Rainbow clouds are caused by cloud iridescence, a rare phenomenon that occurs when small ice crystals in newly forming clouds scatter the sun’s light.(NOAA NESDIS)

The Rainbow Cloud socks use an assigned pooling yarn to create puffy clouds of color on the leg of your sock. While any assigned pooling yarn works for this pattern, I designed this specifically for my 2026 color of the year. While the bright spots and rainbows feel like they are rare these days, my hope is that they will still happen.

The pattern includes a Toe Up and Cuff Down version of the sock.