A nice cup of tea

The British love their tea. It is the solution to any crisis. I'm a huge fan of the humble cuppa. I would probably say that it is my favourite drink. We have a large selection of mugs here in the josiekitten household, lots of them cat-related! Some bigger, some smaller, some chunky, some more delicate. But each is just perfect for a mug of tea. I like Yorkshire tea, (milk, no sugar!) and drink it piping hot. I usually use teabags straight in the mug, but we do sometime brew up a pot, in which case, a tea cosy is required to keep the teapot nice and snug.

This tea cosy belonged to my parents, and was used everyday as far back as I can remember. It's a bit felted, and tea-stained, but I love it! It's full of memories of tea time, when we all sat round the kitchen table and had a proper tea every day of sandwiches and cake.

If all this talk of tea has you reaching out for the kettle, why not go one step further? Marie Curie Cancer Care are asking people to hold Blooming Great Tea Parties to raise money for Marie Curie nurses. They do a fantastic job providing free care for people with terminal cancer and other illnesses. What could be better than drinking tea and eating cake with friends and raising money at the same time? It's a win-win situation!

Simply Knitting magazine have got together with Marie Curie Cancer Care and come up with a competition to knit a tea cosy for their Blooming Great Tea Party teapot. It's a large, flat cardboard prop that is travelling around the country, visiting various tea parties. There is a great prize for the winning tea cosy too. So why not gather together your knitting friends and drink tea, eat cake and knit, all for a great cause. I'm going to see whether my knitting group are interested - it should be loads of fun, and we already drink tea and eat cake each time we meet, so we're almost there!!!