I’m making a girl’s jacket with Lion Cotton, “Salt and Pepper,” which is black and white with very short gray transitions between the two. Here’s a sleeve. When the first white section came along, I just knitted it. But when the second and third white sections appeared, I knitted a lambstail. It’s just a short cast-on and bound-off section. My idea was to use up the white section in the lambstail, which would concentrate the black in the background.
Instructions for lambstails are in Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury. In her pattern, the tails are regularly spaced. Mine just show up based on the color that comes up in the knitting. Here’s a detail of de tails (I’m easily amused).
Look for the jacket pattern in INKnitters magazine. It will most likely be published in the summer 2005 issue, along with an article about having fun with variegated yarns.
UPDATE: It’s 2016 and INKnitters magazine has been out of print for several years. Look for copies on Ebay.