The first sock pattern I did was Wendy Johnson’s generic toe up feather-and-fan. It said to start the heel 2 inches shorter than the finished foot length. Obviously that is dependent on the gauge, but works fabulous for the 8sts/in 12rows/in standard “sock” gauge.

But I too struggled mightily with that “make the foot as long as needed”. I experienced flail for four years. There was not really anyone to ask. People either have made socks and have forgotten any difficulty, or they think socks are too hard and have not tried. There did not seem to be any people who had tried and failed at making socks. I thought I was the only one. Sock knitters seemed bent on making me feel inadequate until I just stopped talking about it in public.

I did not use any stitch markers on my first sock. That is the best part about the 2-circ method. One needle is mentally designated and since I did not move the stitches around, the beginning of the round was the beginning of the first needle. I did use them on the second sock, but to demarcate the pattern repeats since I kept being short one and having to tink back.

What I would really like for sock projects is not stitch markers, but an itty bitty abacus. Some of those textures are 24 rows per repeat. Even though I could remember the pattern, I was often losing my place when I took the sock with me into the world. But I looked silly dragging around my larger abacus and the counters on it are really loose so I had to be done with a repeat or I could not leave.