The present invention relates to knitting and to yarn used for knitting. Knitting creates a web of fabric from yarn by a recursive process of making rows of loops in the yarn, through which subsequent loops are then pulled. 'Empty' loops are held upon a needle to retain their form until a new loop is pulled through them. This knitting process may be performed manually using two or more knitting needles. Where suitably patterned yarn is employed, the resulting web of fabric can then acquire a pattern. One, but by no means the only example of a garment which patterned knitting has been used is in the making of items such as socks or gloves.

Given that such items very usually are worn in pairs it is desirable for the two items to match each other. Where they carry a pattern, this will mean the patterns on each of the items being in register with each other. The palm area of one glove (say) must carry the same pattern element as its twin, with the pattern elements on the two glove palms being located in precisely the same place. When knitting manually using patterned yarn, this can be difficult and time-consuming to achieve, particularly where it is not easy to see any correspondence between the pattern on the yarn and the ultimate pattern which that will create on the glove or sock.

Embodiments of the present invention provides yarn for knitting which ameliorate these difficulties. According to an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a length of yarn for knitting, the yarn having a pattern along its length, the length further comprising at least one datum marking positioned upon the yarn at a predetermined distance from an element of the pattern. A further embodiment of the present invention provides a method of knitting comprising the steps of locating a datum point in a length of patterned yarn and commencing knitting to a predetermined patter at the datum point thereby to create a patterned item having patterned elements at predetermined locations thereon.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompany drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of knitting;

Fig. 2 is a view of a web woven from knitted stitches illustrated in Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 is a view of a web woven from knitted stitches illustrated in Fig. 1 using a patterned length of knitting yarn to produce a pattern within the web;

Fig. 4 is an example of an item carrying a pattern generated by knitting using a patterned length of yarn; and

Fig. 5 is a bundle of yarn according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring now to Fig. 1 , a knitting operation is illustrated with two needles 10, 12 and a length of knitting yarn 20. Very many methods of knitting are well known. In Fig. 1 a series of first loops 30 are made in the yarn 20 around the needle 10 and thereby creates a first row of stitches. A further row of stitches is added by pulling a further loop through each of the first loops 30. Thus, by manipulation of the needle 12 around the free part 50 of the yarn 20, a further loop 40 is created and then pulled through the loop 30A, thereby to create the first loop 40 of a second row of stitches; further such loops 40 are made by repeating the process until a second row of stitches is created with a series of loops 40 held on the needle 12. This process creates what is effectively a woven web of fabric such as that illustrated in Fig. 2, with sequential rows of loops 30 and 40 and so on illustrated. The diameter of the needles determines the size of the loops created and this, together with the geometry of the stitching configuration and diameter of the yarn determines the gauge or size of the resultant weave created by the knitting process.

It is known to create patterned yarn. One form of patterned yarn is yarn with a varying colour pattern along its length. When used to knit with such yarn in accordance with suitable stitch configuration, the result is as shown in Fig. 3, whereby particular loops 70 or numbers of loops 70 made on a particular row have a different colour to the remaining loops. When a yarn having a predetermined pattern is used in conjunction with needles of a specified diameter and a specified stitch configuration, items of clothing can be knitted having predetermined coloured patterns. Examples of such items is shown in Fig. 4, where a sock has patterned areas on the leg 100, the front of the ankle 1 10 and around the foot 120.

The creation of such items using patterned knitting yarn requires particular attention in order to ensure that the patterns created are correctly located on the finished item. Thus the pattern for the middle of the foot should ideally appear in that location rather than, say, around the toe or higher up; and the pattern for the front of the ankle ought likewise to appear in the finished item at that point. In addition, where patterns are created on items which are most frequently used in pairs, further care is required to ensure that the patterns generated on both items of the pair are in register with each other, i.e. in the same place on both items.

This technical challenge is yet more acute where two items which are intended to match each other are different in size, shape or both. A sock knitted to a particular pattern with patterned yarn may be required to match a glove, which must also carry that pattern. Thus it may be desired to knit a sock with patterned yarn which creates an insignia above the ankle and to match this with a knitted glove which bears the same insignia, say on the back of the palm area of the glove. The two insignia may be different sizes and the pattern which the yarn is required to carry in order to create the insignia by knitting will be different. Ensuring that the two match in the required manner can be difficult.

Referring to Fig. 5, a ball 150 of patterned knitting yarn is shown. The yarn of the ball 150 incorporates patterned elements 210. The nature of the patterned elements is such as to enable a large scale pattern to be created on a garment, such as a sock or glove, for example. This creation of such a pattern will necessarily require the production of a pattern of different coloured elements upon a length of the yarn which is both complex and may be large. The term 'complex' is here used in the sense that the order and period of the elements is complex; and the term 'large' in the sense that the distance along the yarn over which the pattern will extend (either once, or alternatively - and depending upon the insignium desire to produce on the final knitted item - repetitively), or it's 'span' will be substantial.

The yarn includes a datum segment 200 of distinctive yarn. Typically, though not necessarily, at least one datum segment is located at or close to one end of the yarn for convenience. In the present embodiment, the distinctiveness of the datum segment arises from its distinctive colouring; but it may equally arise from distinctive gauge, texture or even a different material or in any other way that serves to provide distinctiveness. Where the datum segment's distinctiveness arises from its colour, ideally, the colour or colours and/or pattern of the datum segment is a colour and/or pattern which is different to any of the colours and/or element or combination of pattern elements on the yarn illustrated schematically in Fig. 5; or where the pattern is multi-coloured, a shade and colour which is not prevalent in the pattern.

The function of the datum segment is to provide a reference location signifying a point on the yarn where knitting should commence in order that the pattern on the yarn shall produce a particular, desired patterned result on the final garment. In this way, an item such as a sock or a glove can be knitted and, by following the specification with respect to - for example - the number of stitches in a row, the number of rows, stitch type and needle diameter, a pattern corresponding to that illustrated by the manufacturer of the yarn and desired by the consumer can reliably be produced without undue difficulty in identifying a starting location. Further, in the case of items which are paired, such as gloves, sleeves or socks, for example, two such items can be produced in such a manner that the patterns on the two items are in register.

In a modification, also illustrated in Fig. 5, a single bundle of yarn has two patterned lengths; that is to say two lengths which are part of the same monolithic bundle of yarn. Thus, an item can first be knit by commencing knitting with respect to a first datum segment; and when that item has been knit, the yarn can be cut and then payed out until a second datum segment 200 (illustrated in Fig. 5 as being located immediately after a single repetition of the pattern of elements 210 but may equally be located after plural repetitions) is reached and knitting for a second, identical item can then be commenced by commencing knitting with reference to a second datum segment.

Where the items to be knitted are to be identical (or a mirror of each other - such as gloves), each of the lengths of yarn will be identical: the distance from the datum segment to the first patterned element will be the same and the two patterns will be the same along each point of their lengths. Where the items are to correspond but are different (such as in the sock and glove example, above) then the distance from the datum segment to the first patterned element on the two lengths will have correspondence and the patterns likewise, but the spacings of the pattern elements will take account of the different geometries of the items and different sizes. Where the two items are identical in shape but different sizes, one pattern will be a scaled version of the other, for example.

Embodiments of the present invention have predominately been described by reference to a yarn which has a pattern arising from its colouring. The present invention is equally applicable to all other manners of providing patterning during knitting. For example, the invention is equally applicable to a yarn with different physical configurations along its length to provide one or more of slubs, neps or boucles; or different textures or gauges along its length. Equally the present invention is not limited in its application to the use of yarn to produce more than one item and may equally find applicability to create a single item.