So you all know exactly what I did as soon as I finished my last post right? I cut open my sock club package (and then remembered the handknit socks that had been sitting in the sink in the laundry room for the last hour while I was typing and rushed to wring them out and hang them up) and pulled out the yarny goodness inside.

The sock club so far has been pretty representative of the many shades and variations of pink but we'd been promised a 'manly' colourway and I was very pleased to see that this month's kit was it. Meet Pining 4 Ewe - a green so dark that when I opened it up in the evening I first thought it was black.

This skein of yarn makes me so happy. I love knitting socks for Rob but whenever I go hunting for appropriate yarn I see a million colours I would wear on my feet and perhaps two or three (if I'm lucky) for him. I'm sure bright colours are more fun to dye but it is lovely to discover rich and beautiful darks. The manliness of this kit goes well beyond the yarn though. The patterns are manly too.

Pattern number one is a variation of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Moccasin Socks by her daughter Meg Swansen. The original pattern is a gift for those who hate to throw away a sock with a perfectly good upper because of a hole in the sole: when the sole is worn through and beyond repair you can remove the whole thing and knit a new one. Meg's variation adds complex twisted stitch motifs all over the upper.

Pattern number two, Buggin' Out, is as manly as a sock pattern can get and still involve fancy stitch patterns. It was even designed by a man (a long time sock club member it turns out). Stephen Houghton's socks have thick columns of ribbing that go right down the foot, a deeper heel, a slightly different, stretchier gusset, and spiders and apparently look pretty cool if you pull them on inside out.

I asked Rob if I could knit this month's pattern for him and which he would prefer. He chose the Buggin' Out socks (which, I confess, is the one I was hoping for). I gave him the option of not having the spiders (ribbing is usually as fancy as I get on Rob's socks) but he said they were okay. Now I can't wait to cast on; my ball winder will be getting some exercise this evening.

Oh, and the inside of my ball band says "Cone".