If you are not morally opposed to acrylic, those yarns are also really good. Many are machine washable and softer than cotton. One generally needs to use smaller than recommended needles for the yarn so that the resulting fabric is tight and stuffing does not poke out.

Look into lifelines for lace, a year is enough time if you are patient with yourself. Use markers for each repeat and frequent life lines. This way it is much easier to unravel a mistake you cannot fix by laddering down. Practice each new repeat on spare yarn, so you know what to look out for and don't frazzle your actual yarn too much.

I do this all the time :) I even yanked out a circular doing 2 circ method once, because I forgot it was not a DPN.