These socks are the socks of pulling back...or not

[untonuggan]

So I finally, thanks to patelyne 's gentle nudging, finished the first sock of a pair I started for my mom at Christmas. It's a process. They are...well, first there was when I was picking up stitches for the gusset three times because for some reason there were different numbers (vastly different numbers) on each sides and then there were gaping holes...then I knit the foot of the sock two inches two long before the toe decrease. It needed a time out so it got one. I finally pulled it back (twice) and finished it and my mom is happy with it, so I started the second one right away so I would not get Second Sock Syndrome.

The only problem is that I sort of made up the pattern for the cuff and apparently I wrote it down wrong. I wrote down the wrong number of repeats of rows between the rows of mock cables, so while it is very similar the cables are...longer. Which is only really noticeable if you hold both socks up next to one another.

I did an Eye of Partridge Heel on the first one, and I think that might be why I had so much trouble with it. I'm thinking of trying to do the accidentally-on-purpose thing with this one and have both socks be similar but very slightly different...in for a penny in for a pound...and just do a different heel (such as a Slip Stitch Heel).

Of course I could just ask my mom, since she is getting the socks, but I am afraid that if she says I should pull back the 2" of beautiful cuff I have done then these socks will just sit in my knitting bag...for another three months or so of time out. So what say you, fearless knitters of dreamwidth? What would you do?

- Pull back and start over so they're identical
- Hide the sock til later
- Leave the cuff the way it is but do the same heel
- Make it look like it's on purpose and do the Slip Stitch Heel
- Ask the recipient (bearing in mind the adage: Don't ask the Prince, he may answer)

I think I know what I want just from writing this, but also, is it possible these socks are jinxed? Do I need to smudge the yarn or something?

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

I think smudging is the way to go. In fact, I like that idea so much, I think I'll smudge my life sometime this week. :D

[inchainz]

Seconded. :)

(i.e. do what feels right)

[jumpuphigh]

That's my philosophy, too.

[uninvitedcat]

I'm pretty sure that since the socks will be a gift AND they've been hand made by you, your mom will love them no matter what. Having said that, I'd personally aim for deliberately-different-by-design and keep going, and do a different heel. That way if anyone questions the final pair, you can tell them it's intentional and they just don't 'get' it!

[aderam]

I always agonize over these things when I'm giving the final project as a gift. I know - and have been told many times - that the recipient won't notice my mistakes, but even though fixing them sucks (and redoing them on socks and mittens and things to make the two symmetrical sucks even more) I usually end up doing it unless I'm way past the point of no return.

But I think that I'd leave the cuff but do the same type of heel. It sounds like the cuff isn't different enough to be obvious, but the heel probably would be.

Good luck!

[patelyne]

I would lean towards matching if I was making them, but I'm way pickier about myself than others. This is why I have a beautiful skein of poems sock yarn in my stash that I'm afraid to use because I don't think I can get the colors to line up. I have problems.
Maybe ask her and see what she says?