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108  Ep. 108 Brain Changes in Animal-Human Interaction; Cairos Wristlet; Yield of Washcloth Swap; and the Samoa Cookhouse

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Welcome to Episode 108 where we learn how animals — and not even real ones — can help our brain health.   We knit a Wristlet, harvest the bounty of the Washcloth Swap and discover the old-timey traditions of family style eating.

Brainy Thing:  16:15    Behind the Redwood Curtain:  27:41

What We’re Learning from our Knitting

IMG_3263_small_best_fit

Margaret finished the Laura Nelkin Kairos wristlet https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kairos-2.   She particularly liked the randomness of the bead placement.  This was a kit and Laura offers 5 different colorways on her etsy store.

Catherine hasn’t done much knitting but she’s working on a pair of Baby Socks https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-socks-23  and has reaped the rewards of her dishcloth exchange.    https://www.ravelry.com/groups/annual-dishcloth-swap: Some of the patterns she received are Blossom (crochet),   The Almost Lost Washcloth https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-almost-lost-washcloth;   in swimming pool colorway, The Sail Away Dishcloth—  (joann’s )  and  Poppy.

Brainy Thing:  Brain Changes in Animal-Human Interactions

AustralianShepherdsTricolorZoey2YearsOldBeauMerle1YearsOldDogs
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Why does it feel so good to pet your animal (or even watch colorful fish?)   There’s a whole world of research out there and recent studies show chemical and structural changes in both animal and human brains when they interact.  And those changes make both of us feel good.
Book mentioned :  How Dogs Love Us:  A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain   by Gregory Berns     Other research links:

Behind the Redwood Curtain:  The Samoa Cookhouse

cookhouseEat like loggers ate — family style with one menu option a day — check it out ahead of time.  There’s also a logger museum to check out.
samoa cookhouse winter hours  https://www.samoacookhouse.net/menu
Welcome to episode 108 of Teaching Your Brain to Knit, a bit delayed because of power outages and other events.   Today, we will explore how the brain changes in animal and human interactions;  we’ll talk about a cute little beaded wristlet;  report on the Annual Washcloth exchange,  and discuss a Northcoast landmark — the Samoa Cookhouse.
Thank you for listening to our podcast.  You can subscribe to us on most podcasting platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  Shownotes are on Ravelry and on many podcast platforms, embedded in the show.  We’re behind posting on our Webpage but we’ll catch up someday.

Ep. 107 Analysis Paralysis; Socks, socks, socks; Vortex Washcloth; Where to Visit in the Redwoods

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Welcome to Episode 107 where we learn that overthinking can lead to analysis paralysis;  We talk about socks and more socks;  Knitting into a Vortex;  and where to find guides to the Redwoods.

Brainy:    13:05           Behind the Redwood Curtain 27:30

What We’re Learning from our Knitting:

Vortex dishcloth by Rebecca HudsonIt’s socks, socks, socks in our knitting this episode.  Catherine shares the sad tale of her puppy getting to a washcloths she had finished for her Washcloth exchange.   Now she gets to keep the slightly chewed Vortex 5 by Rebecca Hudson  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vortex-5-dishcloth but needs to make another one.  She decided on the perfect traveling project:  Baby socks.   Some patterns she likes are  ribbed far away baby socks   originally from Afghan for afghans made in worsted weight https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ribbed-far-away-baby-socks.  She also like another free baby socks pattern:  jelly bean baby sock spud and chloe  Susan B Anderson  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jelly-bean-baby-socks
Margaret also is working on socks — this time the nugget peds by Laura Nelkin  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#sort=best&inline=&query=Nugget%20peds.  She also
Nugget Sock by Laura Nelkin

Nugget Sock by Laura Nelkin

 offers some of her favorite sock tips:
lucy neatby heel The slippurl and alternative heel stitch  https://www.lucyneatby.com/extras/newsletters/SY19.html
Finchley graft video by Roxanne Richardson:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3sD_RU720c  (watch out! The opening ad is loud)
Lorilee Beltman how to  remember the kitchner stitch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkW3kP7RZdk

Brainy Thing:

Analysis Paralysis
overanalysis squelches creativity 1959 Barry Swartz  The paradox of choice
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Podcast recommended:   Happier (also by Gretchen Rubin)
Ambition and balance  blog by Doist
Links:

Behind the Redwood Curtain:

redwoodsGuides for Exploring the Redwoods: 

More basic website:  Humboldt california redwood coast https://www.visitredwoods.com/
Today on Episode 107 of Teaching Your Brain to Knit we discuss a beaded cuff sock, Nugget Peds by laura Nelkin plus a few sock tips and tricks to spice it up;   We find baby socks the perfect travel knitting and offer some patterns.  Analysis Paralysis is a real thing and we not share the brain science behind it but offer some tips to kicking it; and we present an overview of tourism on the Northcoast from attractions to wholistic groceries.
Today we have another give away — this time a book from my library — a gently owned book named “Slow Knitting a journey from sheep to skein to stitch”   by Hannah Thiessen.  It chronicles her journey from the “getting it done quickly” attitude with her knitting to slowing down and deep her understanding of all the processes of her practice.  The book is a mixture of patterns, essays from a variety of professionals in the industry and beautiful photographs.  Companies include Green Mountain Spinner and O-Wool.  The patterns include lots of sweaters but also shawls and cowls and hats and mittens.  Hannah divides her book with the themes of “source carefully”  produce thoughtfully   think environmenta  lly experiment fearlessly and explore Openly.  This is a book you slow down with and come back too.

Ep 106: The Placebo Effect; Summer Socks; Beaded i-cord; New color app; annual washcloth exchange; Arcata Fairy Festival

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Welcome to Episode 106 where we talked about summer socks, trying a part of a patter — beaded i-cord, discovering a color app for project planning, the annual washcloth exchange;  The latest on the Placebo Effect and the new Arcata Fairy Festival

Brainy thing:   18:38      Behind the Redwood Curtain:   29:19

What We’re Learning From Our Knitting

IMG_3217Margaret finished a pair of summer socks:  Top down, 1×1 twist rib cuff, afterthought heel with gusset,
(check out Ariana Hipsagh    gussets in afterthought heel  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUyJM2FBH_o
Reena Meijer Dress  Knit better Socks blog  http://knitbettersocks.blogspot.com/)
The yarn is  Canon Hand Dyed 80 Merino, 10 Cashmere and 10 nylon.by The Amy Lee Show and the colorway is “I will believe that there are unicorns” a part of her January Shakespeare Club and a quote from the Tempest.
ducenti_mkal_small2She learned a lot from making the first step from Laura Nelkin’s Ducenti Shawl https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ducenti-mkal— a beaded i-cord. Made from in two different but closely coordinated colors, the two skeins of yarn came in Laura Nelkin’s Ducenti Shawl kit,  originally a mystery kit.They are a wonderfully soft single ply Dragonfly Fibers, Pixie yarn in 100 % merino in a mossy green and a variegated dark putty, with hints of a brassy brown and green.
But she’s not making the the full shawl as designed by Laura.    She’s using it as the bottom of Eline Oftedal’s Waves Shoulder Cosy https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wave-shoulder-cosy

Catherine shares a free app from Home Depot for matching up colors.   She finds the matches are a tad on the dark side but still thinks it’s a nifty tool.   She found some yarn she’s long been looking for from  Lion Brand gradient stripe in pink for a dog sweater for a dog who looks fierce but isn’t.   She is working on her Dishcloth exchange using cotton she had on hand plus a  ball of lily’s sugar and cream  in white, lime, teal green, and  lavender.  The pattern is  Vortex 5  by Rebecca Hudson  (Meditative is her Rav name.)

Brainy Thing

Margaret reports on recent research on the Placebo effect  — Among the findings are that it works even if people know they are taking a placebo, it works in animals, and it changes an enzyme in the  brain.

Behind the Redwood Curtain:  Arcata Fairy Festival

f4cc6b_5190bfbcf7c84798aaa5151cb9e464e2_mv2A new kid-friendly event in Arcata is the Fairy Festival, celebrating its second year and planning for the next.

A little podcast business:  Give Away

Another fun giveaway.  Be the first to request it on the Ravelry thread.
In this episode of Teaching Your Brain to Knit we discuss summer socks, beaded i-cord, the dishcloth exchange anda pink striped yarn for a dog.   We share the latest on the Placebo Effect and report on a new area event, The Arcata Fairy Festival.
We have a wonderful give-away today from Margaret’s unending stash, the Laura Nelkin kit, Ironish, a two color scarf.   The kit includes two skeins of Navia, Silkiull yarn which is  75% wool, 25% silk:  one skein is steel( a medium grey)  and the other raspberry. The kit also includes beads which you can use or not.   I have printed up the pattern which has links to Laura’s video instructions.
Thank you for listening to our podcast.   We now publish once a month and you can subscribe on all the major podcast servers including Apple, Stitcher, and Spotify.  Margaret is Margaret 924 on Ravelry and Catherine  is Magic Wombat.  We are also on Facebook and sometimes even on Instagram.

Episode 105: Diet and Depression; A blanket out of a sweater gone wrong; Log Cabin Mitts; Reintroduction of the Condor on the North Coast

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Ep. 105  Welcome to Episode 105, where we discuss Diet and Depression;  Making a blanket out of a sweater gone wrong;  Making Log Cabin Mitts out of Buffalo Yarn;  and the Reintroduction of the Condor along the North Coast.

Brainy Thing: 15:16                       Behind the Redwood Curtain:  27:41

What we’re learning from our Knitting:

Catherine plays too little/too much with her Caron Big Cake (https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/caron-big-cakes) a 100% acrylic yarn. But she’ll end up with a smaller baby sized blanket and blanket squares for a charity blanket. IMG_3159__2__small2 Margaret tries out Buffalo Wool Company Prairie (bison and silk) https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/stunning-string-studio-prairie on a pair of log cabin mitts https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/log-cabin-mitts by Karen Templer.   Great yarn and a fun pattern.

Brainy Thing:

Is there a relationship between diet and depression?   Catherine reports on recent research designed to show the impact of a healthy, modified Mediterranean and depression.  (It helped.)  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323194.php

Behind the Redwood Curtain:

download-2Margaret discovers the history of the condor along the North Coast and exciting news that they will be reintroduced. https://www.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/bringing-prey-go-neesh-home/Content?oid=14060254

A Little Podcast Business:

We miss podcasting as much and plan to increase the number of podcasts we’re putting out PLUS we have a yarn give away.
After a few months on a less frequent schedule for our podcast, Catherine and I have missed it and plan now to put out a podcast about once a month.  It may vary a bit — 3 weeks or 5 weeks but somewhere around one podcast a month.  For the time being, we’ll stick to the same format.
And, as a special treat today, we have a giveaway from the stash — a beautiful handspun, thick and thin, skein of 100% BFL or blue face leister totally 100 gram and containing 106 meters.  It has a marled look with green, a medium dark purple, tan and a offwhite.  It is from Friday Studios.  The first one to request this yarn in the 105 episode thread will receive it.
n episode 105 of Teaching Your Brain to Knit we share our knitting stories with buffalo wool, the log cabin mitts, blankets and blanket squares.  We report on research about the effect of diet on depression and the reintroduction of the condor in the Northcoast.
Until next time.

Ep. 104 Anna Zilboorg, Master Knitter and Teacher

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Welcome to Episode 104:   Interview with Anna Zilboorg, master knitter, quilter, teacher, etc.

In this interview about both quilting and knitting, Anna shares a bit of her own history, she’s touches on downloadmeditative knitting,  she celebrates our hands,  she talks about learning through the mind and learning with the hands and she worries about knitting becoming rote and- rule bound rather than people growing into being being craftspeople.
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One of Anna Zilboorg’s many books which included directions for the workshop I took.