It was a fun and busy summer here. We’ve been trying to get out and experience all we can this year. Made it to Polish Fest and Das Fest USA (a German festival). Had a blast at both. It is rather interesting how similar the dances and clothing tend to be. We’ve enjoyed getting out on the lakes. I have a stand-up paddleboard and my husband has a kayak. We haven’t gotten out as much as I would have liked. It was always rainy or windy on the weekends or we had other plans. Summer ended pretty quickly here. Fall and sweater weather have begun. I always love sweater weather, although I don’t seem to wear my sweaters as much now that I work from home. I’m usually in my jammies. This fall, I’m going to try to make a point of wearing more of them. I’ll definitely be wearing all those wool socks I’ve been working on throughout the summer. Okay, so I only made two pair of shorties this summer, but I also was adventurous and am working on the Útivist Sweater (Pattern by Hélène Magnússon). It has been an adventurous knit. It includes colorwork, steeking, a hood, zippers, pockets, and thumb holes. I’m almost done knitting then all the fun cutting and sewing can take place. I’ve never sewn zippers.
Enough about summer fun. I stated in the first blog post that I’d talk about tea. How did I start my tea adventures? I’m not really sure that I can pinpoint a specific reason that I started drinking tea. I was always a soda drinker, averaging between 2-3 cans a day, maybe more. Growing up it was Jolly Good in all the fruity flavors. That brings back so many memories of birthday parties with cans of Jolly Good. As I got older, I started to drink colas and sodas loaded with sugar and caffeine. I started to get migraines in my 30’s. I don’t really know if I stopped drinking the soda as a way to get healthy or to help with the migraines. I really don’t remember my motivation. So, I stopped with all the soda. Now I mainly drink water throughout the day.
Probably about 5-10 years ago I started to have a cup of tea in the morning. My go-to was Yogi Tea Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy Tea. I loved the flavor and had a hard time finding anything similar. I started to stop in tea shops on vacation to see what I could find. Then I discovered the tea shops around my area, mainly David’s Tea and Fava Tea. I love David’s Tea Chocolate Rocket and Lemon Smash. My favorite Fava Tea is Guavalicious. I looked into opening a Fava Tea franchise and found that the startup costs were just out of my price range. My solution was to open my own online store. I decided to combine two of my favorite things, Tea and Yarn. I try to stick to Tea and Yarn teas. I still try to only have the one cup of caffeinated tea in the morning, usually Yerba Mate, but I have been branching out and trying new flavors. I love having a fruity tea over ice throughout the day and ending the day with a warm cup of Foxtrot or Peppermint tea. What are your favorite tea flavors? Do you prefer tea with caffeine or without? When did you start drinking tea? Can’t forget about the crafts involving yarn. What are you working on this summer? I’d love to see some pictures. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @tea.andyarn or Facebook.