Brainy Thing: 24:21 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 32:25 What We’re Learning from our Knitting Catherine started a new project: a lace shawl called Heaven Scent by Boo Knits. She is using a skein of zauberball cotton https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/schoppel-wolle-zauberball-cotton in “Rosey Times” colorway. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/heaven-scent Margaret searches for sock longevity and discovers a trove of information in The Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara Parkes. She finds fi...
May 16, 2018•48 min•Ep. 85
Brainy Part: 22:40 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 31:20 What We’re Learning From Our Knitting Catherine continues her exploration of knitting textures in blocks she’s planning to turn into a charity blanket. This time the patterns are from: http://www.knittingstitchpatterns.com/ She will send her blanket to: Hats and More from War Torn Syria https://www.ravelry.com/groups/hats-and-more-for-war-torn-syria Margaret’s knitting turns toward the birds from Arne and Carlos’ “Field Guide to Knitted Birds”...
May 03, 2018•41 min•Ep. 84
Brainy Thing: 26:17 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 37:36 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting: Margaret explores the seed stitch and its alternatives: https://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Knitting-Patterns-Barbara-Walker/dp/0942018168 One “Crochet Seed Stitch” Marly Bird https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aeGlbpmYx8 Another Crochet Seed Stitch: Dora Orhenstein The Crocheters workshop Brainy Thing: Creativity I Who’s creative and how you can be (already are) too.: Make it mighty Ugly — Kim Werker https://...
Apr 17, 2018•50 min•Ep. 83
Brainy Thing: 19:55 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 29:10 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting Margaret calls for emergency help from Catherine to help her figure out a supposedly invisible repair (Knit Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXD3TdbpDbM ; Kate Atherly in Knitty 2006 http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATrepairs101.html ; Rina Crochet’s book Flawless Knit Repair 19 pages of gold, I’m guessing, used for $99 ) of her Multnomah Shawl by Shawl repair The shawl design is Multnomah by Kate...
Apr 02, 2018•44 min•Ep. 82
Brainy Thing: 24:21 Behind the Redwood Curtain 35:41 What We’re Learning from our Knitting Margaret’s further exploration of Fair Isle veers into Crochet Fair Isle under the instruction of Karen Whooley. ( https://www.ravelry.com/designers/karen-whooley ) Other Fair Isle references in the report. http://kelbournewoolens.com/blog/2017/5/stranded-colorwork-vs-fair-isle-knitting Fai https://arnecarlos.com/why-there-is-no-dominant-color-in-norwegian-knitting-by-arne-carlos/ https://course.craftsy.co...
Mar 17, 2018•50 min•Ep. 81
Brainy Thing: 12:30 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 24:42 What we’re learning from our knitting: Catherine likes her Coffee Shop Wrap by Alexandra Tavel https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coffee-shop-wrap (free through Lion Brand Yarns,) but has been yearning for lace knitting. Margaret tries creating a design for an elongated fair isle ornament. The project fails but she learns a lot. https://www.craftsy.com/knitting/classes/fair-isle-holiday-ornaments/497492 . It’s Margaret’s design but Sunn...
Mar 02, 2018•36 min•Ep. 80
Brainy Thing: 12:50 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 22:40 What We’re Learning from our Knitting: Margaret learns to love Luxury with Lhasa yarn: 50% yak, 50% cashmere. She used the Lhasa Snuggle Mitts pattern by Laura Lamers. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/snuggle-mitts Catherine found a crochet pattern for her annual scrubbies exchange : the zinnia dishcloth pattern from Lily/Sugar’n Cream. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zinnia-dishcloth https://www.ravelry.com/groups/annual-dis...
Feb 16, 2018•36 min•Ep. 79
Brainy Thing: 16:44 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 30:32 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting: Catherine is surprised when she learns (again) that colors online don’t always match colors in yarn when she buys a Lion Brand Yarn pattern Coffee Shop Wrap kit by Alexandra Tavel https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coffee-shop-wrap only to discover that a color that she thought was a mild creaming yellow turned out to be a zangy mustard. Margaret patched two more socks, including removing and repla...
Feb 01, 2018•38 min
Brainy Thing: 15:40 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 26:20 What we’re learning from our knitting: Margaret learns about knitting different specialty textured yarns for her textured amigurumi The Three Little Kittens by Sara Scales https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/three-little-kittens-4 . Catherine ventures into sweater knitting for a dog using The Darling Darby Sweater: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/darling-darby-sweater . Brainy Thing: Sensory Stimulation Helps People with Dementi...
Jan 16, 2018•34 min
Brainy Thing: 15:52 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 25:25 What We Learned from Our Knitting Catherine finishes a lace shawl (with beads, of course) called Ocean Kelp and designed by Harry Wells whose Rav name is knitting ninja and his design studio is Good for a Boy Designs. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ocean-kelp Catherine got more practice with charts, not her favorite way to follow a pattern. Margaret knits a family of Creature Mittens from Morehouse Farms kits for her family and lear...
Jan 03, 2018•36 min•Ep. 76
Our Learning and Favorite Projects in Knitting over the last year Margaret shares insights she’s learned about in her knitting in general (like she loves stockinette aesthetically but doesn’t enjoy knitting a lot of it) and Catherine states that she’s enjoyed observing how her skills have increased. Favorite Brainy Segments Catherine was fascinated by learning about the Forgetting Curve (Ep. 34 3.1.16) and Margaret by Happy Brain Chemicals (Ep. 69 4.1.17) Memorable Behind the Redwood Curtain Seg...
Dec 19, 2017•29 min
What We Learned in Our Knitting: Margaret tried a Knit-in-place patch for her holey socks: http://jackie-es.com/the-designing-day/repairing-a-hand-knit-sock-with-a-knit-in-place-patch.php https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdecrGLzBhw Catherine ran into some “learning opportunities" for knitting a pattern for a second time: lady violet’s gauntlet originally with Bugga Cotton Stainer . https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lady-violets-dinner-gauntlets Brainy Thing: Finding red flags in scientifi...
Dec 02, 2017•49 min•Ep. 74
Brainy: 15:17 Behind the Redwood curtain: 24:25 What We’re Learning From Our Knitting: Catherine enjoys community and patterns — and sprucing up her kitchen on Ravelry called the Annual Dishcloth Swap, https://www.ravelry.com/groups/annual-dishcloth-swap . Margaret Found the “Goldilocks” amount of challenge in Tranis Gray’s Craftsy Fair Isle Ornaments class and improved her Fair Isle techniques, make one left and right, provisional cast on, and working with double point needles on a small circum...
Nov 13, 2017•34 min
Brainy Thing: 13:34 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 21:34 What We Learned From Our Knitting: Margaret made a cowl and added beads to the edges of the Churchouse Yarns and Teas’ Bias Before and After Scarf. — http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bias-before--after-scarf She struggled with the stiff fiber of Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Drama Linens but loves the results in the Sage Paradise color way which to her eyes looks likes an aqua blue. Catherine finished her third pair of Charity Socks and a...
Oct 16, 2017•38 min
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 Mar...
Oct 02, 2017•57 min
Brainy Thing: 18:02 Redwood Curtain 31:02 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting: Margaret learns a lot about teaching and learning by teaching a beginner crochet to a group using the pattern of Simple Single Crochet Hat http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-single-crochet-hat by K T and the Squid ( Katy Petersen.) She and the class used Valley Yarns aran (discontinued). Catherine also was into crochet this time for her dishcloth swap group. She learned some new techniques with the Partl...
Sep 17, 2017•45 min
Brainy Thing: 15:53 Behind the Redwood Curtain 27:23 What We’re Learning From Our Knitting Catherine is trying crochet this time with Stacey LW Lee’s $ 0.99 pattern Partly Sunny. She needs five for her dishcloth exchange. Margaret relates her journey with Argyle Sock Knitting. She took a class and there are not a lot of online classes on Argyle. Photo tutorial: yarn harlot: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007/12/31/at_the_last.html http://scrubberbum.typepad.com/moth_heaven/2006/07/argyl...
Sep 01, 2017•38 min
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 declare...
Aug 17, 2017•37 min•Ep. 68
Brainy Thing: 15:40 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 31:50 What We’re Learning from our Knitting: With her first shetland lace shawl, Catherine learns that the secret to lace knitting for her is to count stitches after completing each row in the Fatima shawl http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fatima-3 with Sincere Sheep’s Hester colored (peachy) silk/linen blend. It also includes beads and nupps. Margaret starts Christmas gifts with the Buggy Mitts. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/buggy-...
Aug 01, 2017•39 min
Welcome to Episode 66. Brainy Thing: 14:45 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 31:50 Catherine’s grand finale of Bunnymuff's Absolutely essential shawl. She bound off with Jenny’s stretchy bindoff. Margaret finished her Inversible Socks, yarn by Fibernymph. She used an afterthought heel with a gusset in the corners. Amygdala Why is it the political discussion is so toxic these days? Catherine discovers answers hidden in the Amygdala. The Oatmeal:; You Are Not Going to Believe What I’m About to Tell you ...
Jul 19, 2017•45 min
Brainy thing: 19:29 Behind the Redwood Curtain 30:45 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting Nothing could be easier than Kirsten Hipsky’s #576 Knit Lace Jar Cover http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knit-lace-jar-covers so of course Margaret had to complicate it by learning a new technique: this time a garter stitch kitchener which turned out less complicated than the standard stockinette kitchener. Garter stitch Kitchener: http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/grafting-garter-kitchener-stit...
Jul 02, 2017•47 min
Brainy Thing: 13:44 Redwood Curtain: 19:26 What We’re Learning From Our Knitting; Margaret continues her exploration of new techniques through the creation of jar covers (to use as vases, crochet hook holders, pencil holders, etc.). This time she tries out foundation crochet with the pattern Crochet Jar Cosy by Emma Escott http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jar-cover-5 Foundation Crochet : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY6Iy7gdVEM Crafsy: class mastering foundation crochet stitches crafts...
Jun 17, 2017•32 min
Brainy Thing: 26:15 Behind the Redwood Curtain 42:55 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting: Catherine learned an important lesson about life lines on her Absolutely Essential Shawl by Bunny Muff http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/absolutely-essential . She also started a sock for a charity project sponsored by the Northcoast Knittery made of from Kramer Yarn. Margaret finally used some organic cotton, naturally colored yarn she had had in her stash forever. She doesn’t know if they are Fire...
Jun 01, 2017•55 min
What We’re Learning From Our Knitting Margaret isn’t ready for the challenges of The Forzo Cuff by Laura Nelkin http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/forzo-cuff . She will give away her slightly used kit to someone who is. Just post on the Ravelry thread — first come, first served. It is knitted lace. Find the difference between that and lace knitting: http://theknittingbuzz.typepad.com/the-knitting-buzz/2011/03/knitted-lace-vs-lace-knitting.html . I Catherine continues her long trek with Abso...
May 19, 2017•29 min
Today on Teaching Your Brain to Knit, a special episode-long interview with Stan Vanella, a local Humboldt biofeedback practitioner. So, no knitting, no crocheting, no Behind the Redwood Curtain, but an information packed introduction to Neurofeedback. All of our other segments will return next episode. Stan defines Neurofeedback and distinguishes between Neurofeedback and biofeedback. Stan Mentions the App Belly Bio, an Apple App that measures your breathing. If you’re looking for a Bio/Neurofe...
May 04, 2017•32 min
Brainy Thing: 23:50 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 45:03 What We’re Learning from our Knitting and Crochet CatherIne continues on the lacey Absolutely Essential Shawl by Bunny Muff. She talks aboutLace Knitting versus Knitted Lace. Here’s a resource for knowing the difference. http://theknittingbuzz.typepad.com/the-knitting-buzz/2011/03/knitted-lace-vs-lace-knitting.html Margaret completes the Queen Anne’s Lace crochet scarf with a lot of help from Sue Perez’ blog, Mr. Micawber’s Recipe for Happine...
Apr 19, 2017•53 min
Brainy Thing: 20:45 Redwood Curtain: What We’re Learning from Our Knitting: Margaret is learning Intarsia, a technique she’s been wanting to learn for a long time. She presents her experiences so far and a variety of sources for learning intarsia from books, videos, You tube, Craftsy You Tube Marlene Dysert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK07PBQMTE8 Edie Eckman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzMEL2C7EHM K1p1 TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyusrCZzftY Eunny Jang: untangle yarns in Intarsia ...
Apr 03, 2017•42 min
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-perfect o She used Jenny’ super stretchy bind off Margaret has been playing with a number different projects but she finished two ...
Mar 23, 2017•46 min
Brainy Thing: 17:29 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 27:00 What We’re Learning from Our Knitting: Catherine rages against the bulky yarn she’s using in some mystery yarn she’s using and returns to a more comfortable yarn she used for but the Funky Baby Kimono by Melilab http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/funky-baby-kimono Margaret muses about several shades of black after finishing a generic top down, Fish Lip Kiss Heeled generic sock with Soft Like Kittens yarn from independent dyer, Annette M ...
Mar 06, 2017•38 min
Brainy Thing: 14:14 Behind the Redwood Curtain: 22:40 What We Learned from our Knitting Finish up Party Margaret finally finished her grandson’s socks (for the second time (no pattern— the first time it was too tight) and Catherine finished up two projects. Margaret mulls over the product versus process question with the help of some famous knitters: process vs. product at Knit Purl https://www.knit-purl.com/blogs/blog/process-vs-product-knitting Yarn Harlot http://www.yarnharlot.ca/2015/01/prod...
Feb 18, 2017•33 min
