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Sonic Boom Cowl, Lace Möbius Cast-on

As I mentioned yesterday, I've used Cat Bordhi's center-out möbius cast-on but adapted it for lace. Start with the plain möbius cast-on. The trick is to change the numbers and only cast-on the knits and decreases but not the yarn overs. Then on the first round of the möbius, I added the yarn-over part.

For example, my feather and fan pattern is:
(k1, yo) ×4, k1, ssk ×3, dd, k2tog ×3, (k1, yo) ×4.
The pattern multiple is 16 stitches. Each crest is 9 stitches (9 knits with 8 yarn-overs between them) and each trough is 7 stitches (three left-leaning decreases, a center double decrease, and three right-leaning decreases).

If I get rid of the yarn-overs, I have 9 knits + 7 decreases = 16 stitches. Therefore, I should cast on 16 plain stitches for every pattern multiple. I don't need any extra +1 stitch for balancing the pattern since a möbius is in the round. However, to align pattern crests and troughs I need to cast on an extra half multiple. In the pattern I cast on 88 stitches (16 + 16 + 16 + 16 + 16 + 8). To make the circumference of the möbius larger or smaller, just add or subtract pattern multiples (the +16 part).

On the first round I worked the lace in pattern but only the knits and yarn-overs. Any decreases are worked as knits. This adds the yarn-overs back in and expands the pattern multiple up to the correct number. In my example above, instead of working the pattern as written, I would instead work:
(k1, yo) ×4, k1, k7, (k1, yo) ×4.
The ssk ×3, dd, k2tog ×3 have been replaced with 7 knits.

I have not experimented with other lace or chevron patterns, but this process should work for at least some of them.

And if this doesn't quite make sense, here's a video tutorial to help:

Comments

plnc said…
You are brilliant!! Pam
Jolie said…
Thank you! I'm not brilliant, just stubborn in my swatching for more.