I accepted a challenge from mfischer’s to prove one can knit mosaic socks (like this, this, this or this) in the round on an E6000.

THE SPECS:

• Front bed in slip-stitch mosaic pattern using standard mosaic charts used for flat mosaic knitting
• Back bed in 2-row stripes
• Ability to stop front bed patterning during heel shaping while retaining pattern position
• Short-row one-color heel (worked on back bed)
• Resume patterning after heel without error or glitch

THE STRATEGY:

Download mosaic chart using Wincrea or via card reader.
KT252.
Elongate chart by 2 before download or in programming.
CX/LX, SS 5/6 (est.)
Color change every 4 rows on the row counter.

If pattern chart is downloaded from Wincrea, Color 1 must be white.

Turn the console off while working the heel. Turn on again to resume. It will require two setup passes with empty locks, and then continue in pattern.

THE EXPLANATION (for those who are curious):

KT131 — a single bed tuck technique — is the tech of choice for flat slip mosaic knitting, modified for this purpose by simply substituting a lock setting of LX for KX. Other techs meant for 2-color work in slip (LX) tend to work two rows on selected needles, and then reverse the selection so that the second color can be worked, before proceeding to the next chart row. In a mosaic pattern, each chart row represents only two passes in a single color.

Similarly, when looking for a tech to do tubular slipped mosaic, we must avoid those designed for 2-color slipped designs. This rules out KT243 (Tubular Fairisle), and KT185 and 185 (Longstitch). KT252 is a pin tuck technique in which one row of stitches, in pattern, is worked on the front bed for each two back bed rows. It will do nicely. All we have to do is defy our console’s instructions and set the back to CX instead of N.

This will produce a tubular slip stitch pattern, but only one row high after two lock passes. Mosaic designs are two rows high. The solution is to elongate the stitch chart so that each row is doubled, equivalent to setting a Deco on 4 for Duomatic users. This can be accomplished easily merely by entering a two digit number (2 times the chart length) when loading the chart into Wincrea for downloading or in Step 28 of programming, and so doesn’t involve starting with a chart custom drawn for this purpose (in keeping with the first specification above).

Full disclosure, I did not come up with this solution in a vacuum. In her book, “E6000: Card Reader and Jacquard Techniques,” Kathleen Kinder presents a chart borrowed from Eileen Metcalf comparing a wide range of KTs with the comparable DM80 settings. On p. 20, KT 252 and 253 were among a handful that mimic a front lock setting of HX: KT 252 duplicating HX < ; and 253 corresponding to HX without an arrow key. These were the only ones that would have advanced to the next chart row after two lock passes rather than reversing the current needle selection. (253 will work for this purpose as well, but requires Color Reverse to be applied.)