Brainy thing:  24:18            Behind the Redwood Curtain:  29:40

Margaret completed her Quest Shawl by Linda Dean featured in the Jimmy Beans Advent Crochet event. It was great fun but she was glad to finally finish it.   Quest Shawl:https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/quest-shawl.

Then she completed several small projects:  A souvenir from Stitches West, Rebecca Danger’s Wickedly Peaceful Polar Bear:   https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wickedly-peaceful-polar-bear-christmas-ornament.

Some eggs including one by Nicky Fijalkowska in her book  Knitted Birds    https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitted-birds-by-nicky-fijalkowska and one that Margaret freelanced on her own.   Finally, to mix up needle sizes, she finished the Jolly Wee Elf by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas   https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jolly-wee-elf in worsted weight yarn and size 5 needles.

In this process she became curious about casting on small circular objects and found the following links helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRHzIYEK7a8   and

circular  Cast on:   https://knitmuch.com/4-cast-ons-for-knitting-circular-lace/

She also found a great tutorial for stuffing these items by Sarah Schira from Imagined Landscapes, famously a gnome designer:

Catherine sadly lost the bag with her textured blanket squares but started with a new project for the Welcome Blanket project:   https://www.welcomeblanket.org/patterns/ .She’s  using Caron’s Yarnspirations in the summer berry colorway.

How do birds migrate and bees find their way?   One way is through magnetoreception and now scientists have recorded human responses to changes in the magnetic field.   But test subjects didn’t seem able to consciously feel those changes.

County residents are concerned that the Netflix series Murder Mountain will cast a negative shadow on Southern Humboldt County, but Catherine tells us about a little known treasure in the middle of remote and wild SoHum:  The Redwoods Monastery  or  Our Lady of the Redwoods  in White Thorn operated by  Cistercian nuns and who also market their delicious honey.

We’re back with Catherine and Margaret in the classic format of our podcast Teaching Your Brain to Knit, number One Hundred and Three.  We share what we’re learning from our knitting:  crocheting a shawl, knitting small items and starting a new welcome blanket.  Margaret reports new studies that show that human brains respond to changes in the magnetic field but people don’t consciously perceive them.  What does that mean?   We don’t know.    And Catherine talks about a remote monastery and retreat in Southern Humboldt.