In order to get the right gauge, I ended up using size US 11 needles instead of the 10.5s recommended for the pattern. Matching the stripes is just a matter of buying two skeins of Kureyeon that look to have very similar colors at the beginning and end of the skein. These feet only took 2 skeins, but bigger feet would probably require a third. If I were to do this again, I would probably go 9-1/2 to 10 inches past the heel in lenght so that I could felt them a little longer as they ended up still having some stitch definition after they had reached the size past which I didn't want to let them go.