Birthday Socks

So, how many times do you repeat something before it becomes a habit or a tradition? H's good fortune, in allying himself to a perpetual provider of knitwear is that he now increases his 'fluffy sock' collection by at least three pairs a year - a pair for his birthday, a pair for Christmas from me and a pair from Father Christmas in his socking (St Nick being a distinct fan of extremely bad puns).

He now has a collection to rival a centipede with a fondness for extraordinarily bright footwear and as his loving wife, I wouldn't want to disappoint. I realised that the sock giving was now firmly established as a tradition a couple of weeks before our birthday when he asked, not whether he was getting socks, but which yarn I was knitting up!

And here they are:

The yarn is Indigo Moon Sock in Carnival which came from Socktopus last autumn and the pattern is a freebie - the Circle Socks by Anne Campbell - an ingenious design that provides a little interest to the knitting and isn't totally overwhelmed by the colours of the sock yarn.

I did amend the pattern a little, by adding an extra repeat - I used 72 sts - and adding an extra half repeat lengthwise on the leg. Technically there isn't really yarn to do this and the toes are leftovers from H's Fibonacci socks but it's the same yarn base and very similar colours. If you were knitting these for lesser feet you would be fine.

In the interests of equality - I also polished off a pair of birthday socks for myself:

The Cloning Anemone Rib socks from last year's Rockin Sock Club - I love the colours and the pattern is very comfy and has just the right balance between interest, and a bit of mindless stocking stitch for film knitting and standing up on the train. I knit a large and still had a fair amount of yarn leftover so it's success all round.

Two birthdays; two pairs of socks:

Perfect.

Thank you for all the compliments about the cake - it tastes wonderful and is now firmly embedded in my mind as the most fun that I've had with icing sugar!