Sponsored by Quince & Co and my Longaberger home business.  Leave a comment on the show blog to be entered into a drawing for your choice of Sabrina Mitts, Abbey Road Socks, or Barcelona Scarflet and the Tern yarn to make your project. 

Nature:  Pileated Woodpecker sighting and info about pileated woodpeckers.  Foxes and Fox Sparrows.

Needle Notes: 9 inches left on my Norwegian Sweater.  I identify a malady.  It's Shawl Withdrawal Syndrome.  I have not knitted a shawl since Feb 1.  This is shocking!  I need to stop the madness and get started on one ASAP.  In the Fix It Challenge I knit about 4 rows on a ribbed stocking hat that was too small to give to my dad as a gift.  I share how I sew in the tails on ribbing to make this cap reversible. See show notes for photo tutorial.

Blethering Room:  More comfort knitting from 3 Pipeliners.  Estelle by Melissa LaBarre is a possibility for a KAL. 

Review Notes:  Knitting Traditions by Interweave Knits.  Highly Recommended.  Get it before May 15, 2011.

Music:  Irish Set by Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums.  Recorded at rehearsal on March 24, 2011. 

Sponsored by Quince & Co and my Longaberger Home Business.  Show notes and links at www.knittingpipeline.com

Japan Earthquake Relief

1. Brenda Castiel is giving $5 from the sale of each of her designs for relief efforts.
2.  Mary Jo  Colwell (HedgehogMJ) designed Rose of Sharing to benefit The Heifer Project and UMCOR.

Nature Notes:  Panther in Illinois?  Other in my area have seen it. Before repeating anything a little bird told you, be sure it wasn't a cuckoo.

Needle Notes:  I was caught without my shawl comfort knitting last week.  I fixed a pair of Scottish Kilt Hose that I knitted in 1996 before I became a piper.  My Fix It Challenge is to review your knitting to see what needs repair or modifications.  The Norwegian Setesdal Sweater continues.  I am almost done with the body of the sweater.  I want to start knitting a shawl, in particular Stripe Study Shawl. 

Pipeliners share their ideas of comfort knitting.  I review the following patterns from Quince & Co:  Barcelona Scarflet, Abbey Road Socks, and Sabrina Mitts.  Leave a comment on the show blog to enter a drawing for one of these patterns and your choice of Tern to make it.  Also Carrie Hoge's pattern new garter stitch baby sweater and cap are adorable.  I review Tern fingering weight yarn by Quince.

View a video of Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums in the Peoria IL St. Patrick's Day Parade on the show blog.  I am in the front row, in the middle and those are my shoes and kilt hose you see for a second or two later on.

Music is The Irish Ground (Tollett) by DaCamera from Magnatune.com

Quince & Co is a sponsor for Episode 35.  Leave a comment on the show blog to enter the drawing for a pattern and Tern yarn.  Choose from 3 patterns: Sabrina Mitts, Barcelona Scarflet, and Abbey Road Socks.

Visit my Longaberger business site at www.longaberger.com/paula

Pipeliner Kim inspired this episode on Comfort Knitting.  What is your idea of the most soothing type of knitting?  I look for a garter stitch shawl such as Cheryl Oberle's Wool Peddler's Shawl.

Bob and I witnessed the migration of thousands of snow geese at Emiquon.  Find links on the show blog and a video.  Nature quote from Rachel Carson

I review The Knitters Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarns: Techniques and Projects for handpainted and multicolored yarn by Lorna Miser.

Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums is gearing up for St. Patricks Day and our competition season.

Music by Aff the Cuff, a traditional Scottish folk band.  Find them at www.affthecuff.org.uk.  They also have a podcast by the same name on iTunes. 

www.knittingpipeline.com will have complete show notes.

Quince & Co is the sponsor of this episode.  www.quinceandco.com

Thanks to all who have written.  Thank you to The Knitmore Girls for mentioning my podcast on their popular show.

Talithia suggested a unusual place to view wildlife.  "There are flowers everywhere for those who bother to look." Henri Matisse.

Nature Notes: We have just experienced the snowiest winter on record for our area. March is our transition month from winter to spring.  Bird and animal sightings are plentiful because the woods are bare and animals are moving.

We Like March is a poem by Emily Dickinson.

Blethering Room:  I share about two different places:  The Faroe Islands/Faroe (Scandinavian) and Fair Isle (British). 

Tip from Pipeliner Tea aka Teacosy.  Store small bits of stash in a big glass jar.  Beautiful and practical!

I frogged a sock that I started last June.  The pattern was from Toe-Up! By Chrissy Gardiner.  I started a new pair of socks from The Little Box of Socks.  Two techniques: German Twisted Cast-On and Eliminating the Pig's Eye.

 I review The Little Box of Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott and Kollage DPN's.

Irish Lamentaton (English Country Dance) by Musica Pacifica.  Dancing in the Isles.  www.magnatune.com

Episode sponsor is Quince & Co. and my Longaberger home business.

Travel with me from the Setesdal Region of Norway, to Scotland, to the U.S. to explore lice in knitting and literature.  Robert Burns' poem "To a Louse" is read by Alan Wood of Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland.  Alan is friend of the charming Louise, host of a podcast I enjoy, The Caithness Craft Collective.  I read Robert Frost's poem "A Considerable Speck" which isn't exactly about a louse, but could be.   I review the books that I consider most important for those interested in Norwegian Sweater knitting.  Of course, there are many out there so I just picked my favorites. 

1. Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears, Knitting Workshop, or The Opinionated Knitter
2. Sheila McGregor's The Complete Book of Traditional Scandinavian Knitting
3. Norwegian Knitting Designs by Annichen Sibbern Bohn. 

 For the very enthusiastic knitters and historians, consider Annemor Sundbo's Setesdal Sweaters: The History of The Norwegian Lice Pattern.

There is an update on my projects, although the Norwegian sweater has been stalled for the past week.  I finished Baby Slippers from Knitting at Home by Leanne Prouse. They turned out lousy. I started on a new project and picked up a pair of socks that had been in hibernation since the summer.

Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes to my mother who fell last week and broke her arm last week and also to me and the family.  You are wonderful people! 

The music is compliments of World Champion Piper, Bruce Gandy, from his CD My Father's Son.  Available at www.brucegandymusic.com.

Sponsored by Quince & Co. Choosing between Elizabeth Zimmermann's Sewn Bind-Off and The Russian Bind-off is a difficult decision.  Nature:  Eagle sightings, Carolina Wren and the feeder, and deer.  Swatching Tips, Norwegian Luskofte progress, tips for choosing color patterns, and a free sock pattern from a listener in her Etsy shop.  Music by Erik Ask-Upmark.  Norsk Brudsmarsch from Himlen's Polska. 

My second Daybreak has a garter stitch border.  A Sofia Cowl looks a lot like crochet, but it really is knitted lace.  I used the Suspended Bind Off on the cowl.   We survived the Blizzard of 2011 and there was a little junco hopping about in the worst of it.  I swatched for the Norwegian Sweater and am ready to cast on.  Tips on color pattern knitting. In The Piping Circle I talk about my husband's uncle, who witnessed the piper, Bill Millin, playing on the beach at Normandy (Episode 9 of Knitting Pipeline).  Review of the Historical Issue of Piecework Magazine Jan/Feb 2011.  Dutch Pipes and Drums provide a medley of tunes from their CD In Harmony.

Pipeliners Notes include feedback from last week's show, in particular, about the Russian Bind Off; I announce a winner for a signed copy of the book Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting by Lorna Miser (donated by the author); Nature notes include a flock of cardinals, owls in the woods, squirrel antics, and a beautiful quote by Rachel Carson; I finished my Daybreak (pattern by Stephen West) and have started a second one; my wool arrived from Quince & Co so I will be swatching for my Norwegian Sweater in Crow and Egret this weekend; I recommend 100% wool for your Norwegian pattern knitting; and the last installment of our No Purl/Garter Stitch patterns suggested by Pipeliners.  Thanks for listening and supporting the show!

Pipeliner Notes, Finished Projects Simple Things and Pogona, A New Favorite Bind Off, Nature Notes, No-Purl/Garter Stitch Projects, Norwegian Sweater Knit Along, Book Review of Knitting at Home: 60 Classics by Ella Rae Designs by Leanne Prouse.  Also, Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums at The Burns Supper 2011.  Music: Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonny Doon by Robert Burns sung by Shira Kamman.  show notes at www.knittingpipeline.blogspot.com.  The show is sponsored by my Longaberger Home Business.  www.longaberger.com/paula

I read a note Elizabeth Zimmermann wrote when she sent a gift for our newborn son...a Baby Surprise Jacket.  A Pipeliner, Linda from NH, expresses her passion for our beloved craft of knitting. I clarify the process of threading beads onto yarn for the crochet beaded bind off from last week's show. In response to Irene's question, I talk about how I organize my stash and tell a story about the era of cardboard boxes for stash storage and a teenage son. Nature Notes:  John James Audubon.  In Needle Notes we discuss selecting yarn for our Norwegian Sweater KAL and I ask for your input on knitting hats for a friend who is in chemotherapy.  Finally we conclude with an update on Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums which is preparing for the annual Burns Supper.  Musical Selection is from Shira Kammen's CD "A Celebration of Robert Burns", "Flow Gently Sweet Afton."  The show is sponsored by my business:  www.longaberger.com/paula