Sunday, February 17, 2008

Cat Bordhi's 2nd TMG


I bought the Second Treasury of Magical Knitting after I made so many Mobius Scarves from the Knitty Gritty show on DIY TV ( http://tinyurl.com/l34dq ) that I decided I loved mobius knitting but needed something new to make. The book is hillarious and I immediately sat down and read the whole thing, chuckling and laughing and reading it to anyone who would listen. But it wasn't until today that I finally decided to make the Felted Foursome from the book. Somehow you end up with 4 pockets all attached with a handle and you can store knitting needles, flowers, whatever in the 4 pockets. I spun up some yarn for the project and I can't wait to knit it. Plyed it into a 2-ply and was ready to knit. I dug out my extra long size 11 needles and got comfy.
Then I was stumped. The directions tell me to MCO 100. Place marker and K 135. How can I K 135 when I only have 100? Does she mean to cast on 100 on the top and 100 on the bottom? I checked her web page and there's corrections for a few pages but not for this page so here I am, stuck! I am comfy, my needles are ready, I cast on and can't knit the pattern until I figure this out. Time for ice cream!!!!


Oh good grief, I figured it out after re-reading the book. When you do the MCO you are putting 100 sts on the top and 100 sts on the bottom of the cable on the extra long needle. DUH! Well, tomorrow will be a better day, I will sleep on this and start again. Meanwhile, I have my yarn sitting in the middle of the dining room table so I can admire it as I pass by.
Poor long-suffering Cat Bordhi, I wrote to her last night when I was confused and she wrote me back already (can you believe her service???)Here's her answer
Dear Roz-
If you haven't made the paper model in the intro chapter, please do. Your knitting acts like the sentence you write. If the strip fo paper is 11 inches long, you will have 22 inches of space to write.
So when you MCO 100 sts, you actually will have 200 sts to knit. The 135 will take you just part of the way around the first round of knitting. Enjoy your adventure.

And because she was so nice to answer me, here's her ad:

Passing Paws Press, Inc.

www.catbordhi.com
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One ($28.95)
Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles ($16.95)
Treasure Forest ( $21.95, winner of the Nautilus Award for Young Adult Fiction)
A Treasury of Magical Knitting ($26.95)
A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting ($26.95)
And in the works:
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Two (2009)
Knitting Around the Foot: Ancient Pathways (2010)