Some Fearless Knitting

This week I was inspired by:

1. Socks from the Toe Up
2. My new Casbah yarn
3. An episode of the Knitmore Girls podcast where they talked about not saving your good things "until the Pope comes"

So I cast on for my first pair of toe up socks. I watched this video of Judy's Magic Cast On, and viola!
I had to rip out the toe a few times, but now I'm almost to the heel. That will be the next challenge, and then I'll be home free. This Casbah yarn is so wonderful to work with- it's soft and not splitty at all, plus I am loving the way the colors are pooling/striping.

I'm having a little trouble with gauge. The pattern says to use 2s. I'm using 1.5s and I really need to go down a size or two, but I wanted to use magic loop and I don't have a smaller Addi. When I'm doing the Casbah sock I got the yarn and pattern for yesterday I will definitely have to go buy a smaller needle. I was always such a tight knitter, but it appears I am loosening up.

Now, my intention was to do a pair of plain vanilla socks for my first toe up socks, but I felt a little silly with two skeins of the same yarn in my stash. When I remembered what the Knitmore Girls said about not saving yarn for special occasions, I decided to go for it. I am glad I did. This pattern isn't hard, but it is just interesting enough to keep me knitting.

Edited: I did the heel today and as long as I followed the directions, it was fine. I have little holes that I will need to tighten up, but all in all I am very happy with my first attempt at a short row heel. I'm sure the holes will disappear with practice.