Friday Feel-good

I'm obsessing over a number of things at the moment, one being the amount of water that keeps falling from the sky, another being roses. Re the water thing...it's been so-so-so-so-so-so wet here this week, wet like you wouldn't believe. The little babbling beck that runs through our town swelled into a raging torrent and burst it's banks. Local roads have flooded. And closer to home, my (leaking) bay window roof has been pouring a steady stream of water into the living room. I've been collecting it in the washing up bowl, which in turn has become a makeshift paddling pool for Little B. Sometimes he's taken his socks off first, but mostly he's been climbing into it fully clothed. It's not been an easy week on the mothering front.

It's been a wellie wearing week for sure. Yesterday Little B and I splashed into town to go to knit and natter at the café. Actually, despite the rather dismal feeling of my coat being totally inadequate and not actually keeping me dry, we had fun. I deliberately took myself down to Little B's level mentally and emotionally and attempted to experience the walk in the way that he was doing. Puddles (lots of them), lets jump and splash! Rain pouring down (and soaking us to the skin), lets feel the joy! Gutters leaking (and pouring showers of water on top of our heads), lets laugh and find it funny! It worked to a point and much to my surprise I did rather enjoy the whole wet experience. After getting so soaked, it also made it doubly delicious to spend the morning drying out in the warm, fragrant café amongst yarny friends, drinking hot milky coffee and eating toasted fruit bread. I even crocheted half a rose.

Which brings me neatly to the Obsession of Today......................

Ten stems of the most exquisite orange roses, purchased from the market for £2.95.

Oh the pure joy these flowers have provided me with today is almost indescribable. I have fallen completely in love with them.

I snipped the stems short because I really desperately wanted to see them in my red and white spotty jug. They looked a bit lost bobbing about in the jug with no leaves to speak of, so I went out (in the rain) to snip some miscellaneous greenery from the front garden to accompany them. That almost tipped me over the edge then...the glorious orange blooms with the bright leafy green foliage nestling in red with white spots... ooooooooooooooooooohhhh!

Sigh. So completely beautiful. I don't think I've ever bought orange roses before, and I wonder now why ever not? Look what I've been missing all these years!

If you could've seen me here at the table this morning (this was 10.33am), you would've seen a very happy soul indeed. After the gloom of the weather this week, with all the added hassle it has brought to the school run (not to mention the roof/bowl/paddling toddler scenario and the resulting piles of wet clothes all over the place), I really felt in need of some Feel-good.

This was my recipe for todays Friday Feel-good ::

• Some child free time (45 mins while Little B was at playgroup)

• Good coffee (a take-out from the local coffee shop, decanted into my pretty mug)

• Something sweet and calorie laden ( Pain au raisin from the M&S bakery, tut-tut)

• A jug of fresh flowers on the table (smoochy, swoony orange roses of course)

• A little bit of colourful Hooky to work on (woolly stripes)

It worked a treat and the Feel-good was overflowing.

The stripes are coming on a treat too, very jolly indeed. As you know, I'm working on a stripy wreath base for my May Roses, and I am really, really enjoying making them. I'm using the Rico Merino wool I bought recently (see this post for colour info), mixed in with some odd scraps of baby cashmerino. I'm working in htc (half treble crochet) on a 3.5mm hook, so the stripes are coming out quite neat and tight (I don't want the white of the polystyrene wreath to show through when I stretch it over). I'm choosing the colours and stripe width completely at random, and loving it.

While I was working on the stripes and having a play with the roses I'd already made, I had a sudden overwhelming urge to make a sweet blue forget-me-not type flower. So I grabbed some yellow and turquoise blue yarn and set to work using my teeny-tiny flower pattern.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and I think a few of them dotted in amongst the roses will look super-cute. This wreath is going to be quite something when it's finished, I'm so looking forward to bringing it all together.

Ahhhh another adoring gaze at that orange beauty. Amazing how rapidly the petals began to relax and unfurl once they came into the house.

Now then. I have to confess this wickedly extravagant thought that keeps persistently needling away at me. I can't stop thinking of all the other colours of roses that Mr Plant Man had in his pavement buckets today. Yellow, pale pink, magenta, red.......the memory of them is giving me this incredible urge to go and buy a whole armful, one bunch of each colour. I could cram them all into a big jug and enjoy a week of Mulicoloured Floral Magnificence. £14.75 for fifty roses ?? Hmmm, I think I just squashed that delicious pesky thought right back down where it belongs. Ten is quite enough. Orange roses are good. Orange roses are great. Less is more an' all that.

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Comments

[Sarah]

Your Friday does sound good. I love those roses what a bargain the colour is gorgeous! Hope the sun is now shining on you and no more leaks. Have a good weekend.
Sarah x

[Kate Dengra]

WOW what lovely oranges roses - the sun is shining here now and my roses are out but nothing like as lovely as that orange although I am happy as one is a deep red and the other a bright red.

Just picked one to put in a vase to have on the table when we have our bbq tonight.

Have a lovely weekend x

[WoollyBudgie]

Those roses are beautiful! So vivid! Your wreath is going to look wonderful! Can't wait to see it!

[Bonnie]

I love orange roses, they are my favorite! That vibrant color is gorgeous! Love all that color and crochet you are doing!

[Fiona]

You do make me smile so much. Loving the orange roses.I have some pink tulips that are giving me an equal amount of joy. Loving your Friday feel good. Could have done with some of that myself. What with endless rain, a toddler that is in to everything and requires Mummy's constant attention, and pregnancy hormones, I have felt very much in need of some feel good this week. Sharing yours has made me feel better though. F x

[Lily]

Hi Lucy - the orange roses are beautiful. Do they smell? xxx

[Karmen]

Just beautiful! Karmen

[Julie]

Your water catching bowl would have made a great boating lake for a toy boat!

[Carole]

Hi Lucy,
Your roses look lovely. Thank you for your Summer Roses Pattern. I am rose obsessed now too. Can`t wait to see your Rose & Flower wreath. I would like to have a go at making one for my Mum. She is now in a care home and i think one would brighten up her room. So i can`t wait to see yours when it is finished.
Hope you enjoy your coffee donation i sent you the other day. Thanks soooo much for all the work you do to bring us gorgeous patterns.

Love Carole from Rossendale xxxx

[quinn]

I used to work outdoors rain or shine (or snow) and now don't mind getting soaked as long as I know dry clothes await. What makes ALL the difference for me is a brim to keep the rain or snow out of my eyes!

[plumbing]

Orange roses are so gorgeous. I love also this crochet in stripe. The combination of color are perfect.

[Fleur Cotton]

A different colour each week I think!

I just love roses, bright yellow ones are my favourite.

Look forward to seeing what colour you choose next week.

Lots of happy thoughts sent to you for a lovely weekend.
Fleur xx

[Montse Martí]

Wowwww seems incredible when I have to protect my eyes for the sun when I go outside. It is so hot now here, at the South-East of Spain. We are climbing to thirty degrees and no clouds in the sky (so, no watter).
In a few days, we must get down the windows blinds to keep the house fresh.
I would to send you a photo from my own attic, but is not possible to link it directly here.
I will leave a pic for you in my blog. A bit of our sunlight hoping that makes you better.

Greetings from Murcia (Spain)

[Donna]

Loving the colour combination - roses, greens and beautiful red spotty jug. x

[lynn bamber]

This was the first post I read in my list of blogs today.. What a deliciously lovely post to read:-) I love the colour and - rain and leaky roof apart! - the cheeriness it evokes. Thanks for a bright start to my browsing this morning :-) x

[Jenny]

Well, on the subject of roses... I think you could do him a favour. I thought flowers should only appear in odd numbers... so instead of selling 10, he should be selling nine per bunch.

So, he could sell you bunch of the 10th rose from 9 bunches to make your multi bouquet!

[Trish]

I like the miniature roses that you buy as a plant in a pot. But orange is goooooood! Just think, you could keep the house stocked with roses for months if you buy a different colour every week. Take a photo each time, then create a montage of the photos and it will feel like you had them all at once!!

[sew]

I hope you know just how much cheer you bring!
You deserve buckets full of roses.

[mistea]

I enjoyed all your colourful crochet today - those roses are a gorgeous colour and perfectly placed in your little polka dot jug.
Hope the rain has stopped.

[Paula Mello]

Lucy, I have to say I already spent hours here!! I'm a mom of three too and I don't have time enough to craft as I wish. But I always think: someday, someday...
Love you crochet, really colorful.
Hoping to know you better, I'm invite you for a brazilian coffee at my kitchen!

[Rae]

I love orange roses, and seeing yours made me smile. Your stripey wreath base is lovely, and I can hardly wait to see it finished. Thanks for all the inspiration.

[SpecialK]

Always gob smacked by your posts! The roses ~ real and crochet are just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing. Cheers SpecialK XoXo

[Regula]

It's raining again. Probabely time to get a new pair of happy rubber boots. :-)

[Teresa Kasner]

Those orange roses would cheer me right up too! I look forward to seeing your finished wreath project! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[Carol]

What beautiful roses! (They have always have been my favorite flower...) Your photos are so wonderful, I can almost smell them :-)