It Tolls For Thee

I had been planning to write a post today about my upcoming classes at Fiberworld 2020, but after reading Cat Bordhi’s letter to us all, my spirits are low and I think I will leave that for another day.

I learned yesterday that Cat will soon be leaving us, thanks to a post by Knitty‘s Amy Singer. I won’t summarize any of it here, because Cat has asked that we allow her to tell her story in her own words, and if there is nothing else I can do for her at this time — and I rather think there is not — I can do this.

Cat was a genius. Really. She came up with moebius knitting and knitting socks two-at-a-time on circular needles and probably a bunch of other techniques I haven’t learned yet but thought there would be time to learn later.

But there won’t be, and that’s the sad way of the world. Our teachers don’t stay with us forever.

Stephanie Pearl McPhee once commented that there’s a whole world of knitting knowledge locked up in the heads of our most venerated teachers, and a limited amount of time for it to come out into the world. I’ve been lucky enough to learn from a few wonderful teachers directly, and lots more through their books, videos, and blogs… but not all of them. I’m greedy and there are always so many more things to learn. I thought there would be unlimited time to learn them.

Throughout my early years as a knitter I read about knitting events on Stephanie’s blog and wished I could go. I thought they were for better knitters than I, more experienced knitters, and certainly knitters with more free time and disposable income. I had young children at home who I couldn’t leave, and bills to pay, and besides, I didn’t know how to knit socks.

So I never went to Sock Summit, though I told myself I would learn to knit socks and then I would go. But Sock Summit was no more and I still hadn’t learned to knit socks. And eventually I did learn to knit socks, and I thought I would go to Sock Camp, but that left us, too. I read about Strung Along and thought that was something I wanted to do, but I wasn’t a spinner… and you know where this was probably going, and it would have, except eventually I decided I was allowed to do something special for myself, and I took the leap and I went.

Remembering my first Strung Along makes me almost cry. It was joyous and it was loving and I felt at home in a community that was knitting-centric and woman-forward. And I met Judith McKenzie and Debbi Stone and Chef Dan and I learned from all of them. I realized I had to find a way to make these sorts of events a regular part of my life. So I did. I went back to Strungalong, and I learned to spin and to weave, and I met Patty Lyons and found out what a great teacher she is, and I looked for other events; I went to classes with Arne & Carlos when they came to California, and told myself I was going to go to Madrona, and to the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival… and then those events were no more, and I hadn’t made it there before they went away.

And I promised myself that I’d try to go to other knitting events, because I loved it so much; I would go back to Strung Along and to Lambtown and the DFW Fiber Fest, and I told myself I would get on Arne & Carlos’ Northern Lights cruise in 2021, and Cat Bordhi’s trip to Iceland after that, or if not then definitely one of her San Juan Island knitting retreats…

And you all know what happened next. All of the knitting events I was signed up for this year had to be cancelled. Some of these will happen again next year, and some are simply … gone.

I’m not sure if there’s a lesson here for me, other than the one about acceptance. Seasons change and the world turns and some things are gone for good.

Cat, you were a shining star in our community. I’m sorry we never met, but you touched me nonetheless. You gave me something precious because you shared your vision and your creative genius so widely and so well.

Journey on in peace.