Wanted: your opinions.

A while ago, I saw an ad for a place to take surveys for money. I thought, "what the hell" and signed up. Turns out that it was legit, and I actually made $4.50 from taking a survey last week. (If you want more info I will give it to you but I don't want to sound like an infomercial!) Anyway, I've been saving this money in my paypal with the intended goal of getting some more STR to knit a pair with it for myself. It's basically the only way I could afford it. Well, it's been a few months and I finally have enough to get some. Now, my dilemma is choosing which colorway and what pattern to knit.

I've narrowed my choices to Fire On The Mountain and 24 Karat. There are a LOT of colors I like, but I think these two are the most fun. I like the rainbowyness (totally a word!) of Fire On The Mountain, but yellow is my secret favorite color and I have been thinking about 24 Karat for at least a year.
Look at my flickr or ravelry favorites, and you'll see what I mean. There are a lot of gorgeous socks in both colors.

I'm alsot debating whether I should go with lightweight or medium. I liked th medium the first time I knit with it, and I do like thicker socks. But I also like cute patterns, and most of them work better (meaning with fewer mods) with the lightweight.
Pattern-wise, I'm really having a hard time. I have a personal rule (for the time being) that I won't knit the same pattern more than once. I have a tendancy to get caught up on one thing and miss out on all the great other stuff out there. I've seen a lot of Fire On The Mountain Jaywalkers, and I like them a lot. But, I've already knit a pair of Jaywalkers, so that's out. I also think Charade would look good in that colorway. Then, I saw a pair of Hedera socks in 24 Karat. Beautiful! Also, some Pomotamus socks turned my eye. And really, grevillea's recent FO in 24 Karat is what stirred my liking for the colorway again in the first place.

Now, I know all the socks I've mentioned are like the most popular patterns around, other than Monkey, which I despise. I'm not a trend-follower. Most of the time! I've been searching through pages and pages of patterns on ravelry, looking for something good.

Basically what I'm saying is if you have any suggestions or a strong opinion one way or the other, throw me your two cents. I tend to either look at the big picture and over look the details, or get so caught up in the details that I miss the overall point. You might have that unique perspective I need right about now!

(Some requirements, though, now that I think about it. I prefer socks that can be knit toe-up. I'll knit 'em to-down if they're cute enough to warrant the extra hassle. Also, I will only knit socks using the magic-loop method. Fuck DPNs!)