When I first started knitting in public, my sister-in-law thought I was announcing a pregnancy (true story). I wasn’t, but over the last two decades I’ve had numerous chances to knit for an expectant mother. For me, this is always a nice break from bigger projects; others may find themselves only knitting baby and child sizes. While there are many published pattern collections available, Ravelry offers many free patterns from both emergent and established designers. In addition to offering a pattern for that occasional knit, this can be a great way to see if you like an artist’s process as well as aesthetic.

A search for baby socks in the pattern database brings up almost six thousand entries. Qualifying with “knitting” and “free” brings the total down to just below two thousand. That’s still quite a few patterns to choose from! Decisions must be made: do you want to knit with fingering yarn? Perhaps you find yourself in the mood for a slip stitch pattern? Or a particular way of creating a sock? You can personalize a search any way you like! Today, I’ve done the searching to bring you these four patterns that I’ve found particularly useful over the years.

Kate Atherley is the author of Custom Socks and a prolific designer. "Baby Socks" is a concise, quick knit using fingering weight yarn and a straightforward top-down method. Knitters new to sock knitting will find this a great introduction to the oeuvre, but experienced knitters looking for a quick gift will enjoy this pattern as well.

Autumn Street’s "Baby Uggs" takes the prize for over-the-top adorable. While the designer focuses on patterns for boys, I wouldn’t hesitate to make these for a girl as well. The pattern uses an alternate construction and DK yarn, which means quicker knitting and a new challenge for experienced sock knitters.

Prefer to avoid knitting the heel entirely? Pat Veretto’s "Socks Without Heels" article is written for any size and any length, including babies. A spiral tube sock, the author claims, will adhere to the foot shape and ensure that the sock will fit.

Finally, "Beloved Baby’s Socks" by Maike Schroeder walks the knitter through creating a stranded knit sock. This pattern presents each sock section separately, making it easy to focus. The stranded charts are colored for further comfort. While the knitter will need to know basic abbreviations, this is one of the better introductions to stranded sock knitting out there.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with any of the designers or with Ravelry.