Sunday Serenity #301

Today after spending at least as many hours as I'd spent crocheting a 4 foot Mobius strip trying to remove unintended twists, I had to concede defeat and strip all of the stitches down to the bare chain.  I had just reached the end of working up the back of the chain so I had to take out 15 feet of chain2, single crochet1.  I am not sure if the extra twists were created by my getting the thread on the wrong side of the work when picking it up after laying it down or if I'd twisted the chain itself or even a combination of the two.  If the first I should have been able to untwist it but after four or more hours of trying I could not eliminate them all.

A Mobius strip is supposed to have only 1 purposeful twist that creates a single edge that goes around the circle twice.  I've decided to try once more but instead of joining the ends of the chain before starting the mesh I'm going to work the mesh up both sides of the chain before joining it with the single twist.

I am working in brown size 10 crochet thread which is really hard on my eyes and apparently I must refrain from taking my eyes off the work while I am working the chain.  Which means no video watching.  I'm sure once I have the mesh worked on both sides of the chain and the Mobius strip created I will be able to work the mesh stitches as usual with barely a glance at them occasionally

You might think this sounds like a shawl and it very well could be a shawl but that is not the ultimate use for this huge Mobius strip made from an 8 foot chain with a planned 10 to 12 inch width.  I'm estimating a minimum of 7 balls of Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Twig to complete 10 inches.  Tho if I remember right I might have done those calculations with the initial plan of 6 feet.

So if not a shawl what then?  It will be the bottom, sides and shoulder strap for a tote.  The rest of the body of the tote to be made of strips of four inch square in 11 pastel colors put together to imitate quilt work.

I've discussed it elsewhere with a pic of the first strip.

That strip is now twice that length and nearly done.  I'm working the next to last square now.  I'm projecting 8 strips each one using a different crochet stitch making this a sampler of sorts.

Well, time to get back to work.  I hope to have my complete Mobius before I quit for bed.  No not the full ten inches.  Ha Ha.  Just working the mesh up both sides of the chain and joining it so that the project will take on a pleasant aspect in my mind and not this anxiety raising thing it now is.  I can't afford to waste any more time on anxiety as this must be done by Christmas.