It’s the eternal lament of yarn groupies everywhere who adore the creative and gorgeous hand dyed yarn created by indie dyers: I love it, but what do I do with it? Experience tells us that complex patterns get lost, and so then one switches to a plain or vanilla sock pattern and—yay!—that solves the problem, until….one is bored to tears with vanilla. After all, one can only knit so many vanilla socks before the fingers rebel! So… what to do with that indie dyed yarn that looks so gorgeous in the skein but then knits up into color pools or an odd striping patterns? Well, here’s a pattern that offers a good solution that will to embrace complex color combinations and make them sing without being plain vanilla pattern by adding a little texture with some purled rows and some carefully placed slipped stitches. I think the texture ended up looking like the large scales on the back of an alligator so that’s how the name came to be. Of course, this pattern will work for other colorways too, so get creative!

This top-down pattern is appropriate for sock beginners that have made a least one pair of vanilla socks and thus know knitting basics. However, I have included a lot of how-to details in sock construction that the intermediate or advanced knitter can easily skim over, especially if they make choices for an alternate cuff ribbing or heel type.

The pattern is appropriate for men or women and is easily sizeable (instructions for S, M, L and XL are given). Please note that the texture pattern will draw in the foot somewhat while the sole does not leading to an upcurved appearance. This effect will not significantly detract from the socks’ wear-ability, it just looks a bit odd. Block the socks well if it bothers you.

• Note: I knit socks on 4 DPNs at a time, I have attempted to generalize my instructions for folks who use other needle set ups.