Tenacious tedium

This was a busy week for me, and next week will be at least as hectic. Needless to say, I was in need of a slow day. Well, I found the solution and then some.

Early tonight I decided it was time to undo the cast on edge of the sock that does not want to be ripped out. It took awhile, but I slowly learned how to find the right stitch to pull the end through. Armed with the smallest crochet hook I own, I methodically made my way around the cast on row. With a sigh of relief, I undid what looked to be the last stitch and hoped that everything that followed would now easily unravel.

Nope.

The yarn switched directions instead. It did become easier to undo each stitch, but I was still having to use a deliberate process of pulling the end through the stitches. I also had to trim the yarn I had already ripped out because it was starting to split and tangle itself when pulled through the stitches. I don't mind losing some yarn if I can salvage the rest. If all I needed to do was to frog the first knit row to be good to go, fantastic; however, it doesn't appear that's the case.

I'm pretty certain that I've gone stitch by stitch through the cast on row, the first knit row, and maybe half of the second row. Keep in mind that I cast on 88 stitches. This is intensely boring work, and it doesn't look like anything is going to change if I keep up with it. I've exercised a lot of patience during the three-plus hours I undid stitches, but there's simply no way I'm going to do this for the entire sock.

I think I've made things worse (and tighter) at the other end of the sock where the yarn will rip out except at the one seriously knotted spot, so I'm not sure where to go from here. I've put it aside for the rest of the evening, and I think I'll probably leave it alone for couple days. After that, who knows?

I have found someone on Ravelry with three skeins, one from a ripped sock, that is the same color and dye lot. Buying it might be the easiest way to resolve the situation at this point.