Actual: Do moebius cast on, twisting for a total of 5 twists (instead of one) before beginning first round.

Map: The map is an attempt to show the pattern for a moebius strip by acting as if it were cut through the join halfway (edge to cast-on round), then cut lengthwise along the cast-on row, untwisted, and laid out flat. I think I used 15-stitch sections, but I'm mapping them with 5 stitches for space. (Even rows are backwards and front-back reversed, so really each continues the same stitch pattern as the previous odd row.) I did a 1x1 rib. Each group needs to begin and end with the same rib (k or p) so that the next group has the same pattern when seen from the other side.

This particular map shows a few rows of the bowl/hat side, but not the decreases that shape the object. The point is to show the bind-off pattern for a fivefold moebius strip, such that the stitches remaining can be rearranged (keeping groups together) and knit into a bowl or hat. Where there are bindoff/caston holes, the bindoff happens, but the parts mapped as castons are actually the other side of the strip, twisted around. (I've shown half a group more than I should have.)

For the actual object, I put each group on a flexible dpn or short circular, then marked the groups, then rearranged...one group, then a group from across the width of the band, etc. The result, if the band is laid out as flattish, 5-times-twisted ring, should have the circular needle making a single loop on the inner edge of the work.

For my bowl and hat, I used a picot bind-off pattern and also did picots on the stitches not bound, for decoration. Picot pattern: co2, bo4; for stitches to keep, co2, bo2, k2 (or p2). The first row after rearranging defines inside and outside. I prefer the picots to be on the outside, where there's a choice (no the bound-off edge along the twists is on both sides).

See less