Bamboo Vine Lace Socks

I'm making this sock from SWTC's Bamboo, using the pattern for Toe Up Vine Lace Socks. I worked on this for about a week, on my trip to Nebraska for Thanksgiving. Now I think it's another sock that's destined for a meeting with the frog.

I think I cast on 16 stitches using the Turkish Cast-on. I started the vine lace pattern on the instep as soon as I had enough stitches on the toe (56). Now I'm not too sure that's going to be comfortable rubbing against the top of my foot inside shoes. Next, I really started the heel turn too soon. Now the sole is a little too short, and the heel turn row is under the bottom of my heel.

Finally, I increased to 67 stitches after the heel turn to give me enough stitches for 7 repeats of the lace pattern. That is turning out to be just too loose around my ankle. The only solution for that is to frog back past the heel turn, and use 55 stitches for 6 repeats of the lace.

I'm still not at all sure about having the lace on top of my foot, though. I don't know if I should stop frogging at the heel, or just frog all the way back to the toe and do the foot in plain stockinette. I'm afraid that's really what I should do, doggone it.

The good news is that I learned some things. I used Cat Bordhi's short row heel without an arch expansion. I ended the heel after picking up the wrapped stitches, without doing long rows. The increases I put in the last row of the heel for the lace pattern might have made up for not having an arch expansion, though. I think I might try to put some increases in the sole next time to create one.