Fruity Infusions At The Berkeley

On Monday I met up with my two oldest and dearest friends for afternoon tea. Baby Plum was still a bit scabby from her bout of chicken pox, so she stayed at home with Daddy Plum.

It was a bit of a novelty having a day out and not having a pram/sling/nappy bag with me! I thought I would make the most of this rare baby free day!

I headed into town and popped to the John Lewis haberdashery department where the clearance sale was still ongoing (finishes on Sunday, I think!) and picked up some wool to knit myself some gloves with!

I then popped to work and met a friend for a quick drink to catch up on the news and gossip.

After that I met my friends for a lovely afternoon tea at The Berkeley. As you know, this is the home to the fashionista's afternoon tea and I have blogged about the wonderful cakes before. Previous seasons can be found here, here and here.  We are all fans of lovely cakes, aren't we? 

This time I was lucky enough to try out the new fruity infusions. Don't you agree that fruity/herbal teas quite often smell better than they taste? Mmmm smells of lovely fruit, but tastes of dishwater? Not these infusions!

These lovely fruit infusions are produced by Spiceway and rather than a dusty ol' tea bag in your cup you put a couple of teaspoons of delicious dried fruit into your cup ...

Add freshly boiled water ....

Allow the fruit to infuse... I had a spicy apple tea which would be absolutely perfect for a chilly winter's afternoon. All apple and cinnamony! Delicious!

Then drink (the picture below is the Funky Fruit tea). At the end you can eat up the fruit from the bottom of the cup which is now like a compote!

A lovely cup of fruit tea!

Melt in the mouth shortbread buttons

I was inspired by Retromummy to make a batch of yummy shortbread shaped like buttons!! Retromummy was inspired by the May issue of Country Living - so this idea appears to be bouncing from the UK to Australia and back again!

I'm looking forward to a biscuit with a nice cup of tea this afternoon!

What are you baking this weekend?

Knitting for Winter Babies

A couple of my friends are expecting babies this Winter so I thought I would start a bit of knitting for them nice and early!

I don't know whether they are expecting boys or girls so had a brainwave! Rather than just stick to blue/pink/yellow/cream, I would use some more of this lovely green yarn and knit a basic layette cap (from my current favourite knitting book Vintage Knits for Modern Babies).

Inspired by my favourite flower fairies I am then planning to add either little green leaves (in felt) around the top of the hat for little boys or pretty pink petals for little girls. Of course, I just have to knit a big one for Baby Plum to wear this winter! 

I'm really pleased with this pattern - so quick and easy to do - even with a chicken poxy baby in tow!

Vintage Apron Dress

Here it is! I have finished Baby Plum's little apron dress. I am rather pleased with the finished product!

Here is a detailed view of the pocket. I bought the ladybird buttons at the Knitting & Stitching Show I visited back in January.

The neckline was a bit tricky. But with help and advice from lovely people on Ravelry, I worked it out. The button holes went slightly awry (i.e I followed the pattern exactly) and the button holes had vanished! Anyway, I have stitched the straps together for now and added another couple of ladybird buttons.  I'm thinking of making a little felt ladybird to put in one of the pockets as a little surprise for Baby Plum!

If only computers had smell-o-vision

I couldn't resist these beautiful stocks when I went shopping yesterday.  They smell so beautiful and remind me of my wedding bouquet.

A Work In Progress: Part Two

I thought I would give you a quick update on my current knitting project.

I'm rather proud of the amount of knitting I have managed to do of late.  This has coincided with Baby Plum going to bed a bit earlier and rather than passing out on the sofa exhausted, no longer having a night feed and getting at least 8 hours sleep now means that I have got my evenings back!!

I have a few concerns about the back of the dress (right side). It looks like a completely different shape to the front, but please be assured that this is just because I have it on the circular needles. I still need to cast off. I am a bit worried that the button holes may not be in the right place and have prepared my self to unpick the last few lines of the back of the dress and re-do them, if needed!