Free, but if you like it and want to thank me with a cup of coffee, I could always use the caffeine.

Art Deco patterns frequently catch my eye – sets of long parallel lines intersecting each other in elegant angles call out to be recreated in knitting. These socks were inspired by a set of French doors in the Marx Brothers movie Animal Crackers (Paramount Pictures, 1930).

The design is drawn with slipped stitches on a stockinette background, working the diagonal lines over two rows and the vertical lines over three. It can be difficult to keep track of what’s going on and what happens next, but like a good Marx Brothers movie, if you relax and go with it, eventually the chaos, repetition and syncopation resolve into something beautiful, fun, and sophisticated.

Pattern is written for three sizes: men’s small (medium, large), to fit mid-foot circumference 8.5 (9.5, 10.5) inches.