Sock Woes

OK, so I've been working on Cookie A's, Riannon Socks for more than a year now. In all fairness, this has been my carry along project, and so not getting all my knitting time. Never the less, I'm ready to be finished with them.

After finishing the first sock, I had the recipient try it on. It fit perfectly, except for her ankle, where it was too tight. So when working the second sock, I corrected for the too narrow ankle, and was speeding my way down the foot to the toe. When I compared the two socks to be sure I was getting the toe in the right place, I noticed this:

The ankle shaping is better, BUT, the leg on the second sock is much shorter than the first. Could the change in ankle shaping make that much difference? Something certainly is not right.

Now I already know that I am going to have to take out the foot of the first sock and correct the ankle shaping. Now it looks like I am going to have to re-do some portion of the second sock as well. I had to put the whole thing aside for a couple of days, before I could face the problems, and figure out what went wrong. The length on the first sock was perfect, so making them both shorter was not an option. On closer inspection, this is what I found:

Each marker is placed at the first calf decrease on each sock. Oops, somewhere I either forgot to make note of where it was supposed to be, or I misread my notation. Either way, the error was all mine! Drat! I hate when that happens!! There is just nothing for it, but to rip back to the beginning of the calf decreases, and correct the length. I think I will put these in hibernation for a little while, and make a couple pair of easy socks! An then perhaps, I will be ready to take these on again.

It's funny. My relationship with the young lady who is the intended recipient of these socks is proving challenging as well. I wonder, do I have a case of knitting imitating life?