socks and shoes-backdated!!

So, on the 17th i gave up on the xmas knitting, cos it was me birthday, yippie!
i do wonder when you grow out of a birthday being sooo exiting, but maybe that i will never grow up that much. i hope.
any-hoo, I cast on some frivalous, super-nice, just for me knitting, kai-mei by Cookie A, from her book Sock Innovation. this is going a treat, I have almost reached the toe decrease, but stumbled across two issues, both self created.
Number one- the sock foot has a lace panel that travels across the foot from one gusset to the toe on the other side. the set-up row before creating the gusset involves place 4(ish) markers in the round. i took these out when i had finished gusseting, as i thought i would go that bit faster without slipping them all every round, as the stitches told me how to proceed. problem was, when checking out how far to knit the foot, (when i had done 5") i noticed a referral to said markers, and i can't get my head around where they where. bum.
so to try and get around this, I am looking up other projects on ravelry to see how far over that pesky lace panel travels, before the toe starts.
I will smile again when I have caught up wth my ripped-knitting. unfortunatly that was about 2 days worth, and I had hoped to cast on number two on new years eve.

Number two-while looking at said project pics on ravelry, it came to my attention I still have no sock shoes! this is a dilemma I have been facing for a while, that I wear trainer-type footwear for the most, so I can cycle in them, and I have wider that femaley average feet, so low cut shoes are usually too narrow. this pattern all the detail is on the foot, so it will be hidden most of the time! I think there is an extensive (child-free) shopping trip on the horizon......