Round Three Socks Done

Finished my Round Three socks for Sock Madness. I'm finding that, not only do I knit slower, now that I'm no longer in competition, I also am not in such a hurry to post the pics. (It is pretty funny how many people note on their pics "These socks don't fit me, but my feet were the only ones available at 5 a.m.....")

I'm thinking that Knit Picks Memories yarn comes in infinite skeins. When I knit the slipper socks, I used 4 skeins of it (as recommended in the pattern), and had plenty. I then used the leftovers in my first pair of Mad Cows, as my new Knit Picks order hadn't arrived yet. THEN I used what was left from THAT to knit a pair of Mad Cows for my daughter. And there's STILL yarn left! What I have left from the Painted Madness socks also looks like plenty for a pair of socks for Sam, even with the cuffs, which seemed odd to me. But the Painted Madness socks are a gift for a friend, so don't know if I will do the same pattern for my daughter, since we wouldn't be "matchies". Have to think about that.

Almost finished with tea cozy number three, which is a re-do of the first one, with corrections to the pattern. Hope to start the one in brioche stitch today or tomorrow, though with the Round 4 pattern coming out tomorrow, not sure that's such a good idea. Have finished one sock of the self-striping pair for my daughter, but want to try it on her before I cast on the second one.

Oh! My mom loved her cabled silk and alpaca socks! And she said that the "princess foot" (term coined by Charlene Schurch in _Sensational Knitted Socks_; it's reverse stockinette on the sole, so you are walking on the smooth side of the stitches) was markedly more comfortable. I guess that means that I'm doomed to a lot more purling than knitting in the round would usually involve, but I suspect that the comfort will make up for the inconvenience. And, really, it's changing back and forth from knitting to purling that slows you down; I can purl almost as fast as I can knit.