All quiet at Knit a Neuron towers?

No such luck! Since we came back from Green Man we've been washing the mud from our wellies and thinking about the future of Knit a Neuron. We've had some fantastic conversations with our artist friend about creating the final artwork and getting the piece on tour to friendly galleries. We're also going to start testing out a few ideas for joining all your lovely neurons together. Boy, do we have a lot of neurons to play with!

We have another plan afoot too, but that's probably best kept under wraps until we know more.

Green Man - the evidence

Well, well, well. What a great time we had at Green Man! Here we are with a couple of our neighbours. If you're interested, "we" are Amy (University of Bristol), Caroline (University of the West of England), Alison (University College London) and Helen (University of the West of England) from L to R - unfortunately Anne couldn't make it.

We were kept busy from the moment we opened to when we closed each day with knitting, nattering and neuroscience.

We met so many amazing people, young and old, who
talked about consciousness, music and the brain,
encephalitis, altered states, learning, strokes, brain development, dreaming and much, much more. We were certainly kept on our toes!





Harriet was one of our youngest knitters, here she is taking a few tips from Pat.









Noah and the neurons. Just in case you were wondering, we had lots of chaps stop by for a knit and a natter. Noah is a neuroscientist too.






We had an amazing time at Green Man and loved talking to everyone. Thanks very much to all the folk who stopped by our little green gazebo to talk brain science and knit neurons. Thanks also to Ellen who organised Einstein's Garden.

What do you get if you take...

four neuroscientists and their tents, sleeping bags and wellies
one case of yarn
too many needles and hooks to count
one gazebo
some pictures and models of brains
250 pin badges
50 patterns
one risk assessment
one pasting table and table cloth
one packet of paper chains
two pop-up banners
50 wooden pegs
one set of directions
an alarming number of 'pick my brains' t-shirts
one bicycle
3 camping chairs
and lots of enthusiasm?

Knit a Neuron at Green Man Festival!

See you there!

Green Man preparations

We're off to the Green Man Festival next week for four days of knitting neurons in the glorious Brecon Beacons. There will be four of us knitting, chatting about neuroscience and watching great bands. We'll be in Einstein's Garden along with fellow sciencey folk like Make it Molecular the Living Colours of the Ocean. We're also looking forward to hearing the space stories told by Jim and the gang.

In a new venture, we've got badges to give away. If you come and knit a neuron with us you can take away one of these fabulous badges. What more could you need?

Neurons from Cornwall

Thanks very much to Rebecca and the lovely folk at the Cornwall Yarn Shop for their glorious bundle of woolly cells.


Aren't they fabulous?

Returns from our travels

Phew! A busy few days what with the BIG Event and Indietracks. It was great to meet so many people interested in the project. Lots of folk have gone off with patterns and ideas for getting their group knitting neurons. We're looking forward to hearing about how it all goes - do send us pictures so we can share.

A few thanks to everyone who's made things happen. Anne's family and friends, Alice and the BIG exec who accepted our proposals to contribute to the various events, Gill for crocheting a lovely green neuron (pictures to follow), Phil for learning to knit just so he could make a lovely blue neuron, Dave for a great idea for next year's Indietracks (watch out Alice!) and of course, everyone who came along to the events to knit and natter about neurons.

Next stop - Green Man!

From BIG to Indietracks

We're on our way to Indietracks! Fresh from sharing our enthusiasm for all things woolly and sciencey at the BIG Event KAN are on the train to Derbyshire. The sun is shining and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Here are a couple of the lovely folk from the Centre for Life. Watch out for knitted neurons in Newcastle!