Tag Archives: knitting

Redflags in scientific research, Knit in place sock patches; Tips for re-knitting a pattern; The world’s last old growth redwood forrest; Give-aways for membership incentives and books.

Posted in Learning by

Welcome to Episode 74

What We Learned in Our Knitting:

Margaret tried a Knit-in-place patch for her holey socks:
Catherine ran into some “learning opportunities” for knitting a pattern for a second time:  lady violet’s gauntlet

Brainy Thing:

Finding red flags in scientific research:  Jennifer Raff  University of Kansas   How to read a scientific report
checking who is sponsoring research

Redwood Curtain:

Catherine shares about Headwaters Forest,  the world’s last coastal redwood forrest

Giveaways:

We have another membership incentive give away and another book giveaway.

Links:

website https://teachingyourbraintoknit.com/ for show notes, photos of our knitting and crochet projects, Behind the Redwood Curtain places and things and anything else we decide to post.
In this episode of Teaching Your Brain to Knit, we look out for Red Flags in Scientific Research,  learn a knit-in-    place patch repair for socks,  offer tips for knitting a pattern for the second time;  discover the world’s last coastal redwood forrest;  PLUS offer giveaways for the membership incentive and book de-stash.

Ep. 071 Choose from five types of meditation; Gather more insights from teaching crochet; Fine a home for charity knitting; explore the bounty of Minus Tides in Humboldt

Posted in Crochet, Knitting, Meditation, Teaching by
Brainy Thing:   25:07   Redwood Curtain:  45:31

What We’re Learning From Our Knitting and Teaching (crochet.)

Catherine focuses on her charity knitting , finishing her Socks for the Homeless and trying to find a good charity to donate some older projects:  a child’s cardigan, an adult raglan sweater, and some baby socks.

Catherine’s Charity Knitting:  Fantasy Red Cardi by Catherine Foster  
generic baby socks

worsted weight sweater The Incredible Custom Fit Raglan Sweater  by Pamela Costello   woolworks.

Catherine’s Charity Knitting:  Fantasy Red Cardi by Catherine Foster  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fantasy-red-cardi
generic baby socks, and a worsted weight sweater The Incredible Custom Fit Raglan Sweater  by Pamela Costello  ( woolworks)  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/incredible-custom-fit-raglan

Margaret shares some more insights she’s gathered from teaching a small group how to crochet Hats for the Homeless.  Simple Single Crochet Hat  by K T and the Squid  (  Katy Petersen.)  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-single-crochet-hat

Brainy Thing

Catherine gives a broad view of Meditation describing five categories of meditation outlined  by Jules and Michelle Levey  in Luminous Mind  http://www.wisdomatwork.com/.     Chopra Center  7 myths about meditation  http://www.chopra.com/articles/7-myths-of-meditation
blog   Live and Dare   Giovanni Dienstmann  http://liveanddare.com/

Behind the Redwood Curtain

Catherine and Margaret recount their adventure during a Minus Tide in Humboldt.

Links

website https://teachingyourbraintoknit.com/ for show notes, photos of our knitting and crochet projects, Behind the Redwood Curtain places and things and anything else we decide to post.
In this episode of Teaching Your Brain to Knit, we offer 5 basic styles of meditation with scores of specific types in each category;  we share an update on lessons learned from teaching; And Some experiences with Charity Knitting; and we explore the bounty of the minus tide in Humboldt.

Ep. 068 Learn Kwik with Jim Kwik; Planning Knit the Sky Scarf; Embracing the “slow”; Drive Through Redwoods

Posted in Learning by

Welcome to Episode 68:  Jim Kiwk Teaches Learning and Reading Methods to Help You Improve

Brainy Thing:   16:06    Behind the Redwood Curtain:  24:40

What We’re Learning from our Knitting:

Margaret explores the planning/creative phase of a project with Lea Redman’s  Knit the Sky Scarf   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sky-scarf.  Redman also has a book called Knit the Sky that promotes creativity and playfulness in knitting.  http://www.knitthesky.com/  book  Margaret heard of Lea Redman through Becky Steward’s  Knit Om newsletter.  http://knitom.com/author/becky-stewart/
Catherine declares that she is fine being a slow knitter (and later in the episode that she is also fine being a slow reader.)  She is continuing her progress on charity socks  https://northcoastknittery.com/blogs/shop-tidbits/socks-for-the-homeless  sponsored by Northcoast Knittery and on Bunnymuff’s Fatima Shawl.
continuing Fatima shawl

Brainy thing: Kwik Learning

Turning on  you superpower brain with Jim Kwik episode of Srini Rao on the Unmistakeable Creative Podcast.  https://unmistakablecreative.com/podcast
Jim Kwik’s podcast:  Kwik Brain:  Memory Improvement Accelerated Learning
Kwik Brain:  Memory Improvement Accelearated Learning https://kwikbrain.com/podcast
Kwik Learning website:  https://kwiklearning.com/

Behind the Redwood Curtain:

Knitting Tip:

Dealing with ladders that are created in the round knitting.

Links for Podcast:

website https://teachingyourbraintoknit.com/ for show notes, photos of our knitting and crochet projects, Behind the Redwood Curtain places and things and anything else we decide to post.
In this episode of Teaching Your Brain to Knit, Read and learn Kwikly using Jim Kwik’s methods and tips;  Follow Margaret’s process and stumbles planning a new project — Knit the Sky;  Listen to Catherine “Embrace the Slow” with Charity Socks;  Drive through giant redwood trees;  and get a tip on dealing with ladders knitting in the round.

Ep. 058 What Appreciation and Gratitude Do for Your Brain

Posted in Brain Function, Crochet, Knitting by

Welcome to Episode 58:  Appreciation and Gratitude fire the same places in the brain

Brainy Thing:   25:25    Behind the Redwood Curtain:   35:25

What We Learned From Our Knitting

Catherine knit not one, but two Poncho Perfectos by The Knit Cafe Toronto for a production of Julius Caesar.   Listen to her tale.   
The pattern is no longer  available but Catherine used raveler raplib’s Pacific NW Poncho notes as a guide.   http://www.ravelry.com/projects/raplib/poncho-perfecto  She used Jenny’ super stretchy bind off
Margaret has been playing with a number different projects but she finished two crochet ball ornament covers.  The directions are free and are:  Joy M. Prescott’s  Elegant ornaments:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/elegant-ornaments  in #10 orange cotton thread and Teresa Richardson’s Thread crochet ornament   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/thread-crochet-ornament—christopher  The video tutorial  is   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL0i4TTlGyM

Brainy Thing:

Catherine tells us that receiving appreciation and giving appreciation fire the same parts of the brain as offering gratitude does and it does great things for our well being.  She mention the O T Tanner company, Positive Psychology Researc, Psychiatry Seven, Dr. Tard Khastan from George Mason University and Dr. Robert A Emmons, the world’s leading expert on Gratitude.  He’s at UC Davis and is the founder of the Journal of Positive Psychology.

Behind the Redwood Curtain:

Today Margaret Explore the Temperate Rainforest, the ecosystem of the Redwood Forest.

Knitting Tip:

Seven7seven (one of our group members) gives a tip that to keep track of yarn care instruction, take a photo of it when you’re photographing the yarn to add to the Ravelry stash pages.

The Learn-along

The Learn-along continues.   It ends May 1.  There’s prizes and learning to be had.

Links:

website https://teachingyourbraintoknit.com/ for show notes, photos of our knitting and crochet projects, Behind the Redwood Curtain places and things and anything else we decide to post.
Today on Teaching Your Brain to Knit, how you can improve your quality of life with gratitude and appreciation;  Catherine takes a journey in knitting for the theatre;  Margaret enjoys the plasticity of crochet;  We learn what a temperate rain forest is, we get a tip about how to never lose your yarn’s care instruction, and we give a reminder about the 2017 Learn along.

Ep. 055 Increasing the “Love Hormone” Oxytocin to Increase Happiness

Posted in Brain anatomy & physiology, Knitting by
Brainy thing:   17:11  Behind the Redwood Curtain:  30:42

Welcome to Episode:  Dog Studies show how to increase the “Love Hormone” Oxytocin to Increase Happiness

What We’re Learning From Our Knitting:

Catherine was deep into the production of Pussy hats by   Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh https://www.pussyhatproject.com/knit/ .   Bunches more patterns on:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#query=pussy%20hat&view=captioned_thumbs&page=1&sort=best  Margaret steals, uh, appropriates one of them.  pussy-hatsCatherine took this opportunity to repurpose a cowl that was beautiful —Cuppa Java Cowl  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cuppa-java-cowl  by Sarah Wilson or The Sexy Knitter http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-wilson— but didn’t quite work for her.   She loved the yarn, though: A Gothling merino cashmere blend by Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs Goth Sox in the colorway “Home Coming Queen’s got a gun.”  catherine-in-pussy-hatShe made other hats out of Cascade 220 and some mystery yarns from her stash.
Margaret features some knitting made by other people and shares her delight with the Faberge’ egg-like ornament designed by Laura Lamers’ (http://www.ravelry.com/people/northcoastknit)  of the Northcoast Knittery.jaquies-rolled-sweater

Ornament designed by Laura Lamers of the North Coast Knittery Shop in Eureka CA inspired by a Faberge Egg.

Brainy Thing:

Catherine describes the “Love Hormone” Oxytocin and some recent research that shows bonding between dogs and their owners.  There are lots of studies on this including several by Jessica Oliva.

Behind the Redwood Curtain:

A paved, multi-use trail just south of Bay Shore Mall and along the Eastern Edge of Humboldt Pave meets lots of needs.   It’s the Hikshari’ trail   http://www.redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=5666

bamboo-yarnPodcast Business:

There’s an ongoing incentive to sign up for the Teaching Your Brain to Knit Podcast Ravelry Group and a current contest for the 2017 Learn-along.
How the hormone Oxytocin can increase happiness, How knitting can unite sides in activism, The discovery of a new stitch which brought joy,  Finding a new humboldt trail that accommodates a range of needs, Repurposing yarn for a -not-quite-right finished project