I'm about to finish the Palette Shawl that I've been knitting on for several months now.   As soon as I run out of the blue yarn I'll call it quits as I think it will be long enough.   It's a trapezoid shape, so kinda hard to hold up and try on with the needles still in it to check out the length.  The lighter colors of yarn are Cascade Eco Duo and are wonderful to work with.   They are somewhat "thick and thin", kinda homespun-like.  

I wanted to show you a picture, but since I uploaded Windows 10 last week, I can't download photos from Adobe Photoshop Elements to this blog.  I am getting a little window from Adobe saying things don't work properly unless I have Internet Explorer loaded on my computer.  Windows 10 uses Edge - so I guess I have to do some computer work here.    I think I'll just go back to my Windows 7 - I liked it just fine and Windows 10 doesn't seem a whole lot different, except for the fact that some of my programs have not been updated to handle Windows 10.  I understand you can get a free upgrade to Windows 10 for a whole year - so I may just download it again later!

OF LATE

It's been a while since I've posted any yard pictures, and this wonderfully blooming Bougainvillea is pretty spectacular.   We've planted several different varieties of Bougainvillea since we moved here 3 years ago, and this is the nicest one.   Some of the others have passed on - so we're very happy to have this one.   It's kind of a "hit or miss" with plants here in Arizona - they must be able to stand the heat and drought, and sometimes even though others may be able to grow them fine, we haven't always been so lucky.

I've made a lot of progress on the Palette Shawl and am "determined" to get it finished before I pick up something else to knit.   It may be called "stubborn" instead of "determined".  LOL

I went to a meetup today at a local coffee shop for women over 50 in Maricopa.  What a fun group of ladies who meet every couple of weeks - sometimes at members homes and sometimes at other places!  Part of the group is interested in beading - which is a hobby I quit working on several years ago - I guess knitting started consuming so much of my time.   Anyway, I'm now anxious to get back in the "beading" mode.

ON A WINDY, STORMY DAY

I've been getting alerts for the last few hours, of the incoming wind, thunderstorms and rain.  So far none of that has happened, but still hoping.  We could really use the rain.  

So in the meantime, I've picked up my knitting on the Palette Shawl.  I found, last night at meetup, that I had dropped a stitch about 5 rows back, and due to the yarnovers, and lacy-type design, I couldn't just bring it on up to the current row.  So I've spent time today "un-knitting" those rows and now ready to start up the knitting again.   It's going to be way to heavy a knit for wear in Arizona, so it'll be gifted to someone up in Washington State where they get cold winters.

MOVIN' RIGHT ALONG

I've been doing a lot of knitting on my Palette Shawl and happy to see some progress! This is a trapezoid-shaped shawl, thus the reason it kinda looks crooked!!   I've just started a new color - Stonehedge  Shepherd's wool in Seabreeze (a pretty heather green) that goes well with the other two colors.  I'll use all of this skein (left over from another project) then switch to another color.  

WORK-IN-PROGRESS

I've been working on my Palette Shawl as often as I can, but I'm either getting to be a slower knitter, or something.  It seems like it's merely crawling on!  

READY FOR THE 4TH???

I assume your plans are all made and in effect right now for celebration of our great country over the 4th!!!   One thing about being retired and living away from family - nothing too exciting is going on around here.  Today we spent most of the day up in the Phoenix area - shopping and other errands.

I cast on this beautiful Palette shawl by Chandi Agee.  I sorta like my color selections from stash,  but am not too sure about one section being the pale blue.  I may have to come up with something else, but I don't really want to buy more yarn. (ha ha)  Once I got past the first few rows, I'm doing a better job of keeping count of my stitches.

I also have my "adult coloring book" nearby so that I can stop knitting and color for awhile to break the monotony and finished this particular picture I started several weeks ago.

Enjoy your weekend and keep safe!

RECENT HAPPENINGS

We (hubby and I) have just returned home from a wonderful 10-day trip to Washington State visiting family.

We spent time in western Washington visiting with our daughter and her family.   We attended our granddaughter's high school graduation, which was very nice.  They had a grad party for her the next day and got to see a lot of her friends and famiiy friends we had not seen in a while.  The younger granddaughter just gratuated from the 6th grade.

We rented a car and drove to Spokane (on the east side of Washington state) and visited with 4 more granddaughters, their mom, and two great-grandsons.  The youngest is just 5 months old and his brother just turned 3.   Such a lot of fun to be around the boys, but wow,  what a lot of energy that 3 yr-old has - hard to keep up!  But it was fun being around them.

We drove back to Seattle and flew home out of Sea-Tac.   Hard to believe how air travel is so much different these days.  "Back in the day" I was an airline "stewardess" and their was time to visit with the passengers, lots of elbow room, pass out food, etc..  Now eveyrone is all crammed in with very little leg or elbow room.

Due to said "lack of room"  I didn't do any knitting during the 3-hour flight.  Hard to get your arms in a position to do so.   In fact, I didn't get out my knitting the entire 10 days we were gone.   We were just way too busy.

It is nice to be home - the laundry is all done - had my long day of rest yesterday, and am now "back in the normal rut".

We are in quite a long heat spell.   We've had over 110 degree temperatures for well over a week now, and no end in sight.  These are really high temperatures for this early in the summer - hate to think of what it'll be like later this summer.

Are you planning a trip this Summer?  Write and let me know!