Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

I decided I wanted the stocking toe to flow gracefully into the body of the stocking. In other words, I wanted the toe to increase in pattern. The goal: p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5 in the round, on a multiple of 10 minus 1 stitches. Why the ‑1? Because the swirl comes from having the whole pattern shift one stitch to the left on every round. The offset will make the p1, k1 section produce seed stitch rather than 1x1 ribbing. My inspiration for the pattern came out of the Moss-Stitch Zigzag for 7 December in the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year perpetual calendar (Woodinville WA: Martingale & Co, 2002). The original pattern was written for flat knitting, zigzagging left and right, and the stockinette stripes were narrower. I discovered that the zigzag effect wasn't well-suited to knitting in the round. Since I've decided to share this stocking pattern, I thought I'd better spend a little time improving on the swirl toe. The two experiments in today's post were knit on 3.75m...