Why can’t I just knit this second sock?

I am having supreme problems knitting this second sock, El Segundo, and a I’ll tesll you why:

1. I started and restarted knitting it about 5 times the other day until I stopped and just set it down.
2. I e-mailed my sister about 6 times asking for her help.
3. I had to call my sister long distance last night to get her to explain things to me again.
4. I finally got the toe cap started last night, and so today I carried on knitting…until tonight when I noticed that I’m obviously switching the sides I’m knitting on, because the sock is actually showing right & wrong side stripes! Yes, it’s showing bizarre stripes.

I took some pictures of the zaniness that’s been happening, just to document things before I jump in the frog pond tomorrow. Sheesh.

Sorry for the blurriness in the photo, but I haven’t quite mastered the close-up zoom on my new camera. But you’ll see near the bottom that I’ve got about 7 or 8 rows of ws knitting sticking out. Oh, and when I took this photo, the dangly string from my cast on was on the outside! That’s how I’ve been noticing the flip-floppiness of my knitting. Here’s another photo that’s a bit more in focus:

I have no idea why the hell I’m flip flopping like this, because I didn’t think I was, and before you ask, sis-o-mine, yes, I was knitting on the needle furthest from me! *sigh* I’m going to jump in the pond tomorrow and recommence. Hopefully things go better, so wish me luck dear readers!

In the meantime, I’m going to start up a new project (*gasp* Jb’s going to have two projects going at the same time? Impressive. I don’t normally do that, but this sock is frustrating me so much that I need something simple to work on). I’m going to work on a ballband kitchen towel, using the ballband dishcloth pattern from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. So I’ll be showing photos shortly once I decide on the colours, so stay tuned for more info on that. Any suggestions on the colour? I don’t have a preference, I’m pretty much going to go on whatever I find in the store, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment and let me know.