Rainbow Moebius

a wrap with a twist

by Manule Ducret filambulle, 2008

The Inside Story

This Rainbow Moebius was born of my desire to show off the wonderful colors of the Noro Silk Garden Lite. It started as a simple slanted scarf, with this wonderful "Slanted Big Ridge" pattern that works so well with this yarns subtle palette and long color repeats. After knitting the scarf for a while, I got a bit bored and began to worry that this pattern would get bunched up unflatteringly around my neck. So I played the "What if?" game in my head, and thought: What if I drape it around my shoulders? What if I turned it into a Moebius? The creation ended up being thrilling, and I was amazed by how well it worked. I hope you will enjoy knitting and wearing this as much as I do.

Materials:
3 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite in colors of your choice. For the model I am wearing above, I used 1.5 skeins color 2031 and 1 skein color 2027. US 7 / 4.5 mm needles (I used circulars, but it does not really matter)

Gauge:
16x28 sts / 10 cm (4") when patted flat. Gauge is not really crucial for this pattern; fabric should have a "scarf-like" drape.

Notes:
- I used one ball of different colorway after the other, choosing the yarn tail that would go well with the current color. When confronted with a knot, I acted like I was at the end of a ball, cut the yarn and decided if I wanted to keep working with this ball or choose another. - The charts do not show all the stitches of each row. They are designed to show what happens at the beginning and at the end of each row. - Perfectionists may want to use ssk and p2tog decreases to obtain a consistent look in the direction of the decreases. I did not bother, and really it does not show -- there is so much going on with the scarf that nobody will look at your k2tog!

Instructions
Loosely cast on 64 stitches, using the long-tail method.

Set-up rows:
Row 1: p1, p2tog, p to end Row 2: k1, M1, k to end Row 3: repeat row 1

Slanted Big Ridge pattern:

After completing the set-up rows, you'll repeat the 8-row "Slanted Big Ridge" pattern explained below. You don't need to memorize it -- If you read your knitting, you will soon realize that you only need to be careful at the beginning of each row. On one edge of the lozenge (the one with the tail from the cast-on), you will knit or purl together the 2nd and 3rd stitch. On the opposite edge you will be making one stitch (in knit or in purl, depending of the row) between the 1rst and the 2nd stitch. To know if you need to purl or to knit, you will check the purled side of your last ridge: each ridge must have four purl rows. Row-by-row description of the Slanted Big Ridge pattern: Row Row Row Row Row Row Row Row 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: p1, M1 in purl, p to end of the row k1, k2tog, k to end of the row repeat row 1 repeat row 2 k1, M1, k to end of the row p1, p2tog, p to end of the row repeat row 5 repeat row 6

Chart for the Slanted Big Ridge pattern:

Knit in Slanted Big Ridge pattern for 22 repeat of the pattern, or until you reach the desired circumference for your Moebius ring, measured between each pointed corner of your lozenge. You can drape your knitting around your shoulders (and maybe twisted around your neck and head) to see if you like the size of it. When relaxed, my Rainbow Moebius measures about 100 cm (40") in circumference. When draped around my shoulders, it measures about 120 cm (47").

Closing the Rainbow Moebius

The Slanted Big Ridge pattern here gets modified: The diminishing side does not change, but the side that was increased on each uneven row stops increasing, and gets attached to the cast-on row by slipping the last stitch of the row, pick-up and knit one stitch on the cast-on edge, then pass the slipped stitch over. To turn your flat knitted strip into a Moebius, you need to start picking stitches at the pointed corner of the cast-on, and work with the whole piece twisted once. The cast-on edge will be held with the knit-side facing. Row-by-row instructions for closing rows: Row Row Row Row Row Row Row Row 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: purl k1, k2tog, k until 1 stitch remains, sl1, pick-up and knit one st on the cast-on row, psso repeat row 1 repeat row 2 knit p1, p2tog, p until 1 stitch remains, sl1, pick-up and purl one st on the cast-on row, psso repeat row 5 repeat row 6

Chart for closing rows:

Where Special = sl1, pick-up and knit or purl one stitch at cast-on border, psso. When you have 3 sts left on the needle, on the attaching row, slip the last two together, pick-up and knit (or purl) one from the cast-on edge, pass the two slipped stitches over. When you have 2 sts left, on the attaching row, slip both stitches together, pick-up and knit (or purl) one, pass the two slipped stitches over. Break the yarn, use the yarn tails to neaten the ends of the attaching row if necessary, and then weave in.

Illustrations

Slanted Ridge Lozenge

Twist

Closing the Moebius

Abbreviations : st k p k2tog p2tog M1 ssk sl1 psso stitch knit purl knit two sts together purl two sts together make one stitch: lift the yarn between the two sts of the previous row, and knit (or purl) it through the back loop. slip one stitch as if to knit, slip a second stitch, return them together on the left needle and knit them together slip one stitch (as if to knit on a knit row, as if to purl on a purl row) pass slipped stitch over the newly made stitch

Filambulle 2008, by Manule Ducret. Questions, comments, or suggestions? Please contact me at filambulle@gmail.com Please respect my work and do not distribute or sell any copies of this pattern or garments made from the pattern. You may make one copy for your personal use. Thank you