Knitting for a baby is pure joy. Especially when making an item for a treasured new arrival, it is hard to beat the pleasure of knitting cute and teeny baby clothes.

Traditionally, baby clothes were always knit in neutral and plain colours, such as white and cream. This was mainly because there was no such thing as finding out the gender of a baby before birth, and so a neutral option was safe and always well received.

These days of course, expectant parents usually know the gender of the baby to be, or indeed may wish to bring up their child free of gender labelling. We can now knit for babies in bright and bold colours, with patterns and stripes, gender specific or neutral, depending on the tastes of the lucky recipient.

It is also possible to purchase the most amazing, soft, colourful wool and yarns made specifically for babies. Self striping, self patterning, variegated, all of these baby wools and yarns make knitting even more exciting. You can watch the colours automatically change as you knit, and the results are always a bit of an unknown when you first cast on your project.

This article lists my personal ten favourite baby self striping or self patterning, variegated yarn and wool. Please note that as I am British, this is British yarn, and we we call over here ‘baby wool’. The whole term of ‘yarn’ is starting to catch on, but I think a lot of us still call all yarn, whatever it is made of, a ‘ball of wool’.

Anyway, I digress. Please read on to find out what are my personal favourite self striping wool types for babies. The post contains some affiliate links.

My personal favourite self striping baby wool

The baby wool/yarn in my list is all dk/double knitting thickness. This is the most popular type of wool for knitting baby clothes. Delicate and soft, but still fairly quick to knit up, the market is full of beautiful dk self striping yarn made specially for knitting for a baby.

I have used all the yarns in this list, and have suggested some places where you may wish to purchase or read more about each type of baby wool.

I hope you enjoy reading this article about self striping baby wool and yarn.

• The baby wool that is in the main picture of this article is what feel is one of the best self striping baby wools. It is called Pure Prints and is by the Bradford based company Cygnet Yarns. This yarn is incredibly soft, and I personally love the clear and definitive colour changes in this lovely self striping baby wool brand. This yarn is available for purchase here in my Etsy store, and you may also find it sold here on Ebay.
• Another of my definite favourite self striping baby wools is Twinkle Baby by James C Brett. This is a stunning baby wool, with glitter worked in with the colour changes. If you love glittery, self striping baby wool you will love Twinkle Baby. Check out The Knitting Network to purchase this baby wool. they also stock some lovely patterns for using this pretty variegated, sparkling dk baby yarn.
• Actually, while I was on The Knitting Network website, I spotted this a new brand of self striping baby wool, Cicibebe Batik. No, I haven’t used this one but felt it needed to go on the list because of the great price and awesome colours available. This wool also has amazing reviews. If you like self striping yarns, I would definitely go and check out Cicibebe Batik on The Knitting Network.
• A yarn that I have frequently knit with, and love, is James C Brett Fairground. This is not only self striping, but also self patterning, and creates absolutely stunning baby knits. It is really soft, and works in little patches of a Fair Isle type pattern as it changes colours. Honestly, if you haven’t tried this baby wool, you need to! Available here on Ebay.
• Cygnet Yarns, already mentioned above, has brought out a brand new range of self striping baby yarn in really pretty, bright colours. Once again, I loved this wool so much that I decided to stock it in my Etsy shop. You can also find this very modern, gorgeous baby wool here on Ebay. Seems you can buy everything on Ebay, actually :). I love the blue and pink pastel shade, and would use this as a gender neutral option purely because it is so pretty.
• If you are looking for a rainbow coloured self striping baby wool, I can recommend Schachenmayr Baby Smiles yarn. Like many European brand yarns, this is available for purchase on the Lovecrafts website. The range contains spots and dots, as well as self striping, variegated yarn types, and I think it is absolutely lovely to knit with.
• Also available here on the Lovecrafts website, Stylecraft Wondersoft Merry Go round is another beautiful baby wool that comes in a rainbow version. I have noticed that the range often goes out of stock, so if you can’t find it on Lovecrafts, maybe check out good old Ebay. I found some here, and honestly do recommend this self striping yarn for baby knitting as it is just so bright and pretty.
• Sirdar Baby Crofter is another beautiful baby wool that is self striping and also self patterning. It gives a beautiful Fair Isle effect as you knit. This yarn would knit up amazing baby blankets and cardigans. please do check this out here on the Knitting Network, at the time of writing it is on sale so you might be lucky to snap up a bargain. Gorgeous wool, this one!
• Also on sale (at time of writing) at The Knitting Network is a self patterning variegated baby wool called ABC prints. This is stunning in that it knits up a beautiful pattern. Gorgeous wool and at great price, you can find it for sale here.
• The last gorgeous self striping baby yarn in my list of favourites is one that I have ordered, but not yet used. It is so pretty! Emu Funfair Swirl is new to the knitting wool markets, and comes in the pretties shades. You can buy it here at The Knitting Network.