DITHER
This is not strictly speaking a pattern; it is, in fact, little more than a chart.It was devised to bring about an even transition from one colour to another, and I used the way Photoshop will employ a pattern dither in documents with restricted colours, hence the name. The chart has a repeat of 4 stitches, marked in red, so what ever item this is applied to should have a multiple of 4 stitches. This would obviously look good with a number of items, like sweaters or scarves, but I have used it for socks, so I just run through this quickly. ldeally you have already knit socks in fair isle / stranded colour work before, so you will know how many stitches you need to cast on to have a well fitting sock. You will need yarn in 3 colours A, B and C (although A and C could be the same), and as a guideline I used 17 gr of A and C each and 30 gr of B per sock, so this works well as a stash buster.. 1) CO the required number of stitches (a multiple of 4) in yarn A and work a cuff in any type of ribbing in whatever length you like. 2) Start the chart, introducing colour B in the second row. Work all 60 rows. Cut yarn A, leaving a tail long enough to sew in afterwards. 3) Work two rounds plain in yarn B. 4) Work your preferred type of heel in yarn B;I did a flap + gusset heel, but any kind would work. 5) Work the next two rows in yarn B. On a flap + gusset heel, these two are the pick up row and the first decrease row. 6) Work the foot in the chart again, introducing yarn C.If you are working a gusset, it will take some care to make sure that the pattern is uninterrupted after the decreases are done. Since the pattern is 4 sts and your finished number of sts is a multiple of 4 you should start both needles with the same stitch of the chart, this way they should line up perfectly.
7) Look at your previous socks - how many rows did you have to knit after the heel until the toes started ? The chart is 60 rows long, if you need more just work plain rows in colour C before the toe, or work more rows in colour B before you start the chart. If you need less, you can take rows out of the chart, but make sure you leave them out in pairs, i.e leave out rows 7 AND 8, otherwise the pattern will not look symmetrical any more. 8) Work the chart until the last row, check the length and add plain rows in Colour C if needed, and work your preferred toe version in colour C.
