Cat's Meow!

I had the amazing pleasure of taking classes from both Sally Melville and Cat Bordhi when I was at the semi-annual needlearts convention in Columbus, IN, in June (also known as "TNNA").

I'm a huge fan of Cat Bordhi's moebius knitting books, so I signed up for her class to verify that I was doing her unusual moebius cast-on (the basis for each and every one of her projects) correctly.

I was, as it turned out, but I'm really happy I took the class because meeting and learning from Cat was an absolutely delightful experience.

First of all -- Cat, herself. She's one of the most energetic people I've ever met, and she exudes good will, humor, and intelligence. If we lived anywhere near each other, I'd bribe, trick, and cajole her into being my new best friend (in actuality, I was one of 60 students in her class, and I'm quite certain she has no recollection of meeting me, let alone my harebrained daydreams in which we whip up a few moebius shawls, paint our toenails, and watch season two of "For Love or Money" on DVD).

Cat had all of us braying with laughter when she described how she had incorrectly predicted how a particular moebius knitting configuration would turn out when felted. It was supposed to be merely a basket with two compartments, but after felting, each half got very firm, round, and distinct, leading to the creation of what Cat calls -- she told us in a mischievous whisper -- a "moebiass."

Here's a photo of Cat holding up her accidental masterpiece:

Cat and her "Moebiass," or as I like to call it, the "Moebadonkadonk."

Inspired by the time spent with Cat, upon arriving home, I knit up two very different Moebius baskets, both based on patterns found in Cat's second book of Moebius knitting. I'll show photos of both of them in my next post. Moebius knitting rocks!