In the Vortex

It has happened. I have been sucked into some sort of weird knitting vortex. Not the good kind either. The kind where you lose your mind. Where you can't find anything to knit. Where the yarn is a bad color and all 100% acrylic. Where you knit according to instruction and end up with something that looks nothing like it did in the pictures. It's like some sort of jacked up Twilight Zone.

Example #1: I finished the first Summer of Socks (Rav link) sock last night around 11:00.
Looks pretty good right? Wrong.
See, in the first photo I'm holding the ribbing up to where it should be on my leg. The second picture is where it falls naturally. Now, I don't have a ton of experience with knitting socks. The others that I have made were out of regular old worsted weight and were an exercise in learning to make socks. This was my first "real" attempt at making socks. Someone please tell me that all socks do this. That when I block them (on my as yet unpurchased sock blocker) that they will come out just right. Or is this part of the vortex?

Example #2: My Ravelymplics shrug. I picked the Snezi shrug (Rav link) from Sensual Knits. Um, hello! Have you seen the size of that thing?!?! Let me remind you.
What was I thinking? Do I think I'm Super Knitter? That thing is huge! It uses like 800 yards of yarn! And I think I'm going to finish this in 16 days?!?! I can't even finish a sock in 16 days. I think I may have been on some sort of yarn fume high when I made this decision. Since I'm postponing knitting the other SoS sock until I can get the first blocked and/or find someone it fits (I'm trying my mom tonight) and since I have nothing else to knit on until the 8th of August (the start of the Olympics and the Ravelympics) I might have time to get everything ready to knit the sweater in the round I had originally given up hope of having ready to knit in time. Oh the irony... Which leads us to...

Example #3: As you know, I have been knitting for Warm Woolies for quite some time now. They have a little contest where if you send in 25 knitted items by the end of November then you get a gift from them: a book, patterns, needles, yarn, etc. I really want to be able to send in lots of stuff to them. Helping orphaned children is something I feel passionately about. And I love to knit. What a great combo! Last night I decided to have a look at how much I had knit for them already. Know what my total was? 8 pieces. 8. I feel into an immediate panic. There was no way (in my very tired mind) that I could get 17 pieces finished in 4 months. This morning I woke with a little clearer mind. If I make 4.25 pieces a month (or round up to 5) then I can meet my goal. This means I have to crank out a piece a week for the next 4 months. Minus 2 weeks for the Ravelympics. Don't get me wrong, somewhere in my twisted little brain I think I can make this work. Still...I'm getting hives.

Example #4: In the knitting vortex you are seized by sudden impulsive thoughts. Mine? I must finish all unfinished projects. And wash them. I'm tired of WIPs flying all around me that just need to be seamed (ugg) or have buttons attached or just be soaked, gosh darn it.
Thankfully I moved all these off the bed so I could get a little sleep last night. There is still more WIPs that are going to be attacked in the next few days. Never fear though. I'm nowhere near out of this vortex yet.