My Favorite Lace Ankle Sock Pattern: Simone Ankle Socks

There is something deeply satisfying about slipping on a pair of handknitted socks. The way they fit, the softness against your skin, the quiet pride of knowing you made them yourself — it never gets old. I have knitted more socks than I can count at this point, from simple ribbed cuffs to intricate colorwork, from knee-highs that took months to cheerful shorties I finished over a single weekend. But of all the patterns in my library, one keeps calling me back again and again: the Simone Ankle Socks.

This lace ankle sock pattern has become my absolute favorite for reasons I want to share in detail today. Whether you are a seasoned sock knitter looking for your next obsession or a newer knitter curious about lace socks for the first time, I hope this deep dive into the Simone Ankle Socks gives you everything you need to fall just as hard for this pattern as I have.

How I Discovered the Simone Ankle Socks

I found this pattern the way I find most of my favorites: by accident. I was scrolling through my Ravelry queue on a rainy afternoon, looking for something that would use up a skein of fingering weight yarn I had been hoarding for too long. It was a pale sage green with just a hint of gray — beautiful but somehow intimidating. I had been saving it for the right project and never quite committing.

The Simone Ankle Socks appeared in a search and I was immediately drawn in by the photograph. The lace panel running along the top of the foot had this delicate, almost vintage quality to it, like something your grandmother might have worn with her Sunday best. But the overall silhouette was undeniably modern: a clean ankle height, a neat cuff, nothing fussy or overdone. I added it to my queue, bought the pattern that same evening, and cast on within the week.

That sage green skein? It was absolutely the right match. The lace showed up beautifully in the lighter colorway, and the finished socks became one of my most-worn pairs.

What Makes a Great Lace Ankle Sock Pattern

Before I get into the specifics of the Simone pattern, I want to talk a little about what I look for in a lace ankle sock in general, because I think it will help explain why this one stands out so much for me.

Lace on socks is a tricky proposition. The lace has to be interesting enough to be worth the effort but not so complex that you lose your place every five minutes. It needs to hold up to the structural demands of a sock — the stretch, the friction, the way fabric moves with your foot — without distorting or becoming unrecognizable after washing. And it needs to be placed thoughtfully. Lace on the sole of a foot is a nightmare for comfort. Lace buried inside a boot is a waste of everyone’s time. The best lace sock patterns put the decorative work exactly where it will be seen and appreciated.

Beyond the lace itself, a great ankle sock pattern should have a heel that actually fits. The heel is where most socks fail in my experience. A heel that is too shallow gaps at the back. A heel that is too deep bunches up under your ankle bone. I have strong feelings about heels, and I will get into exactly how the Simone handles this in a moment.

Finally, the finishing should be satisfying. No one wants to spend hours on a beautiful lace panel only to close the toe with an awkward Kitchener stitch they can never quite get right. The best patterns walk you through the finishing clearly and leave you with a toe that looks as polished as the rest of the sock.

The Simone Ankle Socks hit every single one of these marks.

Breaking Down the Pattern: Cuff to Toe

The Cuff

The Simone Ankle Socks open with a simple but elegant twisted rib cuff. Twisted rib — where you knit through the back loop of each knit stitch — creates a tighter, more defined fabric than standard ribbing, and it has a slight visual crispness that sets the tone for the rest of the sock beautifully. The cuff is short enough to qualify as a true ankle sock but substantial enough to stay in place throughout the day. I have worn these with sneakers, with ballet flats, and with low-heeled boots, and the cuff never slides down into my shoe.

The cast-on is a long-tail cast-on, which gives the edge just enough elasticity without being sloppy. If you prefer a German twisted cast-on for extra stretch, the pattern works just as well with that substitution — I have tried it both ways and it really comes down to personal preference.

The Leg

After a short section of the twisted rib, you transition into the lace panel that runs down the leg and continues over the instep. This is where the Simone pattern really shines. The lace motif is a repeating panel of yarn overs and decreases that creates a delicate leaf-like pattern. It is a six-row repeat, which is short enough that you can memorize it after the first two or three rounds but long enough to stay interesting throughout.

One of the things I love about the construction is that the lace panel is centered on the leg and the instep. The designer has done the math for you, so you are not trying to figure out how to center a motif yourself — it is simply built into the pattern. For those of us who love beautiful results but do not always want to do the geometry, this is a genuine gift.

The leg is worked in the round, which means you are always looking at the right side of your work. For lace in the round, all your pattern rows are right-side rows, which makes reading the lace much more intuitive than if you were working flat. If you have ever knitted lace flat and struggled to read the wrong-side rows, you know exactly why in-the-round lace is such a joy.

The Heel

Now, the heel. I mentioned I have strong feelings, and I meant it.

The Simone Ankle Socks use a heel flap and gusset construction, which is my personal preference for socks. I know afterthought heels and short-row heels have their devotees, and I respect that, but for my foot shape, nothing fits like a well-executed heel flap. The extra rows of the flap create a slightly denser, more durable fabric right where your heel takes the most wear, and the gusset gives you the depth and volume needed for a comfortable fit around the back of your ankle.

The heel flap in the Simone pattern uses a classic eye-of-partridge stitch — a variation on the slip-stitch heel that creates a subtle woven texture. Eye-of-partridge is slightly more complex than the standard slip-stitch heel flap but the result is noticeably more beautiful. The texture has this almost woven, herringbone quality that looks intentional and refined.

Turning the heel is written clearly and concisely in the pattern. The instructions use a standard short-row heel turn with the familiar “slip, knit, SSK, turn” sequence on one side and “slip, purl, P2tog, turn” on the other. If you have turned a heel before, this will feel like home. If you are newer to sock knitting, the pattern gives enough guidance to get you through without panic.

The gusset pickup is clean and the instructions are specific about where to pick up stitches to avoid holes at the corners — a detail not every pattern bothers to address but which makes an enormous difference in the finished sock.

The Foot

After the gusset decreases bring you back to your original stitch count, the foot section continues the lace panel across the instep and works the sole in stockinette. This is the right call. Stockinette on the sole is comfortable, stretches properly, and does not distort the fit. The lace continues to be visible on top — which means when you are sitting down with your legs crossed or your feet up on the couch, the pattern is right there to admire.

The length of the foot is given in a simple formula: work until the sock measures a set distance from the back of the heel to the beginning of the toe shaping. The pattern provides sizes and measurements clearly, and there is room to customize length easily if your feet fall between sizes or if you are knitting for someone else. I always add an extra half inch to account for the way the sock will stretch slightly after washing, and the pattern’s construction accommodates this without any issues.

The Toe

The toe is worked as a standard wedge toe with mirrored decreases on both sides of the foot. It is simple, it fits well across a range of foot widths, and it closes with a Kitchener stitch — yes, that one. If Kitchener makes you nervous, I will say this: the pattern gives a brief but clear summary of the stitch, and by the time you reach the toe, you have spent so much enjoyable time with this sock that finishing it properly feels like the least you can do for it. I always watch a video refresher before my Kitchener stitch regardless of how many times I have done it, and I am not ashamed.

Yarn Choices for the Simone Ankle Socks

The Simone pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, ideally a superwash wool or a wool-nylon blend. I have knitted this pattern in several different yarns and I want to share my experiences with each.

My first pair was knitted in a superwash merino with around 20 percent nylon, which is my standard go-to for socks. The stitch definition was excellent and the lace motif showed up crisply. The fabric has excellent durability and the socks have been through dozens of washes without pilling or losing their shape.

I also made a pair in a pure superwash merino without nylon, which gave a slightly softer, squishier result. The lace was a little less crisp but the drape was beautiful, and the finished sock felt luxurious against the skin. These are my “fancy occasion” socks — the ones I wear with nicer shoes rather than everyday sneakers.

For a gift pair, I used a plant-fiber blend that included some bamboo, and while the finished socks were stunning, the yarn was slightly slippery to work with and required more attention to tension. If you are newer to lace knitting, I would stick to a wool-dominant yarn for your first pair and save the more slippery fibers for when the pattern is firmly in your muscle memory.

Color choice matters more than people sometimes realize with lace. Heathered and variegated yarns can obscure the lace pattern — the visual noise of the color changes competes with the visual interest of the lace. Semi-solid or tonal yarns let the motif breathe and show off clearly. My favorite pairings have been soft sage green, a warm dusty rose, and a deep navy that made the lace look almost architectural.

Sizing and Modifications

The Simone pattern comes in multiple sizes based on foot circumference, which makes it genuinely wearable for a range of feet. I knit the larger size as my standard but have also made a smaller size as a gift, and both fit their recipients beautifully.

The most common modification I see people making is adjusting the cuff height. The pattern as written gives you a clean, short ankle cuff, but you can easily add more rounds of the twisted rib before transitioning to the lace if you want something that sits a little higher on your ankle. Just be mindful of your yarn yardage if you extend the cuff significantly — it does not take many extra rows to eat into your remaining yarn, especially with a 400-yard skein.

Some knitters substitute different lace motifs within the instep panel. The panel as written has a defined stitch count that is easy to swap out for another lace pattern of the same width. I have experimented with a simple feather-and-fan variation and a small diamond lace motif, both of which worked beautifully within the structure of the Simone pattern.

Why I Keep Coming Back to This Pattern

I have knitted the Simone Ankle Socks at least eight times now. That number surprises even me when I say it out loud, because I am generally someone who chases novelty and rarely repeats a pattern unless it is genuinely exceptional.

The reason I keep coming back is simple: these socks are a pleasure from cast-on to bind-off. The lace repeat is satisfying to work, the construction is logical and well-sequenced, and the finished object is something I am genuinely proud to wear or give as a gift. They photograph beautifully, they wear well, they wash well, and they fit.

There is also something to be said for the way a pattern teaches you something each time you return to it. My first pair of Simone Ankle Socks taught me a lot about lace in the round. My third pair taught me about yarn choice and color interaction with lace motifs. My sixth pair was the first time I truly felt like I could work the heel flap without looking at the pattern at all. By my eighth pair, I was modifying confidently and knitting the lace repeat from memory.

A pattern that grows with you as a knitter is rare and worth celebrating.

Final Thoughts

If you have been looking for a lace ankle sock pattern that is beautiful without being overwhelming, classic without being boring, and satisfying to knit from beginning to end, the Simone Ankle Socks deserve a spot at the top of your queue. They make wonderful gifts, they work beautifully in a wide range of yarn colors and fibers, and they will reward you with a finished object that feels genuinely special every time you wear them.

Grab a skein of your favorite sock yarn in a color that makes your heart happy, cast on, and see what I mean. I am willing to bet that your first pair will not be your last.

Happy knitting.