Cecily,
The next step is more adventurous , buying clothes and trying them on, by then you will smile to yourself about the simple task of buying tights.
Don't always take SAs advice , I buy four shades of stockings plus black opaque holdups depending on what I wear , some SAs tried to tell me not to buy black stockings because no one wears them , how wrong was that, you need them with black boots .
Keep doing what you are doing because you will start to collect amusing moments , I love some of the things that have happened while shopping .