FO: Ultimate Crocheted Socks

My husband's belated valentine gift was delivered yesterday evening (minds out of the gutter people) in the form of Dorothy Hardy's Ultimate Crocheted Socks from Crochet Me. A group of crocheters at Yahoo Crochet Socks and another group from Ravelry's Recipe for Sock-cess - CAL also made some UC socks. Here's my pair for my beloved!

Project details:

Pattern: Ultimate Crocheted Socks
Yarn: Patons Kroy Sock yarn
Colorway: "Chelsea Tweed"
Yarn: Silja Sock yarn
Colorway: "Hunter Green"
Hook: Addi Turbo hooks - 3.5mm (sock), 3.25mm (cuff)
Pattern Changes: I made modifications in width to fit my dh's ankles. In addition, this pattern has a bit of confusion at the gussett and heel. So, combining my sock crocheting experience with the suggestions from the designer herself and a fellow raveler, here's what I did:

• Toe - For a more secure toe, I slip stitched across the bottom loop of the starting chain and then did the first round of the toe with 10 sc in both loops of the starting chain and 10 sc in both loops of the slip stitches. For my dh's wide feet I took the toes out to 48 sc.
  
• Foot - Accidentally made a little longer than necessary, I crocheted 28 rounds of esc. I think 24 would be a better length for him, or even 20 with the full gussett.
  
• Gusset - Here the marker confusion begins. Here's what I did. Fold the toe & foot flat and locate the center stitch on top of the foot. Place markers 11 stitches on either side of the this center stitch. Because I made my foot too long, and because the width was sufficient at 64 st, I only followed the pattern for gussett increases through round 5. Then I skipped the even round and did one more increase round to reach 64 st, ending at the second marker.
  
• Turn Heel - The other point of confusion in this pattern. IMHO, as written the heel would not be centered with the toe. To ameliorate this problem, I suggest one locate the bottom center stitch and then place new markers 2 [3, 4] stitches to either side. Then sc over to the first heel marker, sc in the marcked stitch, and follow the heel instructions beginning with "place marker in st just made". (skip "sc in marked st and in each of the next 14 sts"). Since I had ended the gusset with 64 st, I now followed the heel instructions for medium size, but ended the heel when I reached 52 st to accommodate dh's wide ankles.
  
• Ankle - I decreased to 50 st in the first round of esc, even for 5 rounds, decreased to 48 st on the 6th round, even until yarn ran out (9 more rounds).
  
• Cuff - I switched to the contrasting color, crocheted a round of dc and then 4 additional rows of fpdc/bpdc ribbing.