Knitting Diamonds (Argyle basics) on 54:

 Knit desired distance from top of sock in color A (base color) to where you want tip of first diamond row to begin.  Start at right side hash mark, leaving down 14 needles and raising the remainder.  Attach heel tension spring (which will be used throughout remainder of knitting).   Base triangles:  (You will need a pull-down tool as you work each section>)

Knit across 14, raise one needle out of work.  Knit back on 13, raise one needle out of work.  Continue back and forth until all needles are up out of work.  Cut yarn leaving a tail to work in later.  See **.

Put down next 13 needles (15 through 27); knit across.  Raise one needle; knit back.  Continue this way until all needles are up out of work.  See **.

Repeat process on next 14 needles (28 through 41).  See **.

Repeat process on next 13 needles (42 through 54).  All needles are up out of work.

First Diamond in Contrasting color B:  (See ***.)

Thread yarn between needles 13 and 14 so as to knit the stitch on needle 14.  Push down needle 15, put the yarn behind the needle and knit across on two.  Push down needle 13, yarn behind, knit across on three.  Push down needle 16, put yarn behind and knit across on four.  Push down needle 12, yarn behind, knit across on five.  Continue putting needles into work until you have 14.  Pull up the first needle in the row on each pass until all needles are back out of work.  Cut yarn and go to the next section.

You can also add needles in at the end of the row instead of the beginning as long as you are consistent throughout.

Second Diamond in Contrasting color B or C: (See***.)

Starting at needle 27, work back and forth putting one needle into work on each pass until there are 13 in work.  Take one out of work on each pass until you are back to all needles out of work.  I find it easiest to start by knitting forward on diamonds or triangles which will use 14 needles and in reverse on those that will use 13.

Repeat third diamond the same as diamond one.

Repeat fourth diamond the same as diamond two.

If you are making several rows of diamonds, you need to make a base color diamond between each contrasting colored one using the same basic method of putting needles into work one at a time on an edge of your work until 13 or 14 are in work, then taking them back out of work one at a time until all are up out of work.  When you have completed your last row of diamonds, you go to the next step

Now you need to form another triangle between the edges of the last row of diamonds in order to get back to a straight round of knitting.

Using base color A:

If you left a long yarn to knit this section, thread it now.  If not, start with base color again.  Put down one needle starting at needle 8; knit across.  Add one needle each pass until you have 14.  Cut yarn and pull needles up out of work.

Go to needle 21 and repeat starting in forward direction.

Go to needle 34 and repeat starting in reverse.

Go to needle 49 and repeat starting in reverse.  Continue around cylinder in base color for as many rounds as you wish before pre-heel.  Form pre-heel, heel, foot and toe.  Close toe.  Work in all ends.  Where points of diamonds meet, cross yarns before darning ends to be sure no holes form.  If you want diagonal stripes, apply them last using the duplicate stitch in contrasting yarn.  Because two diamonds have 13 stitches and two have 14, you may need to fudge your rows in order to have them come out perfectly.  Using half a stitch instead of a complete one helps fill in the pattern properly. 

**If you have a slotted yarn carrier, you can leave a long section of yarn wound onto a holder in order to complete the opposing base triangle (or a diamond if making several rows) by unthreading the yarn and putting it down inside the cylinder.  That will save working in eight ends.  If you don't mind threading in reverse, you can do that with a standard yarn carrier as well.  You will need a length about the distance of arms outstretched twice (maybe 4-5 yards, I never measure).

***If you are confident your machine will knit doubled yarn, work the initial tail yarn back in on the next two passes and cut the tail.  Then there will be only one end to work in on each diamond when you are finished.