Argyle Day, 8 January

What argyle is

An argyle pattern is a field of diamonds, usually in two or more colours, with thin diagonal lines crossing over them. The word can mean a single diamond or the whole pattern. It is most familiar on socks and sweaters.

Where the pattern comes from

Argyle is loosely based on the tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll, in western Scotland, which is where the name comes from. Scottish Highlanders wore patterned socks, called tartan hose, from at least the 17th century. Modern argyle is usually not true tartan: it puts two solid colours next to each other, which a tartan weave does not do.

Argyle knitwear became fashionable in Britain, and then in the United States, after the First World War. Pringle of Scotland popularised the design in the 1920s, helped by its link with the Duke of Windsor. Golfers wore it on sweaters and on the long socks that went with plus-fours.

Teams still use it. The Norwegian men's curling team wore argyle at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and North Carolina has used it on basketball uniforms since 1991.

Ways to mark the day

• Wear argyle: socks, a sweater vest, a scarf.
• Knit it. Argyle is usually worked in intarsia, one block of colour per diamond.
• Cross-stitch it, using a stitch chart from the generator.
• Make a pattern in your own colours and download it as an SVG.

How the generator draws it

The pattern is two grids of diamonds, the second offset by half a diamond in both directions, with a thin overstripe running diagonally across both. The generator sets three colours, the diamond size and the stripe weight, and draws the result.

Make an argyle pattern