The Moebius

A Moebius strip is a curious topological construction. It has a single edge and surface. Yes, it seems odd, but just try taking a long narrow strip of paper, giving it a half-twist, and taping the ends together. There's your moebius. To see how the "single surface, single edge" thing works, take a pen and start writing on one edge of it. Keep going and going and going, and you will eventually meet the beginning of your writing! Curiouser and curiouser, right?

Now, what I want to know is, who really first thought of doing this with knitting? And not just knitting a strip, twisting it, and grafting the ends together as we did with the paper strip. No, someone came up with a way to knit on either side of a circle of stitches, so that the Moebius grows out from the center, wider and wider! What a thing. Cat Bordhi, a knitter and mathematician, if I have heard correctly, did a fabulous book on this. I took one pattern, and came up with this fabulous short scarf.

So what does this have to do with NetTrek, Web 2.0, or anything like that? Well, you can find Ms. Bordhi's book at our lovely library, if it's not checked out all the time. Also, don't you think it's a fine example of lifelong learning? Take something as simple as a scarf, as mundane as knitting. Apply verrrry interesting mathematics. Result, a cuddly lesson in Euclidean geometry.

I can't wait to try one of these with stripes!