Ruffled cuff on top-down socks?

How-to Questions
1

Hi everyone,

I just finished a pair of Broadripple socks, and I’m going to start a new pair soon. I’m interested in experimenting with a ruffled cuff on an anklet-length sock. However, most of the instructions I’ve come across for ruffles place the ruffles at the end of the finished object, and not at the beginning (which would be the cuff of these socks, since they’ll be knit top-down). I’m wondering if this would work-

  1. Cast on required # of stitches for cuff
  2. Knit into front and back of every stitch, as most ruffle directions indicate
  3. Knit around
  4. Decrease back to original stitch count and continue from there

I might just have to test this, but I don’t want to waste the effort if one of you seasoned sock knitters knows it won’t work. The other option, as I see it, it to knit the sock without the ruffle. Then I could go back and pick up stitches along the cast-on edge, make the ruffle, and bind off. Any thoughts?

I’m quickly becoming addicted to knitting socks- I love them because there are so many possibilities for different design elements (different heels, toes, stitch patterns, cuffs, etc), and yet, they’re small and portable enough to provide (relatively) quick gratification.

2

well my first inclination was to say cast on double or quadruple what you want your actual stitch count to be when doing the rest of the sock (so for example cast on 240 stitches if you want 60.) and then knit two together all the way around twice.

so you would start with 240 the first round then 120 the second round and be down to 60 the third round and the rest of the way.

:thinking: not sure how crazy full that ruffle would be though or even if that would work for a sock as well as it did for a hat… :rofling:

3

This Bernat Pattern is for kids but you could use the ruffle pattern for an adult sized pair.

4

It doesn’t sound like it will work, at least if I understand you correctly. Your cast on edge would draw the fabric in, so you’d get more of a bulge than a ruffle!

You can always use a provisional cast on for the top of the sock, coming back to finish off the cuff with a ruffle that way. Or knit toe up instead.

5

Okay, I would have to experiment with this, I, too, have this in mind for a sock pattern :smiley: I would cast on 3 times the # of sts for the ruffle, in other words, if I were knitting a sock with 60 sts, I would cast on 180 sts & then do k3, p3 ribbing for about 3 inches, then decrease drastically with k3tog & p3tog. I would then continue in k3, p3 ribbing down the leg of the sock for 3 inches, then begin the heel. Now, this is just a thought…I’ve not yet knit it :wink: