Toe Up? Toe Down? Top Down? Yeep.

I'm scared to cast on my first pair of socks. I have my DPNs and some luscious bamboo/merino yarn, but I just can't seem to bring myself to start. First, there's so many ways to start a sock. And how do you know to hate a Kitchener stitch if you've never done one? Does it make the sock uncomfortable? And why are all pattern sized to a Women's 8? What if you have smallish feet? I can't seem to find anything about downsizing, except changing your needle size, and that's not an option for me.

In the Guardians of Ga'Hoole (film coming out this year), an owl goes yeep when it is seized by fear mid-flight, and forgets how to fly. I think I'm yarn yeeping.