Moebi-Now What?

Pop Quiz:

What's the world's longest river?
What's the world's longest snake?
Where can you find the world's longest moebius?
What can you do with the world's longest moebius?

If you guessed the Nile, the python, the northwest suburbs of Atlanta, and no frickin' clue, you are correcto-mundo, oh omniscient one.*

Okay, I've had a couple of clues that the whole moebiusperiment might be a moebi-maybenot


First, a little moebi-history:


My first foray into MoebiusLand took the form of a sample made on 80 stitches (size 9 47" needle, Lion Brand Wool-Ease).





The result was a necklace, not exactly the flowing knitted garment that I might have anticipated from Cat's instructions posted on DIY. (I used a 9 instead of the recommended 11 because that's the only 47" needle I had at the time, but still ... 24 inches of densely packed stitches is not precisely what I had in mind, disappointing even.)

So, checking out the "how many stitches" chart in A Treasury of Magical Knitting (p. 20), I thought, hmmmm....24" is too small, we'll make it twice as big, so 48" at 5 stitches to the inch, what the heck, round up to 250 stitches.

And casting on 250 stitches gives you a long edge of 500 stitches. Cool. Cast on, knit forever (or until it's around 7" wide or almost an even two skeins), finish with applied I-cord. Extra credit question: what is the most tedious knitting job in the world? Answer: putting I-cord on the above-referenced world's longest (and least useful) moebius.

So how did I end up with 70"? Can you say gauge? Or is it the nature of the beast?

(And, while we're talking about strange, I thought the applied I-cord would result in an edge that didn't curl. Moebi-Not!)

Actually, my first clue should have been this. But I'm nothing if not stalwart--I just kept knitting.

My second clue should have been the look of horror on the face of Wanda, owner of Knitting Emporium in Kennesaw, when I told her I'd cast on 250 stitches. She showed me a beautiful moebius wrap she had knit (in worsted weight Malabrigo on size 13's) using 126 stitches. It nestled nicely around my shoulders.

Oh, well, I'm not discouraged. Not much, really. No, really....oh, hell, I'm hating life!

I suppose I could felt it, but I'm not sure whether the soybean part of the yarn (Rowan Tapestry) would felt. Probably not. And then I might end up with a vase.

But since I'm in the "making lemonade out of lemons" mode, now I'm searching for what the real estate world calls the "highest and best use" of this piece of moebi-no. Here's what I've come up with so far:

- Christmas garland (just add lights and/or ornaments)

- Ceiling fan pull

- Belt for Rubeus Hagrid

- Neckwarmer for a pug



Yes, she's the most patient dog ever! The others were quivering in corners lest they be subjected to this torture, which is (I think) the only form currently outlawed by our government. Waterboarding, acceptable; knitted neckwarmer, no.

Project Recap. This is truly an Atlanta 2007 Shop Hop project:

Pattern - From A Treasury of Magical Knitting (Knitch). Iffy at best, but that's probably because I'm a ditz. It's Cat's Bipolar Stockinette, basically. The good news is that I now understand the concept and I'll keep trying.

Yarn - Rowan Tapestry (Why Knot Knit). Lovely, like knitting a beautiful coiled silver anaconda. This shade is the colors of the Earth's precious metals all in one, and I loved seeing them change. At first I thought the soybean content might be a little scratchy (I sneezed for the first 15 minutes I knit with it), but it's soft and lovely. I did find several knots and slubby pieces that had to be worked around or spliced. (For clarification, I spliced the knots and considered the slubs "design features.")

Needles - HiyaHiya #10 47" (Needlenook). This is my first pair of HiyaHiya's and I was a little concerned because they're so light that they feel almost flimsy to a confirmed Addi-lover like myself, but they were wonderful. The join is smooth and the cord never crimped, even under the stress of the moebius cast-on. I'll definitely buy this needle again.

All ideas for moebiuse gratefully accepted, but don't even bother with "rip it out and rewind the ball." That I-cord may be the only extant monument to my patience.


*If you recognize the words of Ed McMahon speaking to The Great Karnack, you're older than you look.