The fight that was the second sock

I have now completed the second toe of my second sock and I am done!

The second sock was a fight from the very beginning, and the perfectionist in me doesn't even want to give this pair of socks away because--shamefully--one sock is smaller than the other. I asked my parents if I should pick it out and try again to which they both shouted "NO!"

Why was the second sock so hard? Because, true to my form, I altered the pattern to my liking without so much as making a note on paper as to what I had changed. I did all the math in my head to reach the gauge that I wanted, assuming that by the time the second sock rolled around I would have memorized the changes.

Why was I so foolish? Because I got the pattern online. I didn't want to waste any paper printing it off. But, once it came to working the heel I was trying to mentally do the gauge math as to which stitches were on which needles and multiply etc. And it didn't help that on my first sock I made a few errors (that I told myself gave it character) until I was trying to make those very same errors on the second sock. When I was unsuccessful, I had to pick out a perfectly good sock to go back and remake the errors.

So here is what I have learned: print it out and write it down. Saving one piece of paper may be good for the environment, but it may mean hours, days, even weeks of frustrations. Get out your red pencil and mark that pattern up! Otherwise you will find yourself yelling at innocent bystanders (who are already unsure if your obsessive knitting is healthy).

"Does this sock look smaller than THIS sock?!"

I think it is only smaller by two stitches in the width, and I may be able to save it by blocking. Otherwise, my parents have assured me, that they can't see a difference and no one will notice.

But it is going to drive me crazy, and I've decided that perhaps sock knitting isn't for me.