Share All The Things Friday #16

I'm trying really hard to stick to my new mantra of "keep it simple". It's not easy. Especially with skeins of un-dyed yarn lying around just desperate to be coloured ... No, they'll have to wait. I am determined to keep it simple (even if I am still ordering interesting books from the library which might suggest otherwise).

On with the show - it's Share All The Things Friday time:

• I have read a fair few books about dyeing yarn but this has to be the best one I've seen so far. Gail Callahan's Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece is fantastic. It's comprehensive; covering a range of different ways to dye wool and offers step-by-step, easily understood instructions including lots of helpful tips. I like it so much I'm thinking of purchasing a copy for myself.

• For a while now I've been hearing reports of a fantastic new podcast. Then this week, two bloggers that I really enjoy (Abby from While She Naps & Kat from Slugs on the Refrigerator) both said they were avidly listening in. I decided that if they liked it, it was probably worth checking out, so I did. Now I'm hooked. Serial tells just one story, a real story, of a murder committed in 1999 in Baltimore. Each episode follows on from the other and characters and details evolve week on week. It has been released weekly since October 2014 (so you can listen to them back to back now if you like) and the last episode (number 12) is apparently coming Thursday. I'm captivated. If you listen in - start with episode one. You won't be disappointed.

• It's been so interesting for me to discover how "local" the internet can be. In the UK I read lots of craft and knitting blogs from all over the world but it seems a large number were from UK bloggers. Now I'm down in New Zealand I'm discovering, almost by accident, interesting craft bloggers down this end of the world. I'm not sure why I never found them before? Anyway, one of my new favourites is The Craft Sessions. Felicia knits and sews from Melbourne in Australia and her aesthetic is just lovely. I'm enjoying that she has a hot summer and a short winter like me and she makes crazy rules for herself about her stash and recycling yarn that sound like something I'd do. I'm really enjoying hearing how she's getting on, seeing what she's making and living vicariously. Felicia and a group of other like-minded crafters also run an annual event called The Craft Sessions - a weekend retreat of craft workshops with a good dose of yoga and delicious meals thrown in. One day I'd just love to go. The next one is September 2015 in the Yarra Valley, just out of Melbourne. Doesn't that sound heavenly?

Have a happy weekend! X