Tot TV Watch

I know exactly what I would do with it.  A brand spankin’ new iPod sounds wonderful.  But, this contest isn’t about me.  It’s all about you, the readers.  451 Press is having another network wide contest where you can win prizes of $300, $200, or $100 just for leaving a comment on a 451 Press site.  Each comment you leave on a 451 Press site during the month of August enters you in the contest.  Winners will be drawn at random at the end of the month.  Well, don’t just sit there!  Get to commenting!

contests, 451 Press

This week on Nick Jr. you can catch watch all of Ming Ming’s Musical Misadventures. When Ming-Ming tries to branch out and be a solo rescuer, things don’t really go as planned. Fortunately, Linny and Tuck are never too far behind. Watch all of the Wonder Pets save the day this week. Episodes will air at 8:30 a.m. each day as follows:

• Monday, July 30 - Save the Ducklings/Save the Kittens
  It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Linny and Tuck coming to Ming-Ming’s rescue after she ventures out solo to help a baby squirrel. There is a kitten floating down a Venetian canal. It’s the Wonder Pets and a gondola to the rescue!
• Tuesday, July 31 - Save the Mouse/Save the Panda
  Trapped inside a toy saxophone is a baby mouse, so the Wonder Pets must perform an instrumental rescue mission. Then the team heads to China to save a baby panda who can’t get down from the top of a bamboo tree.
• Wednesday, August 1 - Save the Pigeon/Save the Dinosaur
  They want to be a part of it, New York. The team goes to the Big Apple to save a baby pigeon at the Statue of Liberty. Then they travel to prehistoric times to help a baby triceratops stuck between a rock and a hard place.
• Thursday, August 2 - Save the Crane/Save the Caterpillar
  The crew travels into a Japanese Sumi-e painting to save a baby crane from a hotheaded neighbor–an erupting volcano. Then they go to Greece to help a caterpillar that is transforming into a butterfly.

The Wonder Pets, Ming Ming, Linny, Tuck, Musical Misadventures

• The Muppet Newsflash: Sesame Street Counts Down to Christmas

  We’ll definitely be setting the TiVo for this one!

• Disney to cut smoking in family films - Yahoo! News

  Not a bad idea if you ask me. Kids do learn by example after all.

• Nickelodeon’s First Original Broadband Series, Nick Cannon’s Star Camp, To Debut Sunday, July 22, On TurboNick: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

  Want your kids to learn how to be stars? Tune in for Cannon’s Star Camp.

• Nickelodeon’s New iCarly Comedy Series Breaks Ground as First Scripted Show to Entwine Kid-Created Content, Premiering Saturday, September 8 With Back-to-Back Episodes, 8-9 P.M. (ET/PT): Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

  iCarly is about to start up. Are you going to watch?

• “Car Talk�? Coming to Television : Huxtabled on Offsprung.com

  This is not something I ever expected to see!

On September 3rd, 2007, PBS Kids will debut WordWorld, a new 3-D animated series that encourages kids to become friends with words. Funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education, WordWorld makes learning to read fun. In the series words are brought to life through a patent-pending methodology that embeds words into the objects they represent. When a word is formed correctly, it morphs into the character or object that it represents, creating a new learning experience. The WordFriends–Dog, Sheep, Frog, Duck, Pig, and Ant–help kids explore the world of words while also focusing on social-emotional lessons and literacy-based skills such as letter recognition and phonological awareness.

It sounds like a really great concept, but one of those that I’ll have to see before I can decide what I think. Don’t forget to tune in to PBS Kids on September 3rd to check it out.

Update:  Mom Gadget has a great review on WordWorld up today.  Go check it out and see what she has to say about it.

PBS Kids, WordWorld, WordFriends, Premiere

This Fall, Nick Jr. is introducing a groundbreaking new animated series for the preschool crowd. Ni Hao, Kai-Lan will introduce children to Chinese Language and Culture during the half-hour interactive series. It will teach Mandarin words and phrases, as well as explore social-emotional skills.

Kai-lan Chow is a young Chinese-American girl who speaks both English and Mandarin (much like Dora and Diego speak English and Spanish). Viewers experience the Chinese culture along with Kai-lan and her family. The show mainly centers on Kai-lan and her relationships with her grandfather, YeYe, and her animal friends. YeYe is a big part of Kai-lan’s life and helps to guide her to her own discoveries. Kai-lan is a very thoughtful and caring girl, who has a gift for helping her friends. Her friends include: Rintoo, a rambunctious five-year-old tiger who loves to play, Tolee, a five-year-old koala who always puts his friends first, Hoho, a three-year-old monkey full of boundless energy, and Lulu, a happy six-year-old pink rhino.

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan focuses on social and emotional issues such as taking turns, disappointment, and jealousy, while also highlighting cause and effect thinking. There is no shortage of music either as the show introduces simple coping strategies through playful songs that teach valuable lessons. In each episode, Kai-lan and her friends explore their emotions and stop to consider the feelings of others.

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan will premiere on Nick Jr. on Monday, October 22nd. My family and I will definitely be looking forward to watching the premiere episode.

Ni Hao Kai-Lan, Nick Jr., Chinese-American, Chinese culture, Mandarin, bi-lingual, language, culture

It’s been a little bit harder getting back into the groove of things than I expected. Part of that has to do with the condition I left things in and the other part has to do with a certain two year old who seems to be quite off schedule. He doesn’t want to go to bed at night, which means I don’t get my precious computer time and then he doesn’t want to get up in the morning. All of this is really throwing me off and not allowing me to bring you the latest Tot TV news.

Thanks to my routine being all out of whack, I’m a bit late bringing you the information about Nick Jr.’s four week long Dance Party. The big party started on Monday, the 23rd, but it will continue through Friday, August 17th. During the Nick Jr. Dance Party, you can catch music and dance themed episodes from Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets, Blue’s Clues, and The Backyardigans. Each week, Nick Jr. will also be premiering one never-before-seen music video from the upcoming new series Yo Gabba Gabba!, which will debut in August.

The Nick Jr. Dance Party episodes will air as follows:

– Monday, July 23 - Friday, July 27 - Five music-themed Dora the Explorer episodes everyday at 9:00 a.m., beginning with the premiere of “La Maestra de Musica” on July 23.

— Monday, July 30 - Friday, August 3 - Five episodes of The Wonder Pets! featuring Ming Ming’s greatest musical adventures will air everyday at 11:00 a.m.

– Monday, August 6 - Friday, August 10 - Five episodes of Blue’s Clues featuring Blue’s biggest musical moments will air everyday at 10:00 a.m.

– Monday, August 13 - Friday, August 17 - Five episodes of The Backyardigans featuring some of the best dance moves from the five backyard pals will air everyday at 10:30 a.m.

Kids and parents can also log on to the Nick Jr. website to vote for their favorite music video of the week. Each Friday, Nick Jr. will announce the results of the favorite video votes on air.

Nick Jr. Dance Party, Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets, Blue’s Clues, The Backyardigans, Yo Gabba Gabba!, video, music, dance

My vacation is over and now it’s time to get back to the daily grind.  The last day of vacation is always the hardest.  This time around, we planned an extra day at home to recover before heading back to work.  I knew my 2-year-old would need a little extra time to adjust back to his normal routine, so we spent the day relaxing and watching some of his favorite shows.

When I had had enough of Blue’s Clues and Little Bear, I decided to pull out the Fraggle Rock Season 1 DVDs.  My son received the set for his birthday a month or so ago but we hadn’t had a chance to watch it yet.  I decided it was time to introduce him to one of my favorite kids’ shows.  It took him a few minutes to get into it, but once he heard the Fraggles sing a couple of songs, he was a little more interested.

We didn’t quite get through the first disc of the set, but I have a feeling that there will be many more weekends spent watching Fraggle Rock together.  It was nice to return to the simplicity of the Muppets, if only for a while.  I love being able to share that little piece of my childhood with my own son. 

Fraggle Rock

Today’s guest post was written by Gillian Polack. Gillian also writes about Food History over at www.foodpast.com.

Today I’m watching RollerCoaster. It’s an hour (more or less) or programming for children on Australia’s public broadcasting station. The host is Elliot, who makes silly faces and bad jokes in about equal ratio. He has just told us that Tuesdays are All New. He also has a home page, which I’m exploring while I’m watching my hour of kids’ TV (hey, I’m multitalented!).

The first show is “The Amazing Extraordinary Friends.�? This is a superhero story for intelligent pre-teens. It’s tongue-in-cheek (and so are some of the costumes). Captain X’s sidekick has a home made termite costume and is distinctly my age.

What’s it about? Ben (Captain X) is trying to unite the world’s remaining superheroes and someone is trying to steal the insignia that gives his power. My favourite moment is when a girl is chased by a villain and threatens “I’ll ring the police.�? Villain gives her a phone and intimates he is in league with the police. She throws the phone at him hard enough to hurt. “Ladies don’t throw phones,�? he calls after her.

Don’t ask me about the fight scenes. I started watching them, then started typing during them instead. They’re safe-looking and pretty and unreal.

I love the sense of humour in this NZ show. It’s fast-paced. It pays nice tributes to superhero tales. It’s a good start to the hour. You can find more about it here.

Elliot’s reading out his mail, along with suitable sound effects. He can be a little snarky about some of the mail and he consigns it to interesting categories for filing. I want his filing system.

Next up is “Roman Mysteries�?. It seems to be a BBC adaptation of a series of books by Caroline Lawrence.

It’s very nice-looking, though I do wonder why the Roman girl is so fair and the ex-slave has the lovely Mediterranean skin. It has applied certain modern stereotypes to the casting (or the books have) and they make the historian in me uncomfortable. OK, an older woman is now making chicken soup for a sick man. I bet that family is Jewish and they’re applying another modern stereotype. Yep, they are.

Despite this, it looks like a good series to watch. Children’s TV is a good place for adaptations from books – you get several episodes to work things out and you get to know the characters over time.

Elliot’s just introducing the Zimmer Twins. The Zimmer Twins today is the Story of a Scary EVIL Cat that Hides in the Dark. It lasted thirty seconds. If I describe it any further then you’ll be reading longer than I was watching.

The last program is the BBC’s The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers. This is a perennial in Australia in this kind of timeslot and I usually see at least part of it when I turn on the TV to watch Timeteam. I love it. It’s madcap nonsense of the best variety. I can’t type during it. I think I’m finishing up here while Elliot is talking, before they come on. I need to spend some quality time with Xan, Adi and Enk.

Drabbit, watching kids’ TV could get addictive.

Today’s guest post was written by Kelly Erb. You can read more great posts by Kelly over at www.tinytreasury.com

The popularity of some children’s programming ebbs and flows. Some
are faddishly popular for a few weeks and then overstay their
welcome. Others percolate along with a small band of dedicated
viewers. Others are destined to be classics. Clifford the Big Red
Dog is one those destined to be a classic.

The television series, Clifford the Big Red Dog is based on the
children’s book series of the same name. The original book series
was penned by Norman Bridwell beginning in 1962. The television
series didn’t begin its run until 2000 - with a host of recognizable
voices at the helm. Most notably, the late John Ritter was the voice of Clifford. Also lending their voices were Cree Summer (Freddie in the Cosby spinoff A Different World), Kel Mitchell, Grey DeLisle and Edie McClurg.

Each half hour episode consists of two stories with an educational
message in each, referred to as Clifford’s Big Ideas. The lessons are
usually short and predictable and are along the lines of the value of
sharing or telling the truth. The biggest lesson of all, though, is
what it means to love someone or some dog (!) unconditionally. You
see, Clifford wasn’t always big - he was the runt of the litter. But
Emily Elizabeth loved him, and her love, the story goes, made him grow.

The show is designed for children ages 3-7. The simple, flat
animation drawn in primary colors and short episodes are cleverly
tailored towards the toddler and elementary education set. And it’s
not so bad for parents either.

Today’s guest post is brought to you by the talented Allison Boyer. You can read more from Allison at www.findreligion.net and www.RealityOnBravo.com.

When Saturday morning rolls around these days, I usually hide under my blanket for an additional hour or two of sleep–at least until my cat jumps on my head to wake me up! I’ve always loved sleeping in, but I do remember that for about 7 years, I gladly traded in those precious extra minutes for something else: Saturday morning cartoons. I was that child who would run downstairs at about 7:30 AM and sit in front of the television in my flannel PJs, with my big bowl of Captain Crunch. I’d watch what NBC and ABC had to offer, and occasionally my grandma would tape a few hours of Nickelodeon, since I didn’t get that channel.

Now, nothing against Dora the Explorer…but when I see kids’ shows today, I often think how they can’t compare to the shows I used to watch. I feel like these older shows were more intelligent, but also more about fun. If you wanted educational, you watched Sesame Street.

I miss being excited for something as simple as cartoons and other children’s programing. Here are my 1980s-90s favorites. What were yours as a child?

Eureka’s Castle
The singing fish statue and Batly were my favorites!

Land of the Lost
I remember thinking that the show went downhill when they focused more on the talking dinosaurs. I wanted to be Crysta, though, and I had suuuuuch a crush on Kevin!

Inspector Gadget
Who didn’t love this show? The boss was so funny when he got blown up, and the dog was hilarious.

Fraggle Rock
I’ll have you know that I own this on DVD now and watch it occasionally, just because I still love it so much! Boober!

Gummy Bears
…bouncing here and there and everywheeeeeeeere! I used to drink cranberry juice and pretend it made me jump around when I watched this at my Mammy’s house. Now that I think about that, I’m sure she loooooooved when I did that!

Other shows I miss: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Salute Your Shorts, 3-2-1 Contact, Saved by the Bell, Hang Time, Under the Umbrella Tree, and ANYTHING with the Care Bears!

Hi folks! I’m out of town on vacation this week, but I have some excellent guest posts lined up while I’m gone. Today’s post was written by the fabulous Kelly Erb. Kelly writes about children’s books at www.tinytreasury.com.

It’s rare that I find myself actually looking forward to a particular
kids’ TV show. I’ll admit to even manipulating the “choices”
available to Katie and Amy merely to avoid another second of
Caillou’s whining or the same episode of Dora over and over.

But that all changed when I got a peek at Jakers! If you haven’t
seen, put it on your list. I think it’s the best animated kids’
series on TV.

Jakers! is geared towards the 4-7 year old crowd (though my 3 year
old LOVES it) and is based on a simple premise: it’s a story about a
boy growing up with his friends in rural Ireland in the 1950s. Okay,
the boy is actually a pig and his friends are a duck and a bull, but
otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward. Each story opens and closes
with the boy, Piggley Winks, in the future, old and gray (well, as
old and gray as pigs get) telling stories about growing up.
Sometimes he remembers things a little bit differently than his
sister does, which adds to the fun.

Jakers! isn’t flashy which is part of its charm. I love that the
show focuses on simple stories that are fun and entertaining without
being preachy. It nicely reinforces the importance of family,
especially grandparents, without being obvious. There are lots of
cultural elements focusing on music, holidays and tradition thrown
in, too, - and not just Irish - with a really nice touch that doesn’t
feel forced.

While the animation is beautiful and soft with 3-D images that will
remind you of “Finding Nemo”, the appeal of Jakers! really is in the
story. When is the last time that happened? Of course, if you find
yourself tuning because Wiley the Sheep sounds familiar, he is. He’s
voiced by the inimitable Mel Brooks.

And in case you’re wondering, the name Jakers! is based on an Irish
expression meaning “wow!” or “amazing!” And that it is.

July 21st is Beach Party day on Noggin. Tune in to Noggin beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET, for beach themed episodes of all of your favorite shows. Here’s a list of what you will see:

6:30 AM & 12:30 PM ET MAISY: “Knock Knock/Panda/Follow the Leader/Beach�? Maisy wants to play today, and so she goes to all her friends’ houses to see if they want to play but no one is in. What Maisy doesn’t know is that everyone is waiting for her at her house!/Maisy and Panda are off to the park, but Panda decides that he wants to do a little exploring of his own./Maisy and Tallulah are playing follow the leader. When Eddie joins in they find out that there are some things which everyone can do, and some things which only an elephant can do./Maisy and Cyril go to the beach, but Cyril is bit wary of going into the sea. He soon forgets his worries though, and finds that splashing about in the water can be as much fun as anything else.

7:30 AM & 3:00 PM ET THE UPSIDE DOWN SHOW: “Beach�? Shane becomes emotionally attached to a beach ball that vanishes mid-toss. WRONG TURNS: Underwater Room, Desert Room, South Pole. WILD-CARD BUTTON: Upside down/Right side up.

8:00 AM ET DORA THE EXPLORER: “Baby Crab�? Dora and Boots are having a blast at the beach when all of a sudden they hear a call for help. It’s a baby crab stuck in a net! He was on his way to his mommy to bring her a present — a beautiful necklace made of shells — when he got stuck. With our help, Dora finds a pair of scissors inside Backpack and quickly frees Baby Crab. But as he scurries off, Baby Crab realizes he’s forgotten which way to go. Will you help Dora and Boots take Baby Crab through the Squishy Squid’s Musical Sand Castle, over a mountain of rhythmically Snapping Clams, and across the ocean to his Mami on Crab Island? You’ll have to shake your body like a crab!

8:30 AM ET GO, DIEGO, GO!: “An Underwater Mystery�? Diego and Alicia are in the Rescue Center Submarine exploring the Ocean for new animals when suddenly, they hear a cry for help, Using Click, Diego and Alicia find a mystery fish named Lucy. Diego and Alicia have to find out what kind of fish Lucy is so they can take her back home. They’re going to need to find clues to solve this mystery! The big mystery fish has skin with spots and stripes, wiggles her tail from side-to-side, and has 3,000 teeth. It’s a Whale Shark!!!

9:00 AM & 11:00 AM ET WONDER PETS!: “Save the Goldfish/Save the Hermit Crab�? The Wonder Pets fly to a child’s bedroom where a pet goldfish in an aquarium is trapped inside a bubbling treasure chest./While on vacation in Cancun, the Wonder Pets take a break from their holiday to help a hermit crab who has outgrown his shell.

9:30 AM ET BACKYARDIGANS: “Into the Deep�? QUEST: Deep-sea explorers TYRONE and PABLO, with their incredible submarine, plunge to the deepest part of the ocean to discover the rare mermaid. Meanwhile, mermaids TASHA and UNIQUA will do anything to protect their mermaid garden from intruders. An exhilarating underwater chase ensues until the mermaids realize that all the scientists want to do is capture them — on film that is. MUSIC GENRE: BOLLYWOOD

10:00 AM ET DORA THE EXPLORER: “Beaches�? Dora brings Boots a special present, a new floaty that will help him swim. Boots is thrilled, and they set off for the beach. But first they’ll have to go through the Dune maze (watch out for the crabs!), then fix the broken Boardwalk, and that’s how they’ll get to the beach.

10:30 AM ET GO, DIEGO, GO!: “Diego Saves the Baby Humpback Whale�? “Aroo ah! Aroo ah!” A baby humpback whale is beached on a rocky island and can’t get back into the ocean! Diego sets off to save the humpback whale, running through a rainforest obstacle course, then swimming with Tuga the Leatherback Sea Turtle past jellyfish and sharks. When Diego reaches the baby humpback whale, he leads the other humpback whales to make really big waves to lift the beached humpback whale into the ocean and back to her mommy!

11:00 AM ET WONDERPETS!: “Save the Goldfish/Save the Hermit Crab�? The Wonder Pets fly to a child’s bedroom where a pet goldfish in an aquarium is trapped inside a bubbling treasure chest./While on vacation in Cancun, the Wonder Pets take a break from their holiday to help a hermit crab who has outgrown his shell.

11:30 AM ET BLUE’S CLUES: “Blue Goes to the Beach�? Steve and Blue are going to the beach! In this episode we decide what clothes would be most appropriate to wear to the beach, experiment with physics in a game of sink or float with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, then help sea creatures find their way back to the playground by matching their shapes with the coral reef.

12:30 PM ET MAISY: “Knock Knock/Panda/Follow the Leader/Beach�? Maisy wants to play today, and so she goes to all her friends’ houses to see if they want to play but no one is in. What Maisy doesn’t know is that everyone is waiting for her at her house!/Maisy and Panda are off to the park, but Panda decides that he wants to do a little exploring of his own./Maisy and Tallulah are playing follow the leader. When Eddie joins in they find out that there are some things which everyone can do, and some things which only an elephant can do./Maisy and Cyril go to the beach, but Cyril is bit wary of going into the sea. He soon forgets his worries though, and finds that splashing about in the water can be as much fun as anything else.

2:00 PM ET MAGGIE AND THE FEROCIOUS BEAST: “Nothing In the Beach Ball/Picnic Time/The New Rubber Ball�? When Beast punctures a beach ball, our trio goes to the beach ball factory where they meet their friend Nedley and try to get a new ball. However, once there they discover that something is wrong so they stay until they get to the bottom of the problem./When Hamilton, Beast and Maggie try to have a friendly picnic, they are overcome with ants and have to find a clever way to get rid of them./When Maggie gets Beast the rubber ball he has always wanted, he becomes obsessed with it. However, when the triplets come over for a birthday party and he hasn’t anything to give them, he generously gives them his beautiful new ball.

3:00 PM ET THE UPSIDE DOWN SHOW: “Beach�? Shane becomes emotionally attached to a beach ball that vanishes mid-toss. WRONG TURNS: Underwater Room, Desert Room, South Pole. WILD-CARD BUTTON: Upside down/Right side up.

5:00 PM ET FRANKLIN: “Franklin at the Seashore/Franklin and Snail’s Dream�? Franklin and his friends take an adventure to the seashore to relax and explore. While there, he encounters lots of new friends and learns what mysteries the beach holds.

6:30 PM ET LITTLE BEAR: “Little Bear’s Mermaid/Father Flying Flapjacks/Maracas�? When Little Bear’s family goes on a picnic by the lake, Little Bear meets a mermaid./Little Bear and his father surprise Mother Bear with a breakfast of Father’s famous flying flapjacks./When the Bear family cleans out the attic, Little Bear uncovers some of Mother Bear’s old treasures, including a pair of maracas with a very colorful history.

• Carrey to star in ‘Carol’ - Los Angeles Times
  He seems perfect for Scrooge, don’t you think? I’ll definitely have to check that one out.
• Toon Zone - “DinoSapien” Needs Some Frog DNA
  Did anybody see the premiere episodes? I’m curious about this one. Not quite for the tots, but the older kids would probably get a kick out of it.
• Animation Insider - ‘Re-Animated’ Returns In Another Form
  Cartoon Network ventures into live-action.
• Looks Like Someone Found Sid & Marty Krofft’s Old Stash : Huxtabled on Offsprung.com
  Yo Gabba Gabba kind of freaks me out. Do kids really need to see things like that? And seriously, that “party in my tummy” song drives me batty!
• Playbill News: “Hairspray” Star Efron Will Be “Footloose” in Film Remake
  Zac Efron sure is getting around these days.
• Toon Zone - One-Month Free Preview of Discovery Kids Canada
  Who doesn’t like getting something for free?

Are your Little Einsteins ready to rev it up?  Playhouse Disney is featuring Rev It Up with Rocket Week beginning July 15th.  Tune in to Playhouse Disney each morning at 8:00/7:00 a.m. Central time to blast off with Rocket and The Little Einsteins in the following episodes:

• Sunday, July 15th - “How We Became the Little Einsteins - The True Story!”
• Monday, July 16th - “Whale Tale”
• Tuesday, July 17th - “Pirates Treasures”
• Wednesday, July 18th - “Hungarian Hiccups”
• Thursday, July 19th - “The Great Sky Race Rematch”
• Friday, July 20th - “The Legend of The Golden Pyramid”
• Saturday, July 21 - “The Incredible Shrinking Machine”

Playhouse Disney, Little Einsteins, Rev It Up With Rocket Week

As I was surfing through the web tonight I came across a site that made me stop and go “huh?” The site is titled “Backyardiknits” which quickly drew me in. You see, knitting is one of my favorite hobbies these days. I love it so much that I have even created my own knitting blog to track my progress and share my current projects. Coincidently, The Backyardigans just happens to be one of my favorite kids shows on the air right now. So, when I stumbled on this site it grabbed my attention.

Backyardiknits is an unofficial knitalong for folks who love the Backyardigans. Beth, Brandy, and Laura are knitting lots of fun things Backyardigans style and are encouraging others to join in. If your little tot likes to dress up like their favorite Backyardigans characters and you have a knack for knitting, you should definitely check out Backyardiknits. I can only imagine how their eyes would light up for a hand-made Tasha or Tyrone Halloween costume.

The Backyardigans, Backyardiknits, knitting, knitalong, Novice Knitting, costume