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Ruffle Socks
Knit in our new Stormy Superwash Sock yarn, our Ruffle Socks are topped by a little ruffle at the cuff, like a soft cloud perched at the edge of your sock. With a sense of everyday elegance, these socks are polished yet playful, grown-up in spirit but still light at heart!
You knit this pattern from the ruffled cuff down, so you get to do the fun part right away and then relax into some simple sock knitting! To knit that just-right ruffle, you cast on a generous number of stitches, then decrease rapidly over a few rows of ribbing. The knits pop forward, the purls recede, and the cuff gathers into the perfect amount of flair at the top of each sock.
You’ll knit your Ruffle Socks with an “easy heel” construction, which means knitting the whole leg and foot as a tube with a stop along the way to knit half your stitches with scrap yarn. At the very end, you just remove the scrap yarn, slip the live stitches onto your needles, and knit the heel in the round. Don’t worry, it really is “easy,” and we include instructions and step-by-step photos right in the pattern!
Our new Stormy Superwash Sock yarn knits up into a comforting pair of socks you’ll love to pull on as rain taps at your window. A classic, machine-washable sock yarn made with 85% fine superwash merino wool and 15% recycled nylon, this fingering-weight yarn has the ideal balance of softness and strength, and it’s an absolute delight to knit with its smooth texture and lively bounce.
In an atmospheric palette of 18 heathered colors, moody shades like Evening Tide roll into shore, while Summer Sky and Light Cerulean suggest sunnier days ahead… And those are just the blues we chose for our Ruffle Socks!
The Ruffle Socks are charming on every foot, which is why we included sizes from little kids to big adults. Pick your favorite color of Stormy Superwash Sock, and cast on for a pair of socks that will turn every day into your perfect forecast!
Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!
Pattern designed and written by Purl Soho designer, Hiromi Glover. See even more of Hiromi’s work on her Instagram!
Story written by Andrea Lotz for Purl Soho.
Materials
- 1 (2, 2, 2-3, 3, 3) ball(s) of Purl Soho’s Stormy Superwash Sock, 85% fine superwash merino and 15% recycled nylon. Each ball of this fingering-weight yarn is 192 yards/ 50 grams; approximately 170–180 (215–230, 295–325, 365–415, 445–460, 560–575) total yards required, depending on foot length. We used the colors Summer Sky, Light Cerulean, and Evening Tide.
- US ½ (2.25 mm), 32-inch circular knitting needles for Magic Loop OR a set of US ½ double pointed needles
- Stitch markers, including one unique
- A few yards of fingering-weight scrap yarn
- A Ruffle Socks Pattern PDF
GAUGE
38 stitches and 48 rounds = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
SIZES
Little Kid (Big Kid, Adult Small, Adult Medium, Adult Large, Adult X-Large)
- Finished Foot Circumference: 5½ (6, 7¼, 8, 8¾, 10) inches (Choose a size that is approximately 1–2 inches smaller than the circumference of the wearer’s foot.)
- Finished Leg Length: 3 (3½, 4, 4½, 4¾, 5¼) inches
- Finished Foot Length: Adjustable
Samples: We knit the Adult Medium to fit a women’s US 7½.
PATTERN
The Ruffle Socks Pattern is available as a PDF.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho. We can’t wait to see what you make!
LEARN ABOUT STORMY SUPERWASH SOCK + ALL OUR BEAUTIFUL YARNS
Stormy Superwash Sock is the perfect yarn to brighten a gloomy forecast and bring this project to life! This classic 85% superwash wool + 15% recycled nylon fingering-weight yarn feels soft in the hand and delightfully bouncy on your needles, with the strength to stand up to daily wear and lots of trips through the washer. The naturally luminous palette of heathered colors feels just right for gray skies and cozy days, and handy 50-gram balls encourage you to mix it up with contrasting heels and toes, stripes, and all the colorwork you can dream up!
More Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our growing collection of Stormy Superwash Sock knitting patterns and cast on!
More Fingering-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of fingering-weight yarns (What does fingering-weight yarn mean, really? Our guide to fingering-weight yarn will answer your questions and more!)
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial and our Yarn Substitution article for lots of helpful information.
More Yarns With Similar Fibers
- Shop superwash wool yarn
- Shop merino wool yarn
- Shop machine washable yarn
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our knitting patterns (including tons of free knitting patterns) and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
Just beautiful! Thank you again Purl Soho for a beautiful pattern.
Hi Maria,
Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment! We’re so thrilled you’re a fan of this pattern!
All the best,
Cat
Hi! What is a size 1/2 needle? Or does it mean either size 1 or2 to obtain gauge. Thank you.Such adorable socks!
Hi Julie,
Thank you so much for asking! We used 2.25mm needles for this sock pattern and refer to them as size US ½. It looks like the formatting of the “one half” in the materials list can be read as “one slash two,” though, and we are so sorry for the ambiguity! We’ll get that updated right away.
We truly appreciate your incredibly kind words about this design! Thank you again for reaching out, and please let us know if you have any other questions.
Kindly,
Cat
Thank you!
Hello!! I’m having difficulty determining the correct size to knit. I have a 8 3/4 inch foot circumference. The instructions say to pick a size 1-2 inches smaller than the foot circumference. What size do you recommend? Thank you for your help. Your patterns are The Best!!
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for asking! I’d recommend knitting the size 3 for the best fit. I hope this helps but please let us know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Gavriella
I am unable to get the gauge small enough on the ruffle sock pattern. I have gone down to a 0 needle but still I can only get 32 sts for 4 inches. I bought the Stormy Superwash, enough for 3 pairs of socks so I definitely want to use the pattern with it. I am knitting for a size 8 foot circumference so do you have any suggestions?
Hi Diane,
Oh no! We are so sorry you are running into gauge issues. Could you let us know which mm size you are using and your row gauge as well? I will keep an eye out for your reply!
All the best,
Gavriella
I am using a size 2.0 mm HiyaHiya double point. I knit the swatch in the round and blocked it. I am getting 12-13 rows to an inch.
Hi Diane,
Thank you for sharing those additional details! In this case I think you should size down to a 000 needle (1.25mm). From there if your gauge is still too larger, I’d recommend sizing down a sock size to accommodate for the larger gauge. I hope this helps but please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you!
I am having the same problem with the gage, it just seems like way too many stitches. I am using size 0 (2.0 mm) double pointed needles and knitting the size large for a women’s size 9 foot, but the circumference is 10 inches right now which is the size of the XL. I tend to knit on the tighter size so I am surprised at this result. A
Hi Jessica,
So sorry you are running into tension issues! Could you please confirm your current gauge? If you are getting too many stitches per inch then you will need to go up a needle size, not down but I will keep an eye out for your reply!
All the best,
Gavriella
I am having difficulty understanding the “Easy Heel Set-up” and the use of scrap yarn in general. After sliding all the stitches back onto the left needle. do you let that sit there while using only the right needle to continue the foot? I don’t get how you continue to work in the round after taking the left needle out of the work. I am using the Magic loop method.
Hi Avis,
Great question! For this section you are using the scarp yarn to ultimately knit half the stitches so that your live stitches are on hold but in place to continue knitting. So this means you will knit with the scarp yarn for the indicated amount of stitches and then slide them over to knit them again with your working main color yarn. This will result in a half row of stitches in your scrap yarn. I hope this helps clarify!
All the best,
Gavriella
I absolutely LOVE this Ruffle Socks, but only knit toe-up since I can never get the top down to fit correctly. Is there a way to mimic the top of this sock with toe-up?
Hi Gayle!
Great question! Yes, you can absolutely make this toe-up and still get that ruffled cuff. You’ll just reverse the shaping — work increase rounds instead of decreases at the top of the sock to create the flare. Knit your sock toe-up to the height you want, then mirror the ruffle section by working it backwards and swapping each decrease round for increases (like kfb or M1s). Finish with a stretchy bind-off and you’re set!
If you need more help figuring out how to do this, feel free to email us at [email protected] — we’re happy to help!
Warmly,
Megan
Hello,
I started the ruffle on the cuff with 170 Sts. After the first decrease round I had 136 Sts. After the second decrease round (round 4) I had 102 Sts. So I decreased 34 Sts on the first decrease…170-34=136. The second decrease I also decreased 34 sts…136-34=102. According to the pattern I should have 68 Sts. What happened???
Thanks for your help!
Maggie
Hi Maggie!
Thanks for writing in! Round 4 actually has more decreases than Round 2, which is why your stitch count drops so much more.
On Round 2, there is only one decrease in each repeat (k2, s2kp, k2, p3), so that round decreases a total of 34 stitches, taking you from 170 to 136.
On Round 4, there are two different decreases in each repeat (k1, s2kp, k1, purl 3 together). Because you’re working two decreases per repeat instead of one, you’re decreasing twice as fast, which correctly brings you from 136 to 68 stitches, just as the pattern states.
So nothing went wrong — Round 4 is simply a much stronger decrease round than Round 2. Hope this clears it up!
Warmly,
Megan
Hello, and thank you for the lovely pattern! Although I’ve knit many socks, I’ve never done an afterthought heel. When picking up the stitches to complete it, I noticed the bottom portion has one less stitch than required on both socks. After some research, I discovered that this is a very common occurrence with this heel method. How should the missing stitch be added? I was hoping for an afterthought heel video that may address this issue,
Hi Maria,
Thanks for reaching out about this! You’re right that for the bottom section you may need to add an extra stitch to get the correct stitch count. This is because for that section you’re changing the direction of your knitting (you were knitting from the top down, but for the bottom of the heel you’re picking up stitches from the other direction). We like to pick up the extra stitch by grabbing a stitch either to the left or the right of the bottom stitches and adding it to our needles. Another option is to pick up an extra stitch in one of the corners between the bottom and the top heel stitches.
Since we don’t have a video for this specific technique, we recommend searching for afterthought heel tutorials using your preferred search engine to help find the method that works best for you!
We hope this helps! Let us know if you have any questions.
Kindly,
Allison