I've heard of two left feet, but...

Last month's challenge in my Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry was colorwork.  I love colorwork socks!  Two different colors, the stitches are all knits, the socks go fast and look harder than they really are.  And I had the perfect pattern in mind - one called "Water for the Elephants" by designer RoseHiver (Yvette).  She had created the pattern for herself one month but hadn't released it to the public.  Having knit a couple of her patterns previously, including my much-loved "Butterflies Are Free" socks, I asked her if I could knit her Elephants pattern and she very graciously agreed.

The socks are mirrored and the instructions start with the left sock, so that's where I started.  I followed the pattern the entire way through and a couple of days ago finished the first sock.  I immediately cast on the second sock and finished the leg about an hour ago, ready to start the heel.

Here is a photo of the first sock:

Notice anything amiss?

Remember, the first sock knit is the left sock....

There is only one elephant per sock....

The elephant should be on the outside of the sock....

Yes.  Somehow I knit a right sock.  I don't know how, but I started the heel on the wrong needle.  And it never dawned on me as I tried the sock on over and over to admire it.  I went on in colorwork sock bliss until I started the heel flap for the second sock.  After two rows, I suddenly yelled "Oh no!"  My husband, thinking something serious was wrong, asked what was happening.  I replied, "I'm knitting another right sock!"  Catastrophe!  Surely he could see that!  Someone had to help me!  But after a well-meaning "Uh-oh" from him before he returned to staring at his computer, I knew I was on my own.  As luck would have it, minutes later I received a phone call from my knitting buddy, Leigh, who was surely on some knitter's psychic wavelength and knew subconsciously that I was in trouble and needed left sock moral support.  Or maybe she was just venting about an unending bind-off on her latest mystery shawl from the Janel Laidman sock club.  In any case, I whined a little about my situation before begging off the phone to figure it out.

I don't know if I should admit this or not, but I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out how I had screwed up and created a right sock until I realized that's what I should actually be knitting.  The real question was how had I screwed up the first sock and turned it from a leftie to a rightie??

That left me with how to transform my correct right sock into an incorrect left sock so I'd have an actual pair at the end of this project.  My solution?  I've started the heel flap on the opposite needle as the one called for, so cross your fingers (I can't cross mine because I'm knitting) that the charts for the foot all work out with my changes.  But why shouldn't they?  The left sock charts seemed to work just fine for a right sock.