Self-patterning sock wool – how to make sure it matches when you need it to

‘I love the versatility of sock wool and find it particularly useful for knitting baby clothes as it creates lovely fair-isle type patterns without lots of ends to sew in. When I’m knitting socks, I often don’t worry about matching the patterns together – I prefer the uniqueness of a pair of socks that are similar but not identical – but when it comes to baby clothes I do like the separate parts to match as much as possible.

I have just knitted a simple Baby Cardigan pattern in Rico Superba Bamboo, shade 13. This sock yarn is great for baby clothes as the bamboo makes it beautifully soft. I knitted the back first and began with the start of the ball (no point in winding on to a colour change at this point as the fronts will not identically match the back because of the different number of stitches).

There is a tiny bit of turquoise before the red/orange section and I wanted that to be repeated in the fronts so, once I had finished the back,  I wound the yarn to the point where the turquoise meets the orange/red. I then measured the yarn back by a width of the cardigan back four times and used this as the starting point for the first front. The four times was a fairly arbitrary multiple – I just wanted enough turquoise to cast on and work at least one row. The multiple can be altered to suit the colour changes in your yarn – the important thing is to remember the number you have chosen so that each section can start at the same point.

This now means that the turquoise band goes all the way round the cardigan and the fronts are more or less identical. I used the same measurement for the sleeves as you can see below:

Then all I needed to do was sew it together and add two buttons – simples!!

 

Please send me pictures of your sock yarn garments. Thanks and happy knitting. Julie x