One sock, two socks ..... six socks?

How did I end up with six different pair of socks on the needles? Spring is in the air? No, that's not it, because it is more like "summer is in the air" around here these days I do not even like summer (too much light.) I think the culpit is this darn jacket:



See, I told myseff that I was not allowed to start another cardigan for myself until I finish this one (I started it in November 2005). But do I want to rip those fronts once again and re-knit them? Oh, yeah, sure, let me do it right now. As soon as I am done with this sock. And the other ones. And while I am at it, Paperino wants red socks (he was going for this, and he does not even like green, what's up with him and nice sock yarn? Other kids go in their mom's closet to play dress-up, he goes there to pet my yarn.)



I started the sock toe-up with all intention of making socks for him, but this stuff is so nice I want it for me it is almost summer here so he is better off with cotton socks - a ball of Cascade Fixation from the store and we are all set. So:
1. Jaywalker in Knit Picks Sock Garden - I still do not know how and why I am making those, I swear, you do not pay attention for a minute, and a pair of Jaywalker jumps on your needles!
2. Infant's Fancy Silk Sock by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage Socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Icehouse - making those only because I had just one skein in that color.
3. Gentleman's Fancy Sock by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage Socks in Trekking XXL in #140 (kind of because I did not read the pattern so I am not making them much shorter.)
4. Lace Mock Cable Socks in Lana Puras Melosa (and these are the ones I should be working on since they are for One Planet Yarn and Fiber and I do have a deadline.)
5. Calze Rosse in Filatura di Crosa "Zarina"
6. Cascade Fixation socks for Paperino
7. Sampler sock, just because I dye and sell yarn and when it is gone, is gone:



Six pair of socks at various stages. And, I spent Friday and Saturday swatching for socks that I want to make with the Shelridge yarns I bought at Stitches. The only reason why I haven't started them yet is the one of the charts I was swatching drove me crazy. It's from an Italian collection of stitches I have, and the English translation of an Italian pattern or stitch chart would be, "Just figure it out!"
I am not kidding. You want more than one size? Why? Can't you do math? You want all the rows in the chart? Why? Isn't it obvious how you should knit the wrong side? No, of course, it is not all purls, even a child can see that. It's k1, p1, but not all the wrong rows. Some are different, I am sure you'll figure it out, you have the picture, right?
So while I was cursing (in Italian, I still cannot do it effectively in English), I had the epiphany above: I am casting on more and more socks to avoid the cursed jacket.
I am litterally dreaming of making something else for me. After seeing Cara's Ariann, I decided that I need one. So I bought the pattern at Stiches, found the right yarn in my stash, and set it aside because I have finished the jacket yet. Then I saw Cara's (again!) Central Park Hoodie, I found the right yarn again in my stash (is it scary, isn't it? pretty much anything I want to make, I have the yarn for it already), and set it aside.
Then last, when I was about to cast on for socks #8 and #9, I told myself why don't I cast for two cardigans instead? that it is summer already here, I have no use for a wool cardigan even if I finish it, so why don't I make myself a cotton cardi since I desperately need one? Wow, that sounds so rational, I am proud of myself. So, this what I am making:



Snap Cardigan, designed by Leslie Scanlon. I am using Pakucho Organic Cotton (Do I need to say it? From my stash.)

And maybe that will stop me from casting on more socks.