Plan B

I had warped for 5 message shawls - or so I thought. Obviously the messages (and the fringes) had got a bit longer than what I had reckoned - but the thrums were a bit too long just to cut off.
So I decided on Plan B - and I can always use another shawl myself, right?


Of course it should have a message. KORT (short) ought to fit.
As a joke on myself I let the marks get shorter along the text. The closing T (long) is only two picks longer than the first "short".


When cut, the cloth measured almost 85 cm. I had decided to join the ends with the fringes going through loops - and now I decided to make it into a Moebius strip. So, first the ends got hemmed, the fringes twisted with temporary slip knots.

I made loops on both the white and the black hemmed ends. (Have you ever wondered why there is "buttonhole twist" threads to be had, try making 36 buttonhole stitched loops with ordinary sewing thread - then you'll know...)

A Moebius strip is a loop without outside (or inside). It is made by taking a long strip, making a half turn, then joining the ends. So I made the half turn, then threaded the white fringes through the loops on the black end, and vice versa. - Maybe I should not have used temporary slip knots, it seems I lost a bit of the original twist when the fringes were tied together two-by-two.





All this done, it was time for the wet finishing. As usual, the fringes came out the washing machine in one big mess... but it was a lot easier to un-tangle fringes that are attached at both ends :-)

It can be worn long, with the knots on the fringes at the looped end - or it can be worn short (as in the top picture)