Friday, March 28, 2008

Buffalo Guys' Diamond Socks–The Short Form

This pattern is brief, for the experienced sock knitter who just wants the stitch pattern and a few useful numbers. If you have not knit very many socks, you may want to use the Well Explained pattern.

Sized to fit ankles 9 ½-10, (10 ½-11) inches in circumference
Lengths given for men’s shoe sizes 6-14

Gauge: 9 sts per inch

Needles: 1 set of double points in correct size to obtain gauge. (I used zeros, I knit loose. Do a swatch, it’ll make things go better for you later, honest.)


Instructions:

Cast on 72 (80)sts.
(If you know how, cast on in ribbing for 2x2 rib. If you don’t know how, don’t worry, any stretchy cast on you already know will be fine.)

Rib for 20 rounds.

Begin diamond pattern:
R 1: p1, k3, p1, k3, repeat around
R 2: p1, k3, p1, k3, repeat around
R 3: k3,*[ p1, k1, p1, k5] repeat from star around, ending p1, k1, p1, k2
R 4: k3,*[ p1, k1, p1, k5] repeat from star around, ending p1, k1, p1, k2
R 5: k2, *[p1, k3, p1, k3] repeat from star around, ending p1, k3, p1, k1
R 6: k2, *[p1, k3, p1, k3] repeat from star around, ending p1, k3, p1, k1
R 7: k1, *[p1, k5, p1, k1] repeat from star around, ending p1, k5, p1
R 8: k1, *[p1, k5, p1, k1] repeat from star around, ending p1, k5, p1
R 9: p1, k3, p1, k3, repeat around
R 10: p1, k3, p1, k3, repeat around
R 11: k1, *[p1, k5, p1, k1] repeat from star around, ending p1, k5, p1
R 12: k1, *[p1, k5, p1, k1] repeat from star around, ending p1, k5, p1
R 13: k2, *[p1, k3, p1, k3] repeat from star around, ending p1, k3, p1, k1
R 14: k2, *[p1, k3, p1, k3] repeat from star around, ending p1, k3, p1, k1
R 15: k3,*[ p1, k1, p1, k5] repeat from star around, ending p1, k1, p1, k2
R 16: k3,*[ p1, k1, p1, k5] repeat from star around, ending p1, k1, p1, k2


Continue knitting in this pattern until 4 ½ diamonds have been knit down the back of the sock leg (i.e. directly in line with your beginning of round stitch marker). End with round 10. Then begin the heel flap.

Heel flap:
worked over half the sts
R 1: Knit 18 (20) sts, then turn
R 2: sl 1, Purl 35 (39) sts, turn.
R 3: [sl 1, k1] across heel sts
R 4: sl 1, p across heel sts
repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have 17 (19) slipped stitches along each edge of the heel flap. Reset stitch counter or brain to row 1. Begin turning the heel.

Turning the heel:
R 1: sl 1, k 19(21) sts, ssk, k1, turn.
R 2: sl 1, p 5, p2 tog, p1, turn
continue working in this manner: sl the first st, work two together across the gap, work one more stitch, then turn

Continue until all heel sts have been knit.

Pick Up For the Gusset:
With needle #1 pick up and knit the 18 (20) slipped sts along the edge of the heel flap. Now reach down to the row below the last stitch picked up, and pick up that stitch too. This prevents the small hole that would have otherwise formed at the corner of your heel flap.

Continue working the diamond pattern (round 11) across the instep sts on needle #2. With needle #3, pick up and knit 19 (21) sts along the other side of the heel flap (including the “extra” to prevent a hole) and then continue across half of the heel sts. Slip the remaining heel sts to the beginning of needle #1.

Decrease
Gusset :
Next round, k across needle 1, continue in the diamond pattern across needle 2, k across needle 3.

Decrease round:
Needle 1: k to last 3 sts, k2 tog, k1
needle 2: continue in the diamond pattern
needle 3: k1, ssk, k to end.

Alternate between the plain round and the decrease round until you are back to 72 (80) sts total, working the bottom of the foot in plain stockinette and continuing the diamond pattern over the top of the foot.

When the foot is 2" shorter than the desired length begin the toe decreases. If you aren’t making these for yourself, or haven’t been able to measure the recipient’s foot, here’s a pretty good idea of men's foot lengths based on shoe size:


Toe decrease:
Reset stitch counter, or brain, to round 1.
R 1: Needle 1: k to last 3 sts, k2 tog, k1.
Needle 2: k1, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2 tog, k1.
Needle 3: k1, ssk, k to end of needle.
R 2: k (Yes, you’re done with the diamonds now.)

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are 36 (40) sts total.

Repeat round 1 until there are 16 sts total.
Knit across needle 1 and break yarn, leaving a 12" tail.
Use kitchener stitch to graft the remaining sts together.
Work in ends, and block.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

After knitting four and 1/2 repeats of the Buffalo Man's 16 row Diamond sock pattern and knitting rows 1 & 2, and then picking up sts for the gusset - on what row does one continue in pattern on? ( Rows 1 & 2 are the same as rows 9 & 10, so I am confused.)

knitica said...

I think you've caught a mistake, because reading back through that has confused me, too!

I've gone back and fixed the pattern instructions.

You should actually knit 4 1/2 repeats, ending the leg with round 10. Follow the heel instructions, and when you pick up sts for the gusset continue the pattern with round 11.

Thanks for catching my mistake. You're the first person to catch it after 3 years!

Hope this clears everything up for you. If not you can contact me again through blogger or more privately on Ravelry. My Ravelry name is knitica