These cute, summer ankle socks were designed for my daughter Betsy, age 9, specifically to show off the wonderful sock set from Blue Fern Yarns that was also designed for my daughter Betsy!

I wanted them to be short and pretty and I have always wanted to try the ‘applied bows’ embroidery technique from Pam Dawson’s 1976 book, A Complete Guide To Knitting. Only problem was the first time I showed Betsy the embroidery she said “oh what pretty butterflies” (face palm) and so the Betsy Butterfly Socks were born.

I have made two versions.

The original blue version has contrast heels and toes, a shadow wrap heel and the embroidery is worked with the mint mini yarn (4ply) held double. This pair used the Blue Fern Yarns sock set Betsy’s Yarn consisting of a mint mini and blue main (see photos).

The white version has no contrasting elements, a heel flap and gusset with rainbow embroidery using DK weight sock yarn. I used Aloe Sockwool in White for this pair and leftover DK weight sock yarn from my Indie Yarn Club advent 2021.

Both used approx. 42/43g of yarn for a child’s size 2 (UK).

The pattern is worked over 60sts on 2.25mm needles and can easily be adjusted to work for adults by just adding length to the foot - bear this in mind when calculating yarn requirements, you may be looking at closer to 50g of yarn for an average woman’s foot.

The applied embroidery is fairly simple to work and I have included written instructions as well as a chart to help you with this.

The pattern has been extensively tested and tech edited but errata will be displayed on this page if any arise.