Okay, so why does everyone love socks so much?

I've heard so much about socks. First of all, a lot of women I know are cold...my mother, my mother-in-law, my best friend (whose been known to go for a walk in a parka in July, I shit you not). They all complain about being cold all the time. They bring slippers to my house. Granted, I have hardwood floors, but seriously! Its not that cold in my house!
Anyway, in my knitting group (which I've been neglecting terribly the last year) everyone loves socks. They go on and on about knitting socks, almost like its a religious experience. Now, I thought before Christmas, okay, maybe in August, that I would knit up a few pairs of socks for Christmas gifts, for the aforementioned cold nellies. I figured I'd be conservative and start with a couple balls of Patons Kroy Socks in Denim Jacquard. They were to be for my mother-in-law, just because she's the most difficult to buy for of the three.
I cast on and the first problem I had was in the joining, but I got out my copy of Domiknitrix and, of course, found some great instruction. So, the pattern was easy enough (it was the one on the Patons website), but my passion for it waned immediately. I've kept at it, but certainly was not finished 3 pairs in time for Christmas. Actually, I wasn't finished one pair in time for Christmas. Okay, OKAY!! I wasn't finished a single sock in time for Christmas. In fact, even though I still have worked on it little by little all along, this is where I am today...Just barely passed the halfway point. Anyway, the other problem I had was with the spaces that were appearing between the needles. These ladders are ugly and everywhere I look, the advice is just to keep practicing, that they'll disappear with practice. Well, for Christ's sake, I don't want to practice doing socks, just so that I can get rid of unsightly ladders. I DON'T LIKE KNITTING SOCKS! So, when I do finish them, whoever is the lucky recipient better appreciate them, because they are going to be rare. Much like my experience making pumpkin pie from scratch...it just wasn't worth the immense amount of effort. I can get really cool, well-made socks in many stores, at a great price. So, why would I continue to waste my time knitting these ladderfilled monstrocities!?

And here's the ladders...