This mosaic sock pattern is named for a problem described in a 2000-year-old Indian text. The author describes the six tastes of the Ayurveda (sweet, pungent, astringent, sour, saline, and bitter) and tallies up the numbers of ways one may incorporate different combinations of these tastes at once. In this way, he outlines one of the earliest known problems in combinatorics, a branch of mathematics dealing with the sizes and quantities of finite sets.

You, as the knitter, will get to choose tastes of your own, as you have three choices of instep pattern and four choices of back band pattern for each sock you make. An unusual variation of a Strong heel allows the back band pattern to flow onto the foot uninterrupted.

The charts used in this pattern were inspired by and developed with the help of Laura Kogler’s online Mosaic Knitting Pattern Generator. Thank you for inventing it and putting it out in the world, Laura!

Yardage requirements are about 75 grams fingering weight yarn in main color and 50 grams fingering weight in contrast color.

This pattern was released as Stage 5 of the 2016 Tour de Sock, a fundraising event benefitting Doctors Without Borders.