My first Opal sock - First sock on long cirkular needles

There is sometimes benefits with buisnesstrips... Such as, you can knit in peace on the train, hotell and this time I also knitted walking around in Tampere! This was my very first sock knitted in Opal sock yarn. I realy love the yarn, I think Markno design where I ordered the yarn could confirm in this statement, where I purchased a lot of Opal the last month.

I used the same lace pattern as on the last pair of socks, you can find the pattern here: http://www.socknitters.com/lace/introduction.htm
I have though disovered that it is wiser to follow your instinct rather than a pattern. In most patterns on opal sock the recomended stiches to cast on was 56. My instinct said that I should cast on 72 stiches, on 2.5mm needles, but to compromise I casted on 64.
This decition I regret now. The sock became a little tight and the cast on too hard.
I cant decide if I should use 3mm needles or 72 stiches in the next pair.