The inevitable Möbius

It was truly inevitable. The Möbius. Ever since I've first come across one of the many instructions I knew, that sooner or later I'd be doing one of my one. Although it seemed daunting at first, it is really quite simple.

I used 4 skeins of Lang Yarns Nobile, cast on 140 stitches per Cat Bordhi's amazing cast on and knit on and on and on until I (almost) ran out of yarn. (I weighed how much I used per row, so that I knew when to stop.) And here we are. The finished product measures approximately 100 x 25 cm.

When I started it seemed to be very small. After all, I used a 120cm circular needle (8mm). Simple maths tells you, that the circumference of the scarf was no more than 60cm. Quite a difference. But it turned out alright. Quite magic.

One side. One edge. That's the Möbius.

By the way, the bluish thing on my head? That's another Amanda Hat. This time it is large enough to wear with a pony tail underneath ;)

Felting is awsome

I've recently made an Amanda Hat, which is lovely, but in the first week I mutilated it already by inadvertently yanking it through the zipper of my bag. Bad. Very bad. So, I figured, I would need another bag, without a dangerous zipper. And being slightly obsessed, I immediately envisioned a project made for knitting.

So I went to the local yarn store and bought several skeins of felting yarn and some brochures and immediately started knitting.

Turns out, felting is extreme fun. It is a quick and easy knit. And I think it would be ideal for beginners, too. You make a mistake? Who cares? No one's gonna notice after the felting.

The only cause for concern was, that I didn't know how much the bag would shrink when felted. Of course, I didn't make a gauge. And so I couldn't test-felt it either. I'm much too lazy for that.

But it turned out just fine. This will definitely not be my last felting project!

Norwegian Purls

Honestly, is there anything as awesome as Norwegian Purls?

For every continental knitter like myself there could be no greater invention. Purls are notorious for being difficult, and chaotic, and bothersome. Changing the position of the working yarn ever so often is nigh on impossible. My left index finger is not nearly as flexible as it ought to be. I used to hate ribbing. 1/1 ribs especially. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... gaaaagh!

And then I read 'Knitting without Tears' by the incomparable Elizabeth Zimmermann and I finally found out, why the purls were so difficult to work with in the next row: I've been twisting them all along! That was a huge discovery.

But nothing is so sweet as Norwegian Purls. The whole idea seems like an exercise in logic. Remember maths? Remember something like this? 3 + 4 = 4 + 3. It doesn't matter whether the 3 comes first or the 4, the result is the same. Just as 'yarn in front of the needle' is the same as 'needle behind the yarn'. Right? And the rest of the magic is just rotating the needle in a clockwise motion, thereby entering the stitch to purl, continue rotating on and on and on, until the yarn is caught, then change gears, down and out of the stitch (like a clever dog escaping his collar) and yanking the old stitch of the left needle. And that's about it.

Wanna see it in action? Norwegian Purls