make. (See also: ways to make a pompom with yarn.)

You can grab the free pattern at the Underground Crafter website.

[Photo: Underground Crafter]

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