Rhubarb and Custard

(Rox, you might want to avert your eyes, this is your Christmas present.)

I'm not the Yarn Harlot, I can't knit a sock a day.  But for starting late Saturday night and having a day job to do, this one's going pretty well.  It's my first Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (colour is Sherbet), and I like it a lot.  A bit splitty when you drop a stitch down ten rows to fix a missed stitch twice, then realise it's the next stitch over, but soft.

The colours are great.  There were rhubarb and custard sweets in England when I was little, and fruit salad chews with similar colours.  The socks do remind me a little of the colours of rhubarb crumble and custard.  There's no colour pooling so far, just a gentle stripe.  Might try a picot cast off for this pair.  I have issues with making the cast-off way too tight, going up 2 needle sizes and adding extra stitches to make it loose enough.  Is a picot cast-off loose enough?