Finish or Frog?

I was looking through my UFOs today to see what projects I should finish before I start something new, and I came across one finished sock and the yarn for the other one. So the question was: finish the second sock or frog the first one? It turns out there was a reason there was only one sock and the project was abandoned to languish among the UFOs.

I tried the sock on and there were so many things wrong with it, I questioned why on earth did I even finish the first sock?

1. This was a toe-up sock and I chose poorly for the cast-off at the cuff. It wasn't stretchy so it was tight around my calf.
2. The foot was a bit too long and a little too narrow.
3. The heel flap didn't come up high enough so part of the stitch pattern was over my heel. Since the stitch pattern was a lacy one, I have no doubt that the heel would wear out really quickly.

I thought about ripping it back to the foot and reknitting it but this didn't seem like a good solution either, mostly because I took really, really poor notes on this project. Stuffed in with the finished sock and the rest of the yarn, was a photocopy of some pages out of Sensational Knitted Socks. But there weren't any notes on the paper and I didn't even identify the stitch pattern I used (there were 4 or 5 stitch patterns on the photocopy). I keep a little black Moleskine book of my knitting projects and flipping through it I did locate what I think is this sock. But all it says is "Crosshatch Lace", Lorna's Laces, and 60 stitches. Oh and the date I started it: 12/26/2010. Yes, almost 5 years ago. I did write down the stitch pattern chart, but I don't know what needle size I used, what I did for the heel or anything else that would help me make a second sock to match the first. The project isn't on my Ravelry page and the yarn wasn't even recorded in my stash.

So, I frogged it.

It's always painful to rip out a project. I try not to look at it as the yarn pulls through all the stitches...every single stitch that I made by hand. I just get it done quickly so that once it's ripped out, it's over and done with and there's no going back. I wound the yarn onto my swift and misted it with water to get the kinks out.

The funny thing is that I have absolutely no memory of knitting the sock. None. It's as if someone else's knitting project ended up in my stash.

So lesson learned: keep better notes! Oh and don't finish knitting a sock that is clearly not working out. At least I didn't have a second sock started. But sadly this isn't the first time I've kept poor notes...or kept knitting despite signs that it would not fit the way I want. Clearly these lessons are not being learned!