The Best Things in my Brain, Inaugural Edition (June 2025)

I’ve always been a person who loves to learn and find new things and share them with others, but these things don’t always warrant a full blog or social media post. So I thought I’d play around with offering a short and sweet post on the best things I learned, read, heard, or saw recently. This will run once a month on a week I’m not scheduled to post a longer blog.

Best Thing in my Brain, Craft Edition:

I have always struggled with keeping M1L and M1R increases straight (to the point that I usually just look up how the designer defines it in the pattern). And then I recently discovered Roxanne Richardson’s ingenious explanation of the difference, and it’s so easy and so simple that I don’t think I’ll ever forget it again.

(If you’re interested in the longer video she mentions, it’s linked in the comments as “When Designers Get it Wrong but Still Knit it Right,” which is definitely worth a watch if you are a designer, tech editor, or just interested in finer points of knitting technique.)

Best Thing in my Brain, Non-Craft Edition:

Yes, there’s a jar of peonies in my fridge.

I have been obsessed with peonies since we moved into this house and discovered three peony bushes in the garden. I grew up in a climate zone which was far too warm for outdoor peonies (they like weeks of below freezing temps in the winter to spur their growth cycle) and I just adore how beautiful they are and how easy they are to maintain! The only drawback is that blooming season really only lasts a couple of weeks. This year, I stumbled on this great video from a flower farmer about how to make peony bloom season last a bit longer (as cut flowers at least). Now the blooms left outdoors are already spent and I still have at least a few more weeks of the fridge blooms. I keep one in a small vase at my desk so I can look at it while I’m working.

What’s the best thing currently in your brain?