Teaching Your Brain to Knit
Brainy Thing:  21:11    Behind the Redwood Curtain  29:33 
 
What we’re learning from our knitting:
Margaret participated in Sara Schira’s MKAL3 for a new Gnome "Gnome is Where you Hang Your Hat" https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gnome-is-where-you-hang-your-hat.  This one features stranded colorwork.   Margaret also got caught up in other cute projects including Henry’s Bunny https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/henrys-bunny by Sara Elizabeth Kellner and Susan B. Anderson’s Spring Charm set https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spring-charm-set.   Despite the cuteness of these projects, they have been good skill builders.  
Catherine points us toward the March 2020 edition of Better Homes and Gardens which features beautiful visible mending https://www.bhg.com/better-homes-and-garden-magazine/.   She also completed an embellished Jellyfish bath scrubby https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jellyfish-bath-scrubbies by Julie Tarsha.  
 
Brainy Thing:
Margaret discovers how “cute” things impact our brains and stimulates dopamine and how an overdose of these neurochemicals can cause aggression.  
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/12/31/679832549/when-too-cute-is-too-much-the-brain-can-get-aggressive
 
Behind the Redwood Curtain:
Catherine shares with us the features of the Lady Bird Johnson Grove a superb old growth trail spot.   
 
 
Today in Teaching Your Brain to Knit, we discover how cute things trigger happy brain chemicals and how too much cute can cause aggression.   We explore how cute projects can also build skills and then share one of the most popular hiking trails in our area:  The Lady Bird Johnson Grove.  

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