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Hi there,

Over the weekend for Pods and Blogs I took a journey to Newcastle to see what was happening at the

All manner of makers, crafters, electricians, roboticists and creators gathered at the event to share, teach and show off their projects. You can hear many voices from the event on the podcast but if there is a link that you missed, they are listed below.

First up I had a chat with David Fanning, PR for the Maker Faire event to get a sense of the scale and breadth of those in attendance. David's enthusiasm went from talking about makers to getting involved himself and he managed to solder and create his own LED toy over the weekend.

Mitch Altman teaching simple code to David Fanning.

Maker Faire certainly was buzzing and not least because BrightArcs were there with their Tesla coils making music. The air smelled like electrical burns and the sound was phenomenal!

Electronics and crafting is beautifully blended by . She had brought a Cthuhlu knitted toy with red glowing eyes to the Faire - along with many other treats. Certainly a woman of many, many talents.

Even stopping for a coffee break was a somewhat unusual experience. Do you often make your coffee using the pressure of the Earth's atmosphere? No, me neither, but that just makes it all the more fun when it's explained in simple terms.

Robots are definitely something I can get excited about, so it is predictable that I would hit peaks of enthusiasm at Maker Faire. I'm not entirely sure what the collective noun for hexapod might be - but safe to say that it was quit a gathering, created by .

Graffiti as artistic expression is something that divides opinion. Though can anyone begrudge a little knitted or digital graffiti? Stuart Childs of the in Leeds was teaching people how to indulge in the latter as well as extolling the virtues of sharing your ideas.

More crafting was being encouraged by the . Sounds dangerous, but in fact they are a lovely bunch who helped visitors stitch their own achievement badges. The badges are a bit like scouting patches but instead of for camping or orienteering, you can make your own to show that you can parallel park, or my favourite - "I am very good at yelling".

Maker evangelist and inspiration to us all, was in residence at the Maker Faire. Not only was he giving talks, he also helped visitors to solder, program and provided general encouragement to people taking their first steps in electronic creation.

Right, I'm off to find my soldering iron and see if I can make something neat with LEDs. Small steps, but the Maker Fair certainly inspires the urge to create.

In the mean time - send me word of the great digital things that you have seen, or even better that you are making. You can email me at podsandblogs at bbc dot co dot uk or come and say hi on Twitter where you can find me as @Podsandblogs

Until next week!
Jamillah