Lost in Sockland

I'm about to start a pair of socks for myself but am hesitating because I'm not sure how to handle something. I'm going to use the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and they call for using a smaller needle on the foot than on the leg. To use the patterns in this book you have to have a gauge swatch in order to know what part of the chart to work from. Problem is that I have no idea which set of needles to pull my gauge from the bigger (#2) or the smaller (#1)? My guess is the smaller but I am totally paranoid. I put a note up on the Socknitters message board about it and hope I'll get an answer, but in the meantime I'm afraid to start. This is the same thing that keeps me using a basic sock pattern and stops me branching out into more interesting territory. Using this less specific pattern is my way of breaking out of the mold a bit. I am considering using a Seed stitch for the instep even though the yarn is a pattern yarn that makes stripes (Fortissima Colori Disco). But if I like the pattern in this book I may just do that with some single colored Kroy I have in the house. Don't know what it is about socks that scares me into this little box, but they do. Much as I love making them. I am making it my mission to get out of the box.