A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting [Paperback]

Cat Bordhi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 2005

Readers of the first book in this two-volume series (A Treasury of Magical Knitting) have fallen in love with the new world of Magical Knitting, a dimension so simple yet so captivating that one could spend a year exploring the huge variety of designs which Cat offers. Beginning with Cat's unique Moebius Cast-On, which is so easy that she usually demonstrates it in workshops behind her back while twirling slowly around on one foot, the reader first learns to knit a Moebius band, or scarf. This is the magic key that opens the way to all the other designs. The Second Treasury includes felted baskets (with no inside or outside!), felted fringed bowls, felted and unfelted sling bags, six different felted cat beds (one with paws and a tail!), and the trifold designs, including a knitter's bowl with pockets for tools and a place to keep working yarn away from playful felines. The Felted Needle Cozies, colorful, highly textured sheaths to hold straight needles, and the felted wallets are both excellent patterns for beginners and first-time felters. The book includes detailed information on felting, designing, and yarn substitutions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The stuff of knitters' dreams - bold, breakthrough techniques and cutting-edge, delicious designs, all within any knitter's reach." -- Nancy Parsons, Waldorf Books

About the Author

Cat Bordhi, a professional educator, publisher, and designer, is the author of the best-selling Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles (2001), which introduced an easier way to knit socks and helped fuel the enormous surge in the popularity of sock-knitting. In 2003 her fiber-filled novel, Treasure Forest, won the Nautilus Award for young adult fiction, a luminous adventure that has won the hearts of many knitters and their families. In 2004 Cat published A Treasury of Magical Knitting, followed in January, 2005, by A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. The Treasuries welcome knitters into a new and simple dimension of knitting, using Cats unique Moebius Cast-On and long circular needles to knit scarves, footwear, felted bags, bowls, baskets, cat beds, convertible Moebius-collared capes, and much more. When she is not at home on a small island near Seattle designing and writing books, or mentoring other knit designers who wish to write books, Cat travels around North America teaching workshops.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Passing Paws Press (January 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970886985
• ISBN-13: 978-0970886989
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book inspired my husband to buy me yarn!, April 20, 2005

By 

Knitinka (Guthrie, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (Paperback)

This is the first knitting book I've bought which my husband wants to read. He made the paper Moebius model with me and that got him hooked. So here I am trying to knit my first Moebius scarf while he keeps walking off with the book because he wants to read about all the Moebius things Cat Bordhi has come up with. Lucky the knitting is so easy after getting past the first round or I'd have to chase him to get my book back!

Yesterday he came home from work late looking sheepish (no this is not a joke) with his hands behind his back holding something. He handed me three skeins of Manos yarn for knitting three Moebius baskets. Believe me this is very funny because normally I have to hide my yarn purchases from him.

If you buy this book just follow the directions step by step for the cast on and first round. I really had no idea what I was doing since it didn't seem like it could work but her directions are very very clear and complete and if you put your faith in them they will get you right into Moebious-land!

Not only that but this book is so beautiful to look at and read!

130 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Viewpoint of an Experienced Knitter, August 24, 2005

By 

Doris Moore - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (Paperback)

This is a mixed review. For me, the negatives and positive aspects of this book are about even, with, perhaps, the edge going to the negatives. I found the writing to be my prime irritant. It's both condescending and fatuous to the point where I stopped reading in order to objectively review the projects. There's been a lot of buzz about the Moebius Cast On, this is what finally motivated me to buy this book. I was stunned to realize that this "special" cast on is nothing more than the invisible cast on worked with the circular needle's coil serving as the waste "yarn". My irritation stemmed in part from the fact that I used this technique for casting on a moebius scarf when this scarf first appeared on the web as a free pattern back in 1995 or 1996. The invisible cast on is in Mary Thomas's Knitting Book which was first published in the 1930s. Finally, Ms Bordhi gives credit to no one. Not to the originator of using a moebius as a knitted entity(Elizabeth Zimmermann) or to the originator of the moebius knitted from the center out.

On the positive side, Ms Bodhi has taken the knitted moebius and created some highly innovative and amusing items. Add a thumb trick to a long moebius strip and presto a basket or a bag. Add additional thumb tricks and some twists and Ms Bodhi creates a compartmented "Knitter's Bowl", which is without a doubt the highlight of this book. Some of the projects are obvious page fillers, too many cat beds & bags. The Jester hats & bags, I would not consider knitting. However, I haven't studied these patterns thoroughly and they might contain a useful new idea. The wallet, needle sheath, & scarf are obviously aimed at the more hesitant knitter.

The illustrations and pattern directions, I find adequate to good.

Whether to buy this book or not is a very idiosyncratic decision. If the word "wondrous", used to describe a piece of knitting grates like fingernails scraped on the blackboard, proceed with caution. Or if "follow the train tracks" or "leaping frogs", reminds you irritatingly of kindergarten--ditto. If you look at the book's projects, and one says "Knit Me" then buy.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the best book yet by Cat, April 4, 2005

By 

NCK "addicted knitter" (Northeast PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting (Paperback)

If you want truly unique, this is the book for you! Cat has outdone herself in this book. I couldn't put down the first book of Magical Knitting and this one is even better. Cat beds and baskets, just to name a few. Her instructions are so easy to follow, it's as if she is in the room with you, chatting away while you make these gorgeous, unique objects of art. Her style of Moebius is absolutely addictive and so easy. It is not like any other moebius instruction. The long, one needle cast on is so easy, the results truly beautiful gifts you can be proud to give. I have made so many scarves and am working on the beds, boots and baskets. You will love this book if you are looking for something different.
Also check out Cat's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. It is the greatest! No more fighting with double points to make gorgeous socks. I had to buy an extra copy for my friend who kept borrowing mine!