I think that the Widdershins now count as my longest WIP. I actually started them in August of 2006! I gave up on them December 23, 2007. It’s too bad because there were several parts of the sock that I liked.
The toe was my first Magic Cast On, which is now my favorite cast-on:
The short row heel turned out beautifully (because I modified the gauge significantly I had given up on the reverse heel flap in the original pattern).
And in general I just thought the sock looked nice.
Unfortunately, I hated knitting them, I hated it with a passion. The yarn I used, Brown Sheep’s Wildfoote, was just awful for this pattern. It was rough on my hands and extremely splitty. Knitting cables on size 1 needles was not fun at all. Knitting is supposed to be fun-right? After I finished the first sock and sat down and thought to myself “Do I really want to knit a second one?” My reply was an emphatic “No!” So, I frogged it. I’m using the yarn to knit some basic 2×2 rib socks and I’m much happier.
Widdershins was the first and only time I used Wildfoote, and in retrospect I wouldn’t recommend it. Not only was it a pain to knit, now that the socks have been washed and worn repeatedly, the yarn has fuzzed up so much it obscures the cables.
If you ever want to give the reverse round heel a try again, I have links to some notes in the sidebar of my blog.