Cat Bordhi's brain

Mobius Cowl
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I've had Cat Bordhi's "A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting" for years, but it has taken until now for me to explore the whole mobius thing. My super-brainy brother introduced me to the concept of the Mobius Strip when I was a kid, but the notion of knitting one from the midline out in two directions at once? With right side and wrong side facing you at the same time? Well, that notion made my brain explode a little every time I thought about it.

I ran into Cat Bordhi in an elevator at a knitting conference once. (Well, the knitting conference was actually in a hotel. We never could have fit all those knitters into the elevator.) I had read that Cat Bordhi was as brainy as she is nice. She was my captive for four or five floors down as I gushed aloud about how much I loved her "New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One". After she got off on her floor, I noticed the hair on my arms was standing up, like there was some sort of excessive electrical current in the air in that little elevator box. I'm fully convinced it was the power of Cat Bordhi's brain.

I hadn't thought about that conversation again until just this week. From time to time people come in to Knit on Pearl looking for help with mobius projects. I decided mobius and I needed some quality time together, exploding brain be damned. I pulled out "2nd Treasury" and knit one of those little felted bowls. Score one big point for Cat Bordh's brain.

Then I remembered this lovely free Mobius Cowl pattern she wrote a few years back. I whipped it up in front of the TV last night with a skein of Noro IroI had lying around. Modified a little to account for bigger-than-called-for yarn, and the fact I only had one skein.

Score another one for Cat. Circular mobius knitting is pretty darn cool. How she figured it out is beyond me. But I'm starting to get my brain around how it works. And so far today, nothing has blown up.

Retreat

My Space.
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Yesterday I tossed a bunch of plants and furniture into our newly-beglassed sunroom. Well, the sunroom had glass, but it was all streaky and leaky. We still thought it was pretty nice. But now... with the new glass... it's SPECTACULAR!

So, I have claimed squatter's rights, and made a little knitting hole there. The natural light is glorious.

I'm glad I made this lovely retreat yesterday, because I just missed out on another retreat in my beloved Pac NW. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka Yarn Harlot) and Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Scappoose, Oregon, are putting on a little weekend shindig for a very small number of knitters in Nov. in Port Ludlow. They announced it on Thursday. I loved the idea but decided to sleep on the $1,000 cost for plane tix, hotel, conference fees, etc. By the time I was ready to commit yesterday afternoon -- a mere 24 hours later -- it was full. Waaaaaah!

I got a lovely "Dear Knitter..." e-mail gently breaking the news that I didn't make the cut, but that they'll do this again sometime. Next time I'll be ready to pounce, with credit card in-hand. Maybe I can convince them to come to Jackson Hole, and bring Nancy Bush up from SLC!