The Start of Something Magical

It's sock time! There is something special about socks. The first time you knit one you struggle to understand the pattern, do what you're told and you end up with a magical, beautiful fitted sock and you're not quite sure how you did it. Every single time I knit one there is a sense of amazement - there is powerful, ingenious knitting math at work - but it's not too hard. They are portable, relatively quick, and you never get sick of knitting socks. You can make them as simple or complex as you want.

While I've made several pairs of socks, all of them have been top-down. I've tried the toe-up method a few times, but never got past the heel. I like socks with a snug fit, and hate the way a plain short-row heel fits. I've run across a lot of toe-up patterns with a gusset, but haven't actually tried one.

I've been drooling over Colinette's Jitterbug sock yarn lately, finally gave in today and picked up a hank of the colorway Toscana. I also grabbed some Addi Lace size 1 circulars, 32", because magic loop is so much easier than double points. It's not that I mind using dpn's, but I knit continental and sometimes give the needles a kung fu death grip, so they tend to snap in half. The Addi Lace needles are my new favorite toy - the tip is perfectly pointy with a gradual slope, the joins are the smoothest things I've ever felt, and they are slightly less slick than the Addi Turbos - again, as a continental knitter I prefer a little more control.

I've been searching online for the perfect pattern, but am stubborn and don't know what my gauge will be so I've bookmarked a few to guide me through the knitting. I'm starting with the magic cast-on for toe-up socks from knitty and will check gauge as I knit. There will probably be some sort of stitch pattern involved, so I'll flip through my Barbara Walker Treasuries and find something cool. First thing first - cast on. After that, who knows, but the yarn is so pretty and the best way to learn something new is to dive in, right? Or am I crazy? Maybe both? We'll see...