I had never knitted a sock before, but having discovered a web site where you are taken through the process along with loads of helpful and useful information I took the plunge.
One piece of advice was to try different types of knitting needles. The traditional way is to use 3 or 4 double pointed needles, but I went with a combination of a very short circular needle and a longer circular needle. I had to buy new, as I didn't have any. My past experience of using circular needles was not a good one - and the reason I've discovered is that the needles I had were poor quality. The ones I have now are fantastic and very flexible.
Because of Covid restrictions I had to buy on line, and so chose to do just one order. I found a web site that had the needles I wanted in stock ( so many did not!) and then I chose some special sock wool that came in two 50g matching balls. My first pair were a bit of a disappointment. (purple in the picture) Not because of the pattern, but because of the yarn. It easily split, seemed a bit rough, and did not knit up as a matched pair, despite the start of the yarns looking the same!
However, I was hooked with the process and then bought some lovely hand dyed yarn off ebay. All the yarn colours by this person have wonderful names. I bought 'Waiting for Spring' (yellow in the picture) and another called 'Lacewing' that I've not yet knit. The only problem I found with this wool was it was nigh on impossible to find matching colour sections to produce identical socks. This yarn knitted up more like a 'batik' effect - very random. The wool however knitted wonderfully, and was very soft.
My third pair was from a German brand with the designers being Norwegian I think. I was absolutely fascinated by how it knitted up - looking like fairisle but without all the colour changes. Amazing I thought - and my second sock made a perfect pair using the method suggested of how to match yarns on numerous web sites.
Am I going to knit any more - well of course! I have 4 more balls already waiting!