Best Money I Spent At Sock Summit

I've detailed a lot about Sock Summit here, and almost three weeks later, I'm still thinking about it, and evaluating everything I did. Today was a day to distill some of my thoughts and try to convey a bit of it to you (since I was a tad under the weather).

I paid for two lectures, a 3-hour class, and 2 one-hour "wonders" - a little bit of change spent, and I wouldn't trade any of it. But if you take the two lectures out of the mix (which were totally awesome and on an entirely separate plane from the classroom experiences), the class that will no doubt pay me many many times over the original tuition price was Merike Saarniit's "Darn It!" one-hour class.

We had to knit a swatch as homework prior to the class, and bring contrasting yarn. And once class got started...she made us cut a hole it the swatch (about the hardest thing I've done in knitting, it was a lovely swatch...)
But then, she told us how to fix it...(ok, that's not the best sewing job, but normally? I use a sewing machine to stitch).

So...do you remember this?
My beloved Claudia's Ingrids Blues Mock Cable sock. I hadn't worn it very long when that hole appeared. And that hole? It was my soul (sole?) motivation for taking this class.

Tonight, while watching tributes to Senator Edward Kennedy, I did this:
No, it's not perfect...and I don't know yet, if I've put too much in there to make the heel comfortable to walk on, but it looks better, and I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

Thank you so much Merike!

(OH...and if you happen to be headed to one of the next two Stitches events? I'd see if I could snag this class. Not just because it was worth every penny - but because Merike is so much fun!)