Techniques to Hand Knit Seamless Argyle Socks!

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Knitting the seamless Argyles requires four unique techniques. wool ease argyle sock

These are:

K1 through wrap.
P1 through wrap.
K1 through float and
P1 through float.

Instructions for each technique follow.

What do purls and floats look like?

The illustration to the left shows a wrap and a purl from the purl side of the work. The yarn on the left hand needle is medium grey; the yarn on the right hand needle is dark grey. I am knitting with dark yarn to create the bottom point of a dark colored diamond.

Purl 1 through float.

Poke the tip of the needle through the stitch as to purl, then pass the tip of the needle under the float. (See illustration to left.) Once the needle is under the float and purl through the float and the stitch.

To the right you can see how the the work will look when completed. The stitch just knit passes through both a stitch and a float. Notice that the stitch further to left is wrapped. When knitting the Argyle pattern, you will always knit through a float just before knitting through a wrap.

Sometimes, it may be difficult to pass the needle tip under the float. If so, slip the stitch you are going to purl. Use the right hand needle tip to lift the float onto the left hand needle. Slip the stitch back to the left hand needle. Then knit the two together.

Purl 1 through wrap

Stick the right hand needle under the wrap as shown.

Lift the wrap and drop it to the left of the next stitch. The wrap is now ready to purl.

Insert the needle as to purl. Purl the wrap and stitch together. From the knit side, the stitch will look like an ordinary knit stitch. On the purl side, the yarn strands will intertwine below the stitches. This prevents a hole where the colors change.

Knit 1 through float

Insert right hand needle tip through stitch, continue to insert until tip passes through float. The work will appear as illustrated to the left. Knit stitch and float together.

The stitch will look like a normal knit stitch from the knit side. The dark and light yarns will be intertwined on the purl side.

Knit 1 through wrap

Insert the right hand needle into wrap as illustrated to the left. Lift the wrap over the left hand needle and drop. Next, insert right hand needle through both stitch and wrap, and wind yarn to knit. See illustration to the right. Knit through stitch and wrap. From the front, the new stitch will look like an ordinary knit stitch. From the back the yarn strands will be intertwined.

Note, the stitch you are knitting should have been slipped knitwise on the previous row. If it was not, you will need to turn the stitch around.

Progress:

As you proceed, the ditch between two diamonds will be filled by the bottom tip of a new diamond. No wraps should be visible from the knit side. The two diamonds are intertwined with no holes bewteen colors.