Well, it is if you knit Annetarsia! My technique is basically intarsia for lazy knitting, and motifs don’t come any easier than argyle.  The origin of the style is murky, at best.  I’m pretty sure that some knitter needed to make a pair of socks and didn’t have enough yarn of a particular color.  Being tired of stripes, he/she came up with a way to put the colors side by side instead of stacking them on top of each other.

Argyle diamonds are easy to graph, design and knit.  Start with one or two sts at the bottom, and increase one st on each side on every row, or every other row, until the diamond is the width you like. Then, decrease one st on each side at the same rate until you are back to your one or two sts.  Simple and effective – two of my favorite things.

Changing colors will drastically affect the mood of the motif, so it is very versatile.  I like pastel colors for my socks, which make me feel happy and light.  My husband loves classic dark color pairings, like black/red/gray, for his socks.

For the Argyle ornaments, I used leftover Plucky feet, from a shawl in Annetarsia Knits.  You can’t go wrong with Plucky colors, any combo seems to result in something wonderful.  I tend to avoid red and green for ornaments.  There is nothing wrong with the classic combination, but there is already a lot of it on the tree.

 

What yarn and colors would you use for an ornament?  I suggest you look to recent projects, yarn that is on hand.  The pattern will create a larger ornament if bulkier yarn is used.  If you have a mixed bag of leftover weights, don’t let that stop you.  Double up a worsted and match with a bulky, or double a fingering and match with a DK.  Argyle is very forgiving!  And, the ornament doesn’t have to fit anything but your mood.