I have a new favorite item to wear: my Mobius cowl.  One of the knitting groups I’m a member of arranged a field trip to the M.C. Escher Exhibit at an area museum which would be followed up with a group knit-a-long of a Mobius cowl.  We all felt it was an appropriate project to do at the Escher Exhibit since he liked to play around with bending perception.  This cowl is inspired by a Mobius strip which was discovered and named after a German mathematician in 1845: August Ferdinand Mobius.  Check out the Wiki on the Mobius strip if you like.  A Mobius strip has only one side and one edge.  I describe it as having the inside outside and the outside inside at the same time.  I shared it with the second grade kids I was subbing for and they were mesmerized.  The whole concept is mind bending in itself, now imagine trying to knit it!

After downloading the pattern (Easy Mobius Cowl by Hayley Waxberg @ Knitomatic.com) I decided for this project I would follow the directions exactly; as in, buy the yarn and knitting needles required.  This involved a pre-field trip field trip to a fancy yarn store I’ve been aching to visit.  There I feasted my eyes on all that is beautiful in a yarn shop- ooh, the colors, the textures!  This was my first purchase of yarn that wasn’t at Michaels, Joanns, or A.C. Moore.  I felt like I was graduating, or at the very least attempting to move up on the yarn hobbyist ladder.  My pre-field trip was to purchase Manos del Uruguay wool yarn in some variegated color for my knitting pleasure and I was successful.  I bought a skein that was a delightful mixture of reds, browns and a hint of purple.  I believe it has some silk in it which gives it a kind of captivating glow.  From here I needed the right size circular needles.  The yarn shop had the right size needles but I knew I could get the same ones at Joann’s with a coupon, which was exactly what I did.  I now have Clover brand size 11 bamboo circular needles.  Knitting Needle Count: 3- 2 circulars, 1 pair straight. The project also called for a stitch marker; working in the round is easier to keep track of with a stitch marker.  I don’t have any stitch markers but figured it’s quite easy to make one using my jewelry making skills.  I grabbed a pretty cat pendant and in less than a minute attached it to a nice size ring.  It was perfect for the knitting needles and looked pretty hanging in the yarn while working.  Nice.

The night before the field trip I decided I should do a test Mobius so I have a feel for it.  One of the knitting group members was offering to teach the group but I know how that can go; one teacher with many students who need 1-on-1 attention= waiting.  I grabbed some blue Caron Simply Soft, the circular needles my SIL gave me, and threw on the YouTube video for the special cast on method: Cat Bordhi’s Mobius Cast On.  It was fun to start and I had I hard time putting the needles down to go to bed.  When it came to casting on the ‘real’ thing I was very glad I had done a practice cast on.  The ‘teacher’ was free to help others and I also took some time to help although I could hardly hold back my excitement of starting mine.

The M.C. Escher Exhibit was mind blowing, quite literally.  When we all sat down to start our project we could hardly focus and we all found we had a headache right between our eyes.  We agreed that this may be more difficult than anticipated.  Sitting in the museum’s little bistro area we opted to eat some lunch before attempting our Mobius cowls.  I had a delightful autumn squash and apple soup with a grilled cheese.  I’ve never had this before and it’s now on my list of things to make!  After filling our stomachs with the tasty lunch menu we cleared our tables and pulled out our yarn and needles.  I quickly recalled how to cast on and then made sure to help others in their casting on.  We were all still feeling that headache between our eyes and mine even blew up into full headache.  Two Advil made quick work of that pain though.  We sat and knit for 2 more hours, chatting and commenting on the effects of the Escher Exhibit.  After the bistro cleaned up around us and closed up shop we decided it was probably best we pack up and call it a day. The next day I finished my new favorite thing to wear totaling about 5 hours of working time which is very reasonable.

A quick update on our friend the Goomba.  I am currently working on round 12.  I have pictures up to round 11 below.  He’s so cute!