Möbius or Fauxbius or Cylinder?

Late last year my sister discovered Outlander. It is one of those book series/television series that "has legs" as they say. The first book was published in 1991, 35 years ago. It seems people continue to discover it, read it, watch it, and become enthrauled by Diana Gabaldon's talented storytelling.

As for knitting, there is an Outlander Knitting official book. I do not own it. There are many, many things I want to knit. That particular book didn't have anything that caught my fancy. I haven't watched the television show, although I read the first three books more than a decade ago. In the television series there is a cowl made from large yarn in garter stitch. My sister sent me a picture and said she would like it.

This was an easy knit for me; and something I was delighted to do. Sadly, my friendly local yarn shop did not have any super-bulky yarn in the color and size I sought. I ended up purchasing two skeins of Yarn Bee Effortless Super Bulky in color hazel & hickory from the Hobby Lobby three miles from my home. The yarn is 20% alpaca, giving it softness and warmth. The 80% acrylic gives it loft and affordability. My local Hobby Lobby had several skeins in this colorway and dye lot; but I had to hunt to find two that matched. I notice this yarn is now discontinued.

I cast on 20 stitches with a US size 15/10 mm needle. It took me just a day at the Lake Logan knitting retreat to knit this up. Truly, this is an insta-knit. I put in 180° twist and grafted together to create a möbius.

After almost a month I finally got around to taking pictures. I need to pop this in the mail to my sister. From the first set of photographs, you can see how the cowl behaves as a möbius. When you let the whole thing hang long, that 180° twist hangs at the bottom. It drapes better as a möbius than it would if it were a cylinder.

But what happens with a very long cowl like this if you want to wrap it around twice instead of once? In the next photograph, you can see it is more difficult to style it. It doesn't want to lie down. If you want a more chaotic bird's nest effect, this works. But if you want a look that is more ordered, this is less good.

After I took the photographs, I realized I had made an error when I grafted the scarf together. It is an easy error to make in garter stitch. I had two rows that were the same — two rows of knit on one side and two rows of purl on the reverse, thus breaking the every-other ridge of garter stitch. Fortunately, I was able to unpick my graft and redo it. This time I put 360° of twist in the scarf. Some people call this a "fauxbius" — it looks like a möbius, but it isn't. Notice the difference in how this hangs.

In the first photograph, it doesn't hang as nicely as the möbius. It has an extra twist that has no place to go.

But when you wrap it a second time, now it lies nicely! This looks much more like the cowl/scarf/shawl in Outlander.

Because I was curious, I pinned the cowl together to see how it would hang as a regular cylinder with no twist added. (It hangs a little shorter here because of the length pinned out with binder clips behind the neck.)

When hanging straight down, the cowl pokes out. It doesn't lie flat. It sort of doesn't know what to do.

When wrapped twice, it is better, but not great.

To make it lie flat, I needed to fold it in half, more like a collar.

What does this mean for your knitting?

If you are making a cowl or infinity scarf, you have three choices.

• cylinder — good for short cowls, works for long wrapped twice if fabric is reversible
  
• möbius — lies nicely for cowls meant to be worn almost like a necklace
• fauxbius — lies nicely when wrapped twice to create a squishy nest around the shoulders

If you want to see even more photographs, you can visit this project's Ravelry page here.

None of these are right or wrong. Rather, this is a matter of styling. Which method you choose also depends on the width of the cowl and the reversibility. In garter stitch, ribbles, or versa lace, seeing both sides is fine. If this were stranded colorwork, seeing the wrong side would be less desireable. I suspect this example being a wide, thick cowl also makes a difference. In a fabric both thinner and narrower, the challenges of making the cowl drape flat might be less distracting.

Conclusion: When you make a cowl or infinity scarf, think about how you intend to wear it. Then decide if it should have no extra twist, 180° of twist, 360° of twist, or even more!