Q: When is a cat not a cat?
A: When it’s Cat Bordhi!
Friday night I had the incredible good fortune to meet an amazingly inspirational and very charming woman who goes by the name of Cat Bordhi. She is the author of such fabulous titles as: Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles , New Pathways for Sock Knitters - Book One, A Treasury of Magical Knitting, and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.
What a super nice lady. So gracious, so intuitive, so down to earth and yet extremely high on my pedestal. I am in awe of Cat Bordhi.
It all began back in March with a pair of red socks I knit out of ShibuiKnits Chinese Red, and entered into the Shall We Knit Ruby Red Socks competition. Little did I know when I entered the contest that none other than Cat Bordhi would judge them! OH MY GOD! She was going to touch my socks!!
Although I don’t consider myself the kind of person to get all starry eyed and silly putty over someone, I would mention that I have never, in my very sheltered life, met anybody remotely famous. And now that I finally have, I think I am what I thought I was not! […oh for those of you who’ve lost interest, I mean I AM a starry eyed CB groupie]!
On 22nd May, I traveled to New Hamburg with Kat and Laura - a trip we’d organized way back in April. I decided it was time for the inaugural outing of my beautiful Vicky M Tempest sweater. What better occasion!
Our mission – meet Cat Bordhi for a book signing event at Shall We Knit, and later a sock presentation by Cat at Meme’s Restaurant. And all this for just $20! And even better – the entire proceeds for this fabulous event were donated to Breast Cancer Research.
When I approached Cat to sign my own copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, I was so incredibly excited and humbled to be in the same space as her. I shook Cat’s hand heartily and told her how absolutely delighted I was to meet her.
She smiled happily at me and said “Oh I love your sweater, and I know I’ve seen it on the internet - in Ravelry perhaps”. I was stunned….and….without words. Not only is the famous Cat Bordhi signing my book, but she's telling ME….little me…..that she knows and loves my sweater. She went on to say how great it looked on me and what a beautiful job I did knitting it. We chatted about the yarn I’d used, and I was just blown away by her sincere and lovely remarks. [Quite honestly, she had me at “hello”]. She signed my book: Dear Isabella – wishing you endless sock adventures! She drew a love heart and signed her name!
I was so exhilarated and delighted that I rushed right off and bought two skeins of ShibuiKnits Sock 100% merino in the “honey” colourway.
At 7:30pm 40 of us were seated in Meme’s clutching a “surprise goodie bag”. Inside the bag, all sorts of little samples – chocolates, yarn, bookmark, 10% discount coupon for Shall We Knit, a notepad, a pen, a sample of Soak ™, and some E-Z bobs.
We all listened (and knitted) to Cat Bordhi give her sock presentation. My brain was buzzing with all the great ideas and information she gave us. Her sock architecture ideas were amazing. I absolutely loved a definition of knitting she shared with us (from an email she received from a fan):
KNIT THE PROJECT; NOT THE PATTERN.
During a small break in the presentation, a prize draw was held. And I won some yarn!! I never win anything! I won two lovely skeins of Cascade Fixation – 98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic in the “light yellow” colourway. This will become a pair of anklet socks, and will serve as a constant reminder of my awesome celebrity meeting with Cat Bordhi.
Cat decided to take all the red socks and tea cozies for the Shall We Knit competition back to her motel, and that she would personally write a note to everyone who entered a sock!!! How amazing is that! I can hardly wait! An autograph and a note!!
I’m still flying high – thank you so much Karen (Shall We Knit) and all your staff for organizing such a fabulous event. Well done! And thank you Cat for a day I'll never forget!
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