Starting A Center-Out Mobius

Mobius Strips are one of those scientific concepts that are difficult to explain, but here in this video, crochet expert Mary Beth Temple shows us how to crochet one! This mind-boggling technique is strangely simple to do, but you really need to watch someone do it to understand how it’s done.

You can use any stitch you want to anchor your mobius. In this video, Mary Beth demonstrates with a double crochet stitch because it is easier to see how it’s done. She begins by making a chain, and then working across the bottom of her chain, and marks the first stitch of her row. In her case, she is counting the turning chain from her foundation chain as the first stitch of the row, so she places a stitch marker in the top of the turning chain. She tells us that if we had started with a row of single crochet stitches, that e would mark the first single crochet of the row.

She brings the first stitch right next to the last stitch worked, then gives the end with the first stitch a 180 degrees twist. Now the stitch marker is on the bottom edge. She anchors her mobius in place by working a slip stitch into the opposite side of that first stitch, into what was once the bottom of the foundation row. This keeps the piece twisted. After the join, she makes a beginning chain and starts working along the same edge. After working all the way around to her stitch marker, she pulls the stitch marker through the center of the piece, and continues stitching by making the next stitch into the marked stitch. This creates the mobius! When you get to the beginning chain, join to the top, and make another beginning chain. You will always end up in the same place after working around and around because it is a mobius.