Have you made socks before? If so, I'd suggest that you find some wool you like and make those socks again, but extend the leg to the right length. Also, you don't have to work the cuff and sock as one piece. You can make the sock, then make the cuff (or vice versa) and then use a 3-needle bid-off to connect them. That makes a nice cuff edge and there's none of that turning-inside-out stuff. This method also allows you to make a long cable that wraps around the calf, bind it off, then pick up stitches along its sides to knit into ribbing.

Here's one of the hose I recently made for A_Hay! in exchange for a sporran. I worked the sock and the cuff in two separate pieces:


The cuff is not a true cable, although it looks like one.

One last thing: depending on your yarn/needle size and pattern, you might get by with not working any shaping in the calf. In essence, a long tube sock. 2X2 or 4X4 ribbing works well for this.

Let us know what you decide. We'll help as much as we can.

By the way, get the lady at the yarn shop to wind the yarn into a ball for you. I made the mistake of trying to hand-wind a hank of DK once. Once.