There is, I will admit, a little more to this story than meets the eye. The actual first shot of the finished sock looked like this: 
You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the foot was too short. By about a quarter of an inch. This may not sound like it matters, but as a woman with size 8 feet (European 42), I have been wearing mens' socks since I was 12 because womens' socks are made to fit sizes 4-7, and I can't stand that feeling of the heel slipping down under the foot. So. I went to bed, slept on it, then got up on Saturday morning feeling calm, and did this: 
It's a good job darling hubby was out. He's frighteningly enthusiastic at unravelling knitting. he loves to see all the loops pull out of each other. Now, it's lovely to have your husband interested in any aspect of this loopy girly craft, but a little scary to hand over something that you only want unravelled a little bit. A month's work can be undone in 30 seconds, if you're not careful. Not that he's ever destroyed any of my hard work that I haven't asked him to, but I'm still a teensy bit scared....
Anyway, sock reknitted with a far pointier toe, and I decided it was time for my first attempt at grafting. Deep breath.....
No, I fluffed it. so I unpicked it, and consulted the internet. I don't know who put video clips of knitting techniques here, but whoever you are, I love you. Don't ever take them away or I might have a nervous breakdown. This has saved me from screaming sooooo many times. 
Sock toe grafted. I dunno about you, but I was pretty impressed for a first attempt! And with the pointier toe, the foot is now a perfect fit:
Now all I have to worry about is that the ankle is a teensy bit loose. Can you felt half a sock?? I'm going to give it a go! I just couldn't bear to rip the whole thing back! I'll let you know...
I'm a bit scared about the second sock, since all the yarn I had left over from this one was about two and a half metres! Ouch! I only bought 2 skeins, one per sock, and just set off blindly, hoping I would get a sock out of each one. Knitiing top-down, I guess that was quite a risk! Please, knitting goddess, don't punish me on the other sock......?
Good news for today: Willow is very nearly back to her old self. She's finally been let out this week, for short runs at first, but now her cat flap is open and she can come and go as she pleases. She's very interested in the chickens, keeps sitting on their run and dangling a paw through - I think it may be awhile before we get an egg! They're a bit on edge. Still, I had them all out on the lawn together yesterday, and so long as I stood between them, she didn't chase them, they all just watched each other carefully. I'm sure they'll get along eventually. My Mum's never had any problems. The very clever thing Willow has done, though, is get her tail moving! The vet said that only 2% of cats would ever recover movement, even though she had feeling in it, but after 3 weeks of it being limp, 2 days before we had to take her back to the vets to see if she would have to have it amputated, she twitched it in front of us! i shrieked so loudly that she ran away! It's getting stronger every day, and yesterday I managed to get proof:
It's a little dark, but that is a cat with her tail in the air! she had it almost straight up when I went downstairs this morning. I'm so proud of her! I think she must be the luckiest cat in the world.
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