Wednesday, November 4, 2009

C is for Cat Bordhi

My mother used to knit socks. My brother and I and many family friends of the same age have personalized Christmas stockings that she knit for us. She made wonderful argyle socks for her father. I was fascinated with how she worked with those little bobbins of yarn. I think that's the source of my interest in sock knitting.

I've been through a number of sock phases over the last decade. I was obsessed with self-striping and self-patterning yarns. I learned enough about dyeing so I made socks from my own hand dyed yarn. I've enjoyed the challenge of twisted stitch knitting and more intricate patterns such as those by Cookie A. Lately, though, I've begun to burn out on socks. I've got a whole mountain of them which I don't wear because the leg portion is too narrow.

The solution may have appeared. Cat Bordhi's book Personal Footprints tells you how to knit a sock to fit perfectly. I enjoy designers who find great new ways of doing things, and Cat Bordhi's the best I've found. I learned to knit socks on two circular needles from one of her books. I tend to use my Knit Picks Harmony dpns most of the time, but two circulars do a better job. I bought New Pathways for Sock Knitters because I was interested in seeing exactly what the new pathways might be. It was piled together with several other knitting books which have moved around the house over the past year. I completely forgot about it until I bought Personal Footprints a few weeks ago. Socks will be moving up higher in the queue soon.

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