The saga of the Eight-Year Socks

Okay, so everyone has one...the project you start but don't finish but you can't abandon it because you really do like the process but there are oh-so-many other interesting things coming at you and hey, they're just a little pair of socks, I'll be able to finish them in a couple of evenings...
Yeah, right.
So, these socks have literally been floating around my house and my subconscious for 8 years. They were designed by a wonderful woman that I used to work with at Cloverhill named Jamie Flickinger. She was the knitting teacher there until I took over. I used to pet the sample in the shop and dream of the day I would have those cozy socks on my feet. The yarn got discontinued, so I bought it and cast them on, got halfway through the first leg and then...I don't know. They sat. Over the years I have forgiven myself of many started projects and just unraveled them. It is a very freeing process, I recommend it. For some reason though, these always got put in the "To Be Resurrected at Some Unknown Future Time" pile. Since this is my year of stash shopping, I was determined to finish them. I put them in one of my "active projects" baskets back in January and they continued to sit. Last month, I was spring cleaning and I had decided I was going to donate them to Children in Common so the girls in Russia could have the fun of knitting them and they would be out of my life. I couldn't do it! Then, it became a crusade. I would finish them or die trying. So, I worked on them during the driving home from Chicago. I finished the first sock on the road and got all the way to the heel of the second one before we hit Breezewood.
Last night I got all but the kitchener stitch on the toes done. It was a small triumph, the sort that is triumphant only in the mind of the conquerer. To everyone else they are just a pair of socks. To me they are a fascinating evidence of how my mind works, how my life is organized and how I participate in the art of knitting. I am glad that I finished them. The fact is, I finish most things, I just take the scenic route. That could be on my tombstone, that I would rather take the scenic route, and so I am okay with my beautiful socks that took 8 years and 8 hours to finish.