Family time

 I have started knitting myself an Aran cardi, I am making it bigger, so I can pop it on over my jumper if I'm cold at home, I already have one, but it's getting scruffy, so this will be great for later in the year when the cold weather returns. I am taking my time and enjoying the design, when I knit faster I do knit loose, this is spot on tension. The yarn was purchased years ago, so only 4 years waiting to be used, it was purchased to make a garment like this.

My last Amaryllis is opening, this flower is much smaller than others I have grown, the colour make it worth growing, it's not as bright as I expected. I requested no flowers for Mothering Sunday, and just the gift of our daughter and her 3 children, daddy is away with the F1 team, covering the race. As Sue from Suffolk said, it's hard enough for our own 'children' to make ends meet, without purchasing us more stuff. 

The little ones were brilliant, we did not have a roast lunch, more of an inside picnic, which they all enjoyed. We had new toys for each child, all to be left here, which they had so much fun with, plus a few of our older favourites. The joy is Molly still needs an afternoon nap, so mummy took them home early afternoon, time for us to pack things away and rest ourselves. Daughter sent us a photo of George fast asleep sat on their sofa, he rested for a moment and took a nap. 

We have had lovely sunny warm days here, it's still March so you need to layer up to be outside, just seeing blue skies makes me feel better, the hope that warmer weather is getting closer. I have planted two pots of sweet peas in the back corner of my raised garden, I purchased them rather than growing from seed, it's much cheaper, the cost of seeds and compost like everything else has risen. I also planted another pink peony in my small raised bed by our back door, it's still a wait and see time as to what will grow back. 

Thank you for all your comments regarding the shutters, I did so want them, but they would reduce so much light, we would have them with split closure, so the top and bottom working separate. We popped to Dunelm and I spoke to a really rude lady, who made a very curt comment, and I walked away, I need helpful people not jobs worth, I did complain before leaving. We found a local company who does all sorts of blinds, made local and very friendly, we can't find blinds similar to our existing, but we did find a design we both loved, and the helpful lady explained, they could make just the vertical blinds, so we could reuse all the plastic top and bottom weights, so we have ordered new blinds, they will take a week to make, and we can fit them onto our existing rail, saving loads of money and not replacing parts which are still working. The good thing, is if we see anything which we would love in the two front windows, we have not spend a huge amount, we are going to get new roller blinds, we saw some in Dunelm, but I was so upset we just left the store, I will probably order them online. I promise this is my last post on window shutter/ blinds, I know I have had enough of it all.