Thigh-High Stripes--First Sock Completed

I've made a lot of progress on my version of Deborah Newton's Thigh-High Stripes. This is because I chose to shorten the leg considerably and because color stripes always encourage me to keep knitting to see how a new color looks next to the others. Before I could stop myself to take a photo, I finished the entire sock!
It hasn't been blocked yet so it's a little wrinkly here, but I'm thoroughly satisfied.

Here are the changes that I made to the original instructions:

• I used two sizes smaller needles to give me a gauge of 10 sts/in instead of the 9 sts/in called for in the pattern. This is because I like my socks to be really, really dense.
• I CO 84 sts (this had to be a multiple of 6 sts to fit the colorwork patterns) for the top of the leg and I maintained this stitch count for the entire length of the leg. I also worked the entire leg on the same size needles, which isn't different from the original patt but is different from my typical method of working the upper leg on a size larger needles.
• I used rust for most of the ribbing, heel, and toe (there wasn't enough brown left) and I switched out other colors to my fancy, while working Charts C, D, B, and E with rust instead of brown for the pattern.
• I worked about 1 3/4" of ribbing, then worked the leg until the piece measured 6 1/2" from the CO edge. In retrospect, I wish I had worked 7" for the leg.
• Right before beginning the heel flap, I put a holder through the leading legs of 6 sts in the row below the sts on the needle to prevent the sts from stretching as I worked the heel flap and, therefore, prevent a hole from forming at the top of the gusset (see my blog post for Wednesday, Sept 14).
• I worked the heel flap on 42 sts for 42 rows, ended the heel turn with 24 sts, and picked up 21 sts for each gusset--there were 108 sts at the beg of the gussets.
• I decreased the gussets to 80 sts to make the foot a little tighter than the leg.
• I decreased the toe every other round to 40 sts, then every rnd to 24 sts and finished with Kitchener stitch.

Because I love the colors and pattern in these socks, I'm not even daunted by the number of ends that have to be woven in. The sock is sure to look a whole lot better after I weave in the ends and give it a long soak in a warm bath.