"Insouciance" is defined by Cat Bordhi as "that cheerful feeling you have when nothing is bothering you." That was the feeling that came over us last weekend when Ms. Bordhi came to call and offered two enlightening workshops at Knitch. With her newest book, Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters as our guide, we were able to cast off the resistance to sock knitting, knowing that, armed with Cat's clues, we could knit socks that would fit us, be comfortable and not cause us to go loony. With Cat's guidance, it's all about ease. What a concept!
Cat also offered a workshop called Finding the Fountain of Fresh Knitting Ideas that truly stimulated our creative spirits. The concepts can apply in many areas of life and, once again, we confirmed that knitting is a metaphor for so much more than the obvious!
We used a pair of toddler pants and divided it up into 15 sections. An array of technique names were in a bin that we drew from to randomly determine how each of those sections would be approached: intarsia? entrelac? lace? moss stitch? The result was to work out of the mold of patterns and precision, to design backwards, if you will. Generating so many ideas in this way meant we could back off of ideas that didn't particularly ring our bells -- a much more satisfying direction to work than starting with a blank slate and going forward. This approach to problem solving felt fresh, exciting and new, not to mention liberating!
If you were there, we'd love for you to share any of your thoughts, lightbulb moments and memories with the rest of us. And if you weren't there, we missed you! We have a stack of Cat's new book, freshly autographed, which will give you a taste of what a great workshop experience this was. We can't wait for the next one.
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