New sock knitting method

Yesterday I cast on a pair of socks (well, technically I just cast on one). This is the first pair of socks I make for myself! I've made a few pairs before, but they were always for someone else. I have made myself slipper-type socks, but never just plain socks. When I was in London I picked up a couple of skiens of Regia self striping yarn (colour 02902) at I Knit. I didn't think I would be using the yarn for me, but I was just itching to make a simple pair of socks so I figured I would be the perfect model for my experimenting.

I chose a super easy pattern, Basic self-striping socks by Amy Klimt, but it presents two challenges for me. First, I decided in the fall to try knitting socks with two circular needles, and I really enjoy it. I spent a bit of time trying it out in December, but had to frog what I had done because I made a mistake with the pattern, and the yarn wasn't right for the socks, but it gave me enough practice to want to continue.

I cast the sock last night and I'm almost down to the heel

One of the things I realized almost right away though is that the needles I'm using aren't good. It's a bit of a snag-a-thon so far, so I opened a thread to ask for advice on Ravelry and got amazing advice right away. It seems that I should be choosing between the Chiao Goo red lace and the Hiya Hiya sharps. For the moment I'm leaning towards the Chiaogoo but I'll wait for a few more posts. 

So besides the new technique, I'm also trying out a new heel technique. I learned the heel flap technique and I'm quite happy working with a gusset and picking up stitches, but I don't think it looks good on self-striping yarn, so I decided to try out the afterthought heel. From what I understand it's very easy, so I look forward to getting there.

So there we are. There is already one thing I'm a bit unhappy with. I didn't do the ribbing in a smaller size needle, because I didn't have circulars or DPNs to do that, and I thought it wouldn't matter once the sock was on my let, but I've tried it and I can tell. No one else probably will be able to tell, and I will most probably always wear these socks with pants, so it doesn't matter, but still, if I'm going to start knitting lots of socks with super duper needles, maybe I should just get a set of DPNs to do the cuffs.