Oh Noro...

So, I was just stopping into a wonderful LYS, and was completely enamoured by their selection of Noro sock yarns, specifically Noro Silk Garden Sock. The colors were amazing, the texture, and it seemed much softer than their Kureyon sock yarn. I got home and uncharacteristically immediately cast on for some socks. I wanted them to be perfect, basic socks. I wanted the socks to be twins (unlike my previous pair made out of Kureyon). I wanted to use as much of the yarn as possible. Maybe I have a low entertainment threshold and was too entertained by watching the colors change, or that they were knit on US 2 needles, but these flew off the needles and 10 days later (which includes a 4 day weekend in which I did not bring this project), a finished pair:

Noro Knee Highs - Basic toe up socks using this pattern
Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn - s258, and a white sock yarn from the stash held double
US 2 needles

Love them!

As I said above, I loved watching the colors change. I was almost successful with matching the socks, but, Noro, and its knots - sigh. There were 2 knots in my skein - the first came conveniently at the end of the first sock. The second came during the leg of the second (right) sock - it should transition from yellow to purple, but goes from yellow to pink. Its less noticable on the picture, and only threw off the colors a bit, but arg! Oh well.

Will I become a toe up sock knitter? I don't know. I do like the ability to use up all of the yarn without worrying about running out (for socks with yarn that you don't want to waste). And this cast on makes everything a lot less painful (I had been doing a crochet cast on for toe ups). I'm still more comfortable/familiar with the top down, and it seems to go faster (ending with the leg/boring part seems to make the toe up drag on a little more). We'll see! I have some lovely yarn that also will be toe up socks, and after that....