Cat Bordhi (1951-2020) was an American author, accomplished knitter, teacher, and designer. Born Kathryn Anne Elizabeth Gardiner on March 2, 1951, in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Bordhi was raised by adoptive parents after her mother died of cancer and her father died by suicide. She attended the University of Santa Barbara and graduated with a degree in

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...

and language. She married Louis Bordi in 1981; they divorced in 1985, and she changed the spelling of her name to Catherine and then Cat and added an “h” to her married name to assert her individualism in her publishing career.

Knitting career

Bordhi augmented her income as a seamstress and public school teacher at the Friday Harbor Elementary School and Friday Harbor Middle School, by making teddy bears with movable joints, known as “Chocolate Bears.” In 2002 she published ''Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles: A Manual of Elegant Knitting Techniques and Patterns'' which reached #64 on Amazon. It was the first sock book to teach knitting with two circular needles, and offered knitters a way to gain more control of the design. She then released additional publications including ''A Treasury of Magical Knitting'' and ''A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.'' Her books introduced new and simplified techniques for knitting traditional garments like socks, scarves, and hats. Her 2004 fiction book, ''Treasure Forest'', was awarded the

Nautilus Award Nautilus Award was a Polish science fiction and fantasy award created by Robert J. Szmidt of the ''Science Fiction magazine''. The award is named after the cephalopods of that name (nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species wi ...

for Best

Young Adult Fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

. Her YouTube tutorials for knitting have over a million views and she taught at the Institute of Forensic Knitting. She developed and hosted fiber-arts retreats in Friday Harbor, and she organized group knitting travel experiences around the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordhi, Cat 1951 births 2020 deaths American designers 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators 21st-century American women writers American people in knitting University of California, Santa Barbara alumni 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American textile artists Textile artists from California 20th-century American textile artists