Sweetened Footies

In my memories, childhood summer was a magical time of never-ending sunshine, trips to the pool or park and hours spent riding bikes or just playing with my friends. Carefree times of just “being”. Dressing up for special occasions meant trading flip-flops and shorts for sundresses and flirty white ankle socks, with cuffs that turned down showing a layer of lace and ribbon, skimming the tops of MaryJane shoes.

These top cuff down footie socks capture all of the flirty fun of those socks I remember, with the added charm of beads applied in two different ways.

Size

Women’s medium 8-inch circumference, length adjustable.

Yarn

Serenity Sock Weight, 50% wool, 25% bamboo, 25% nylon, 230 yards [211 meters] 50 gms [1.76 ounces] 1 or 2 balls, shown in cream. (Sample used almost all of one ball of yarn and is shown on a US size 8 foot.)

Needles

Size US 1 (2.5 mm): circular or dpn needles for working in the round.

Size US 16 (0.6mm) crochet hook for applied beads.

Beading needle or dental floss threader for pre-strung beads.

Notions

St markers, large-eyed tapestry needle for grafting and weaving in ends, optional sock blockers.

Approx 288 glass size 6/0 seed beads, shown in pink lined clear beads. We recommend starting with more than this amount to account for oddly-shaped beads that may not fit on the yarn or crochet hook.

Gauge

32 sts and 36 rows = 4” [10 cm] in St st after wet blocking.

Pattern Notes

Beads are both pre-strung and applied during knitting with a crochet hook.

Pre-strung beads will appear to be on the inside of your sock while you are working on it, as the cuff folds down they will be on the outside when worn.

This pattern is worked in the round from the cuff down.

Any fingering weight sock yarn can be used.

Any style heel and toe can be used if you have a favorite.

To have the ruffle sit higher on your leg work additional ribbing rounds before starting the heel flap instructions.

Charts

Cuff

Foot

Sock Pattern

Setup

Pre-string 96 beads onto working yarn (note that our tutorial on pre-stringing will NOT work in this case because the tutorial will – at most – situate the beads in every other stitch). Using a long tail or knitted cast on, CO 96 sts, pm and join to begin working the round, being careful not to twist.

Rnd 1: K.

Rnd 2: P.

Rnd 3: *K1, slide bead up to needle, repeat from * to end of rnd.

Rnd 4: K.

Rnd 5: P.

Garter Lace

Following the charted instructions work rnds 6 – 23 one time.

Rnds 24-44: K1, *p2, k2, repeat from* to last 3 sts, p2, k1.

Heel Flap

Row 1: *Sl1, k1 repeat from* across 32 heel sts.

Row 2: Sl1, p31.

Repeat these two rows a total of 16 times. (32 rows worked)

Turn the Heel

Row 1: Sl1, k18, ssk, k1 turn.

Row 2: Sl1, p7, p2tog, p1 turn.

Row 3: Sl1, k8, ssk, k1 turn.

Row 4:  Sl1, p9, p2tog, p1 turn.

Repeat rows 3 & 4, working one additional st before each decrease until all sts have been worked. (20 sts on this needle.)

K20, pick up and k17 sts along the gusset, pm, work rnd 1 of foot chart over the next 32 sts, pm, pick up and k17 sts along the gusset. K 10 sts to center heel.  (Place a different m if desired, this is our start of round position. This m is not included in the Gusset or Toe instructions.)

Gusset

Rnd 1: K to within 3 sts of the first m, k2tog, k1, sm, work foot chart across 32 sts, sm, k1, ssk, k to end of rnd.

Rnd 2: K to first m, sm, work foot chart across 32 sts, sm, k to end of round.

Repeat these two rounds until 32 sts rem on the sole. 64 sts total. (Leave the m’s in for ease in working the toe decreases.)

Checking foot length frequently, work foot chart across the instep and k all sts across the sole until 2.5 inches [6 cm] less than desired length.

Toe

Rnd 1:  K to within 3 sts of first m, k2tog, k1, sm, k1, ssk, k  to within 3 sts of second m, k2tog, k1, sm, k1, ssk, k to end of rnd.

Rnd 2: K across all sts.

Work these two rnds a total of 8 times. 32 total sts rem.

Repeat rnd 1 (decrease rnd) 4 more times. 16 sts rem.

K across to first m, resituate sts, if needed, so that all instep sts are on one needle and all sole sts are on another.  Cut yarn, leaving a long tail and graft the two sides together using a Kitchener St.

Finishing

Weave in your ends, block if desired and unless you were working two at a time, k the other sock, taking care to match row counts from first sock.