Okay, I know I am late for the Academy Award thing, but I finally did decide on what pair of socks to start next.

This is the colorway I described as berry sundae in my previous post. Here's what it looks like cast on:

This is interesting yarn, because you would think from looking at it that the reds would stand out. Instead, it's the browns, as you can see from the little progress I have made on the cuff of the first sock (below). I am a little disappointed. The brown is nice and all, but the reds and blues are what hold my personal interest. However, I'll reserve my complete judgement until I get past the ribbing.

I would have had pictures of this up earlier, but I cast the thing on about 4 times before I was happy with it. You see, I cast on very tightly. I learned a good trick from Julie for a looser edge: doing a long-tail cast-on over two needles of about the same size as the needle you plan to work on. This was the cast on I used for the 3 other paris of socks I did or still have on needles. But Sally Mellville's The Knit Stitch turned me on to the crochet cast-on. The swatches I tried with it had a lovely, much looser edge. So I decided it would also be good to try with my socks.

I cast on the first time: much too loose, sock would have been big enough for an NFL linebacker
I cast on the second time: too tight. I might have been able to get it on, but not comfortably
I cast on the thrid time: just right on one side, too tight on the other

So I went back to what Julie taught me and it was "just right". I do like the crochet cast-on, but I think it works better for me on larger needles. I'm looking forward to testing it out again when I start John's sweater. Probably I will have to re-swatch for that project again. I did a little test using the Swallow Casein needles and they really have a high drag coefficient with the Rubino -- almost like the yarn is sticking to the needle. I have a feeling I'll be fighting them the whole project, and I am not up to fighting my needles for the entirety of a man-sized sweater.