Taking the Long Way Round (And Round And Round...)

So... I know I was crazy to start my first sock project on size 1 dpn, I know.  But... come on!  Harry Potter KNEE SOCK??!  How could I resist!!  And they actually looked pretty simple!  So I bravely cast on.  (Back in September.)

(look at me being all organized and shit.)

And got through the toe and foot before I realized I had no idea what I was doing.

(Me trying to figure out that darn "short row heel" nonsense.  Nonsense, I tell you!)

At which point I took a break to knit the afore-mentioned Amelia Earhart hat in an attempt to learn how to make short rows.  Then!  Back to the task at hand:

(Ok, clearly this photo was taken at the same time as the first but, I swear!  I was still just as confused!)

Anyway, I labored on, trusting the pattern (sort-of) and finally made my way through the heel.  Then came the easy part, the leg.  Only thing was... the easy part was also the deadeningly boring part.  4 knit, 2 purl ribbing for a bajillion and a half rows.  2 months, 18 inches and 5 seasons of Buffy later I was done!  Stripes and all... and then.... TRAGEDY STRUCK.   And that tragedy was my own laziness and stupidity.

And so, I learned something important while making these socks.  Never trust how long socks look on the needles:  TRY THEM ON.  I put on my newly finished sock and... it didn't fit!!!  It came to about 4" below my knee and the bind off was too tight to fit around my calf! (I had been too lazy to use the elasticized bind off suggested in the pattern.)  I HAD TO TAKE OUT 7" (that's about one month's worth of knitting and I was running out of Buffy to take my mind off of the overwhelming depression.)  I was CRUSHED.  So crushed, in fact, that that was over a month ago and it took me until now to be able to speak/write about it without tearing up a bit. 

So here is the sock (still the first one) now.  Le sigh.  I have to admit that, although I knew this project would take a while, I had no idea it would so greatly cut into my christmas present making time!  So... even though I'm so tantalizingly close to finishing the first sock I'm going to do the right thing and put it away until after the holidays.  That way I'll have time to knit some presents and throw together some crafts for the upcoming Punk Rock Flea Market!  (More on that as it gets closer.)  Anyway... alas, my poor Hufflepuff socks...  one day we shall be together...