Fat Feet, or, Are my arches really that high?

Recently, I decided that I wanted to make socks. This may or may not have anything to do with the twelve socks in twelve months knitalong that the local yarn shop has going right now. (If it is because of the knitalong I am already woefully behind...I started the first sock of the year yesterday.) I had previously made one pair of socks from More Sensational Socks by Charlene Schurch I believe. The book was really more of a set of guidelines based on your foot measurements and your yarn gauge. I had heard good reviews for the Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns, and when I saw a demo sock in the LYS, I bought the Best of Interweave Knits Socks (or something like that). I was planning to knit the sock I saw as a demo, but the number of stitches to cast of seemed really small, using the same needles and same yarn with which I had made my previous sock. So I went back and counted the number of stitches that I cast on for my first sock. Definitely 18 more stitches. This is when the measuring tape came out, and I measured my foot circumference.

Since I normally wear US 6.5 or 7, I think of my feet as smaller than average. My foot circumference was 8.5 inches, and my feet are 9 inches long from heel to toe. The pattern I was planning to knit was for a foot circumference of 7.25 inches. Big difference. I figured, maybe it is just the pattern. I mean, maybe this was a kid's sock pattern. And so I begin searching for a pattern that has a suitable foot circumference. What do I find? The patterns that have larger sizes...those sizes are labeled mens. And are longer than my feet by an inch. Apparently my foot circumference is man-sized, and I have fat feet. I have enough issues with the rest of my body without worrying whether my feet are fat. Then I remembered when I was trying to buy boots a month ago; they were tall boots, and I couldn't get my feet into the US 7. The saleslady said I should try an 8. I never wear an 8. The 8 fit, and the saleslady explained that people with high arches usually had to go up a size with this shoe.

So, my feet aren't really fat. I just have high arches.