Syncopation Sock II

I finished the first Syncopation sock #2. I'm using Manos del Uruguay Alegría sock yarn.

It's a great pattern to knit whilst binge watching TV series. Skip and I finally finished watching the last season of 'Breaking Bad'. I had watched it before over a year ago but it was Skip's first time. Wow!

My new favourite cuff cast-on is the Italian tubular cast-on. It's really easy and uses waste yarn and the crochet hook method but I guess one could use any cast on with the waste yarn.

First, with the waste yarn, cast on half the number of stitches. Then take the main colour and knit into each stitch and follow with a yarn over (these will be your purl sts on the next round). Then join in the round, slip the first stitch purlwise with yarn in back (wyib), take the yarn to the front and purl the yarn overs. *Wyib, slip the next (knit) st, bring/with yarn in front (wyif) and purl the yarn over. Continue from * until you've completed the round. Basically, you are double knitting. Do a knit round, slipping the purl sts wyif. Now you may begin the K1, P1 ribbing. You may remove the waste yarn at any time after the first couple of rows. If you used slippery yarn, you can easily 'unzip' it if you pull from the correct end.

I used my usual 'eye of partridge' heel.

I have cast on the second sock and am underway with the ribbing before starting the K3, P1, pattern.

The Academy Awards are tomorrow night. I have seen all the movies nominated for Best Picture except 'Mad Max' and 'Revenant'. I may watch them at a later time. Today I watched 'Trumbo' because I wanted to see Brian Cranston's performance. He did such a good job as Walter White, I was eager to see him play Dalton Trumbo, a role for which he has been nominated as Best Actor.

Today, Skip and I attended the Birdfest at the SPI Golf Course, sponsored by our Thursday birding group, the Bay Area Birders. We attended three talks: 'Beyond Beginning Birding' by Norma Friedrich, 'RGV Jewels of the Air: Our Butterflies' by Marilyn Lorenz, and 'Shorebird ID' by John Yochum. It was a morning well spent.

We are looking forward to our outing with the Bay Area Birders on Thursday. A birding tour has been booked for us on a chartered boat on the Rio Grande upstream from the Anzalduas Dam in Mission, TX. While in Mission, we plan to visit the National Butterfly Center.