Ava found her socks

Yay! She found them in the laundry pile and is wearing them to daycare today.
I cast on for a pair of toe up socks in the Lion Brand Sock Ease 'Sour Balls' for son in law socks.
I showed it to him and my daughter and they both think it's a cool color. Why am I doing a toe up? Because I only have a rough idea of his shoe size. I think they're a mens 9 so I can work the length of the toe and when I see him next I'll double check measurements. Don't know how he'll feel about me measuring his foot.
I think I've found the pattern for the Lily Pond socks that has a kind of watery feel. It's either 'River Rapids' from Sock Bug or Overlapping Leaves. The first is a top down and the second is a toe up. The other issue is the sock size and pattern stitch count. Falling leaves is 24+1 and River Rapids is 8 stitches. The pattern I want to use is in the Sensational Socks book which I can't afford right now. I did figure out that the stitch pattern in that one is a modified Fuchsia by looking through my Barbara Walker book of stitch patterns.
Okay, now to the realization that despite my calculations, it feels like the toe of my sock is too big. I might have to back off several rows and start the stitch pattern immediately. I'm thinking of making these so I can wear them during the summer at work. If it gets warm enough that I should want to wear shorts that is.
Well off to find food and do some more pattern puzzling and knitting.