What happened?

I am ready to turn the heel on the second starry night sock. I'm...not sure how that happened. I haven't been knitting nearly long enough to be at the heel. Huh?

In attempting to puzzle it out I have come up with the following possible explanations:

--Anything seems to go quickly after you have knit 12" of plain 2x2 rib in black fingering yarn.
--It has been kind of a long time since I knit the first one and I am a faster, better knitter now.
--I have been knitting on it longer than I think I have, but it doesn't seem as long because I have had other projects.
--I have knit on it in larger intervals than I did the first time, so even though I have knit just as many hours, it doesn't seem as long because there was less stopping and starting.

The last one seems least plausible, honestly. I'm hoping for number 2.

Also, the socks really aren't long enough. I don't know whether it is impatience or what but I have yet to knit what I would consider a 'full length' sock (other than the above-mentioned SFS sock). Both pairs I have made for myself are short. Now that I have experienced the socks sliding off my feet do to the shortness, I will be knitting longer socks. I may also adjust my cast-on down to the next smaller size, but I'm not sure whether that is a good idea or not.

Next up on the sock knitting path - I haven't decided. I have a skein of hand maiden casbah in peacock that I want to use to make Pink Lemon Twist's Caledonian Mist pattern, but I also have another couple of skeins of Lorna's Laces in the Snowscapes colorway from Yarn Market, and I am thinking about making just a plain pair of stockinette socks from them. I am aware that the colors may pool without a pattern to break them up, but I don't really care. The idea of simple stockinette simplicity is very appealing.