Mobius Question

#1

Hi! :waving:

I saw an instructional video on You Tube about casting on and working a mobius piece. I followed along on the instructions for getting the piece to twist so that it knits up as a mobius and though the video was rather involved I thought I understood how it should be done.

Then I saw the video on Knitting Daily TV that showed how to twist the first row to get the mobius effect. All the gal did was just twist the beginning of the first round around the needle before joining to work in the round.

It was exactly the thing we’re warned against when knitting in the round - make sure not to twist your stitches when joining the ends! In this case you DO twist the stitches. It seemed SO SIMPLE! Can it be that easy? Here’s one set of instructions that goes into elaborate detail on how to create the mobius effect and another set that just twists the already-cast-on stitches once around the needle and then joins.

I know which one I’d vote for but if anyone has any experience with this I’d appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks so much!!!

Ruthie

#2

Twisting the first stitch puts a full twist in your work and results in a tube with a twist that has [I]two[/I] edges which isn’t a true mobius. The mobius CO results in a tube with a twist that has only [I]one[/I] edge. So they’re not the same.

#3

nope, not the same, I agree.
A mobius is pretty much knit outward in both (?) directions. There will never be a cast on edge. (Truely it is only one direction, but it comes out to a flat piece of knitting)

If you have a cast on edge that stays where it is: No Mobius!
if the cast on is in the middle and there is no end to what you are doing: Mobius.

I yet have to make my first, but I have memorized it before - and know the Mobius band since childhood. The trick is the half twist.

you can try it with a strip of paper:
take a strip, a few inches long, give one end a half twist, glue together with the other end. make a line of pen on one side and see, where it ends: it goes around the outside, goes to the inside, and back out, and it still is all flat and twisted just the same.

If you would now cut it back open, there would be a line on either side of that (now flat) strip.

If you have given the paper a FULL twist: only one side would have a line after this procedure and the line would be half as long (with the same size paper strip).