"Most of all I am a person who loves the innocent, unfettered intelligence
and sense of wonder that rises in knitters as we explore this sensuous world
of pulling loops through loops and rearranging them to create beauty."
​- Cat Bordhi

​

In today’s email:

• Knitspiration: Remembering a modern knitting icon
• Stitchionary: A sweet heel technique
• Pattern Pick: This sock will have you dancing in the moonlight
• PLUS: PHDs, NYT, and more

---

💡 Knitspiration

🥾 Cat Bordhi: Sock Knitting Trailblazer

I first met Cat at The National Needlearts Association winter convention back in 2012.

After spending most of the day conducting video interviews with anyone that would say yes, I took a moment to sit and rest. A short woman with a sandy bob and colorful shawl around her neck sat down nearby.

She looked over and saw I was using my iPhone to film and asked about how I mounted it to the tripod.

We chatted for a moment and I introduced myself. She said her name was Cat.

I suddenly realized this was the designer everyone was telling me to track down. I asked if she would do a video with me.

Who is Cat Bordhi?

In the year 2000, a public school teacher from Washington picked up her knitting needles to make a sock and couldn't make sense of the instructions.

Determined that there had to be a better way, she began fiddling with some circular needles and yarn. Soon she had developed her own method for sock knitting. Not from the cuff down, or the toe-up.

No these socks were knit from the heel out. 🤯

A year later she published her discovery in the book "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles" and Cat Bordhi became a knitting legend.

Up until that point most sock knitting was done on double pointed needles, but using two circulars allowed for more control throughout the process.

Over the next few years she published multiple knitting books and patterns.

When I met her, she had been teaching a workshop on her Sweet Tomato Heel sock. This method, which she invented, used small wedges to created a more fitted heel cup.

A Cat of Many Colors

Stories of Cat's quirkiness abound.

Clara Parkes of Knitters Review reflected on Cat trading one shoe with another designer, Lucy Neatby, and both ladies travelled the world for years with one blue shoe and one green.

I overhead another designer say they found Cat had climbed up a tree and was sitting there knitting away.

And while on many of her knitting tours to Peru, she would just randomly stop in a square and sit down to knit.

​

Her knitting retreats and tours would sell out almost instantly, sometimes with wait lists three years long.

So what was it about this woman that knitters loved so much?

A True Knitting Trailblazer

Cat Bordhi thought differently about knitting.

She didn't just create literal new ways of knitting socks or invent a cast on. She took people on a journey with her as she explored the history and the possibilities of fiber arts.

Knitting for her was a path to discovery, both through the yarn itself, and through the person holding it.

That passion and authenticity allowed her to connect with her audience in ways few people had up until then.

Not since Elizabeth Zimmerman had a woman self-published her way to financial success through the knitting world.

And she has left a rich legacy behind.

Saying Goodbye

On July 30th, 2020, Cat posted on her blog a new pattern, and an announcement.

She was dying of cancer and in her usual casual tone, assured her audience not to worry.

A few months later she was gone.

The knitting community was flooded with posts remembering their friend and mentor. Ravelry dedicated a post on their main page to her, and she even got an obituary in the New York Times.

Now, more than 10 years later, I still remember her politely turning down my request for a video interview. She said she had her own videos on YouTube and they were doing quite well for her.

Had I understood who I was talking to back then I might have tried harder to get her on camera, just to have the footage to look back on.

Cat Bordhi's Legacy

This legendary designer and teacher left behind a wealth of resources to help you knit without fear.

Here's a few important ones:

​CatBordhi.com​
The home for all of Cat's books and patterns, but also years of interesting and useful blog posts

​New Pathways For Sock Knitters​
This book includes 8 unique sock construction methods with master patterns for each "architecture" style.

​Sweet Tomato Heel E-Book​
This is essentially a class on how to make Cat's signature sock design

​Moebius Knitting with Cat Bordhi​
Another technique invented by Cat, taught by her for Craftsy

​A Treasury of Magical Knitting & A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting​
These two books collect dozens of Cat's unique and quirky knitting pattern and techniques

---

Like this article? Share it with a friend!

​

📆 Daily Stitch

Sweet Tomato Heel

I'll let Cat describe this in her own words:

"This heel emerged two winters ago after several days of sitting beside the wood stove with my mother while trying to fiddle my way towards a new short-row heel. I’d given up several times when almost unconsciously, I did a small thing—and just like that, the clean heel of my dreams existed.

This small thing closes gaps without holes, wraps, or acrobatics.

The heel is rhythmic to work and nearly perfectly smooth, like a tomato. Best of all, once the process is understood, most knitters need no written instructions."

Watch The Tutorial

🧶 Pattern Pick

Minnesota Moonlight Socks by Cat Bordhi

While Cat was teaching at Needlework Unlimited in Minneapolis, Minnesota, they received their first shipment of a locally hand-dyed Blue-faced Leicester sock yarn.
​
It’s slightly over-spun (which bodes well for durability) and has lovely stitch definition.
​
The moonlit colors inspired this delicate, lacy sock, which includes instructions on fitting a larger calf.

Get This Pattern

😂 Knits & Giggles

---

Thanks for reading!

Before you go...below you'll find a few ways we can work together, and other bits & bobs: