I think your socks look lovely too Blinkers
You can almost
feel how lovely they are just by looking. Your cables remind me of another reason for knitting socks - you can experiment with all sorts of patterns without being committed to doing them endlessly as in a jumper.
A good sock book is The Twisted Sisters Sock Book which I think is from Interweave Press (US) - as usual it's in another room so will have to check. It's written for spinners and dyers but has knitting tips too. The socks are very multi-coloured, some even with individual toes like gloves. The Americans are very fond of socks
and also seem to set the trends in handspinning.
It is possible to knit your socks from the toe upwards, rather than the more usual way of from the top down. I haven't tried it yet but I expect I will