Try, Try, Try Again or How Perfect Is Perfect?

A spate of startitis and perfection has hit.  I really try not to have more than 1 or 2 things going at the same time, but recently I seem to have been struck down with the need to start EVERYTHING!  Unfortunately, this has also been accompanied by the need for everything to be absolutely perfect.

I must confess that I'm a selfish knitter and at least 50% of all the things I make are for me.  Why must they be absolutely just so?  They're just accessories for me; why should I care?  Why must gifts be absolutely perfect?  Well because they're gifts, obviously, and I want to make them nice for people.  It doesn't matter that a little mistake here or a slight glitch there gives it a hand-crafted quality that no shop-bought item could ever replicate: if it doesn't look exactly like the example in the pattern then I'm not happy.

For example, I'm making a pair of simple lace socks at the moment.  I have done something absolutely stupid to one repeat on one half of one of the socks (I'm knitting 2 at a time) and I cannot for the life of me work out why the pattern isn't working properly.  It's just a repeat 8 stitches!  Even I can count that high without getting distracted by something else (oooh sparkly yarn!).  I know that if I don't fix this it will mean I will never wear the socks once they're done.  I've already frogged them both once and I really don't want to start again, but I'm going to have to do something drastic to fix what's gone wrong.

I've also completely frogged the crochet cowl I was making because I didn't like the way it was joining in the round.  A quick cry for help on the crochet forum on Ravelry and I know what I'm doing now.  But instead of just carrying on the new way or knowing better for next time and hiding the slightly weird joins under my hair when it's done, I've ripped the whole thing out to start again.  Guess I know what I'm taking to my conference next week to keep my hands busy during all the talks!

Am I alone in this?  Are there knitters and crocheters out there that look on their finished objects which aren't 100% like the picture in the book with pride?  Is this something I can find in my local yarn store?  If so, please let me know where I can get some as I would really like to wear some of these cold-weather items before spring truly arrives for good!