Yarn Crafts for Health and Easy Baby Blanket Crochet Projects

Happy Saturday!

Anyone else in Missouri today may wonder why I'm sitting inside blogging when the high today is 71ºF, in February. My answer to you, dear, hypothetical Missourian readers, is that it is still morning, and the thermometer has not yet broken 60ºF, also known as the temperature at which I will willingly spend my leisure time out of doors. For lo, I am a wimp. But I am enjoying the morning sunshine in my living room, watching Hobbit flopping around like a goofball in a nice warm patch on the carpet.

I wasn't fast enough to get a pic of him rolling around. He's embarrassed that he got caught being adorable.

Putting aside for the moment the existential dread stemming from the knowledge that such a gloriously warm day in February is likely the result of global warming, I'm really excited that I get to spend some time outside today. But first, I want to talk about crocheting.

Did you know that yarn crafts are good for your health? This blog post from the New York Times, The Health Benefits of Knitting, quotes doctors and researchers studying the mental and physical perks of crocheting and knitting. It's an interesting read.

I learned to crochet when I was little, but I took it back up more seriously in the last year or so as a way to keep myself from biting my nails. Here are the benefits, health-related and otherwise, that I've noticed:

1. It keeps my hands busy, so I'm not picking or biting my nails, and I'm also not mindlessly snacking. Snacking's great, but if I'm not paying attention while I eat, I'm not enjoying it anyway!
2. The repetitive motion helps reduce my anxiety and calms me down after a stressful day. Yarn is cheaper than a therapist!*
3. I'm big into giving gifts, and giving someone a gift I made by hand makes it more meaningful, and this strengthens my friendships.
4. I save money on winter accessories. Like, for real. This hat takes me less than two hours to make (I'm pretty slow), and it's less than $5 worth of yarn. Also, it's super cute.
5. If I'm going to watch six episodes of The West Wing in a row, at least I'll have something to show for it afterwards.

*Please don't actually use yarn as a substitute for professional counseling. I was kidding.

The list goes on, but you get the picture. It's a simple, inexpensive hobby that boasts big returns, and it keeps my millennial layabout tendencies in check.

So, I'd like to share with you some of the projects I worked on last year. The thing about being twenty-five is, my friends are starting to reproduce. So are my siblings. Fine by me, as 1) It keeps the baby-making pressure off me and my hubby, and 2) I'm at that stage of life where I really love babies, as long as I can hand them back to their parents after we've hung out for a bit. Joe and I are still a few years out in terms of offspring. Anyway, I've been making a lot of baby blankets lately.

As I said before, I've only gotten back into crocheting regularly in past year or two, so these blankets were all beginner level projects. I basically just single crocheted forever and ever amen for the body of each blanket, then I did a simple border and an embellishment on each. Pictures and details below!

Blanket One: Airplane Appliqué Blanket with Blanket Stitch Border

This one was for my nephew, who was born last spring. My brother's father-in-law is a private pilot, and he gave my brother lessons while my brother was getting his own pilot's license. The family is pretty into planes, is what I'm saying. So I made a blanket using worsted weight yarn in single stitch, and then I used This pattern, a $2 download on Ravelry.com, to make an airplane. Definitely worth the $2. I then finished it up with a blanket stitch border in blue, which is super easy and very cute. Here's the finished product.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, by the way. I took all these photos before I knew I'd be sharing them!

Blanket Two: Flower Appliqué Blanket with Scallop Stitch Border

This one was for the daughter of some friends of mine from church. They decorated their nursery in navy and cream with coral accents, so I used the same colors in the blanket. The weekend I made the flowers, I was feeling equal parts lazy and over-confident, so I decided to try making them without a pattern. They came out a bit less defined than I liked, but I kept them. This was my first foray into the scallop stitch for a border, and I used the fantastic book Crocheting School: A Complete Course to learn it. 

Also featured: my hideous living room couch! Feast your eyes!

The border looks nearly black here, but it's really a nice, deep navy.

Blanket Three: Hot Air Balloon Embroidered Blanket with Basic Border

This one was my favorite to make, partly because it was the easiest, and partly because I really loved combining crocheting and cross stitch embroidery in one project! This blanket was for the son of another couple of friends from our church. They didn't have any color or design preferences, so I did my own thing. I free-handed this one, and the squareness of the single crochet stitch made it easy to cross stitch using a yarn needle. I started with cross stitching the white stripe of the balloon, made symmetrical red stripes on either side, and then I used a smaller yarn to cross stitch the basket, finishing off the ropes with a chain stitch. If you don't know how to embroider, I kid you not, you can learn in one afternoon with a trip to the craft store and a couple of YouTube videos.

I have got to find a better place to photograph my projects. A futon? Really Anna?

So, there are the baby blankets that I made in 2015! Three more of my friends are pregnant already. I'll share what I'm working on for one of them in my next post. I've finally strayed from the single stitch blanket body to a pretty moss stitch. If you'd like an actual pattern for any of these blankets, leave a comment and I'll learn how to write patterns.

And would you look at that. In the time it's taken me to type up and edit this post, the temperature has risen from 54ºF to 67ºF. I'm going for a bike ride! Catch ya later!

The Irish Cuppa

Just found this article from the Irish Times. The Irish are now officially the number one tea drinkers worldwide - according to the article, Irish people drink 6-7 cups a day, which amounts to 7lbs of dry tea leaves annually. No wonder I felt so at home there! The article also discusses the recent increase in drinking tea for health benefits. Check it out here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0626/1224318714080.html

Green Tea and Great Adventures!

So, I definitely stretched beyond the limits of my promised "two-to-three day break" after finals week. I suppose I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to recover from such a busy semester! But here I am again.


I just wanted to share with you all a cool article I found about the health benefits of green tea. Recent studies have shown that not only does it lower cancer risks, it also combats a host of other diseases! You go, green tea!


Here's the link to the article: http://www.wellnesstimes.com/articles/can-green-tea-reduce-cancer-risk


I've been drinking mostly black tea and Darjeeling (always a fave) this week because I haven't yet unpacked all my tea things after returning home. I should probably get on that today.


I'd also like to announce that in two days, I'll be heading across the pond to La Ville Lumière - the City of Lights - Paris! My cousin is getting married there, and we'll be spending three days there for the festivities. After that, my parents, sisters and I will spend a week in Ireland! How about that? I'll be sniffing out the best Irish teas and letting you know all about it! My goal is to find some more Connemara Irish Afternoon Tea, which my lovely friend Emma brought me from her study abroad experience in Ireland last summer. Which reminds me - Emma's got a really fun travel blog that you should check out! She's hopping around some wonderful places in Europe with my other friend - her freshman roommate - Herolinda. Check it out at http://bluejaysineurope.blogspot.com/


That's all for now! My next post will be from the Emerald Isle!!!

Pictured: Kinsale, where my family will be staying. I plan on sitting in one of those chairs and sipping a cup of tea. Probably followed by a Guinness or two in the evening. Source

Part II: The Herbals

Quick sidenote: Before starting this post, I decided to google "The Herbals" to make sure I wasn't stealing the name from some stoner band. Instead, I found the trailer for a goofy, low-budget, crazy looking Scottish movie called "Attack of the Herbals." That's the the link in case you're curious, but if you're not a fan of very fake-looking severed limbs, this flick isn't for you. Can't say you weren't warned.

That huge digression aside, let's move on to herbal teas. Since you can make tea out of almost anything simply by brewing it in hot water (which, incidentally, is a key plot point in "Attack of the Herbals"), this list has the potential to go on forever. For sanity's sake (again, "Attack of the Herbals"), I'll stick to the most popular types of herbal tea.

Rooibos: This rusty red tea comes from a bush in southern Africa. See my post Sniffles and Sneezes? for the health benefits this tea is packing. Delicious when flavored or on its own. Rooibos is the better-known cousin of Honeybush, another yummy tea grown in Africa.

Yerba Maté: This is the staple drink of the people of Argentina and several other South American nations. Also known simply as Maté, this drink contains high levels of caffeine, along with natural chemicals to prevent the jitters you might get with coffee. For this reason, coffee-lovers tend to flock to this tea.

Echinacea: This is a "feel-better-fast" tea that is known to shorten flu and cold duration. I drink Celestial Seasonings Echinacea Wellness Tea whenever my throat isn't in the best shape for a choir concert or other event where I'll have to use my voice a lot - as a future teacher, I can foresee a long and happy friendship with me and Echinacea.

The Echinacea Flower. Source

Chamomile: An herb long known for its medicinal qualities, as a tea chamomile is best known for helping you fall asleep. It counteracts stress hormones, which in turn can combat stress reactions like eye twitching and acid reflux. And it definitely helps you calm down before bed after a crazy day - which is good news for busy, sleep-starved college students!



Mint: A yummy brew of mint leaves, which is soothing when hot or refreshing when iced. On a side note, mint tends to relax the LES muscle, so if you're having a bout of acid reflux, stick to chamomile instead of mint.

Iced mint tea. Source

Chrysanthemum: Not quite so popular in America, chrysanthemum tea is widely used elsewhere in the world. An exchange student from China who lived across the hall from me last year made some for me. I liked it, but I don't recommend it for people who are new to tea. It's an acquired taste.


Sage: The biggest benefit I've heard of for sage tea is it's ability to naturally cut down on excessive sweating. Though it doesn't have the loveliest taste, I've seen it work wonders for pubescent teenagers' self-confidence. Don't steep it for more than the directed amount of time - after too long brewing, sage can become toxic.


There you go! I know there are dozens of other popular herbal teas, but those are the ones I find most relevant. I hope you get a chance to try some!  I'll be taking a two-to-three day break from the blog for finals week, but tune back in later in the week for a new post!

Anna's Semi-comprehensive Tea Glossary: Part I

I said this post would be "tomorrow," and if we're going on the college student's definition of "day", then as long as I'm still awake, it's still Sunday. All this to say, it's time for that tea guide I was talking about!

Today I'll give you an overview of the "true" teas, or teas made from camellia sinensis, the tea plant. And tomorrow (which in college-speak means "when it's light out again or after I've slept for five hours"), I'll get into the "herbal" teas - those made from other plants.

Let's get started!

Black tea: This is what you would typically think of as a basic tea. It goes through more processing than all other teas, including a stage of fermentation (aka oxidation). It's the strongest type of tea made from camellia, and contains the most caffeine. Works well as a breakfast tea, but I really enjoy it at any time of the day. Iced tea is usually made from black tea. My favorite black tea is Darjeeling, which is grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, and has a golden color and a smooth taste.

Tea leaves being fermented. Source

Green tea: This tea has a slightly more delicate flavor than black tea. It does not undergo fermentation, and is steamed or fried after picking and sorting. It also has less caffeine than black tea. It contains the powerful antioxidant HGCG. I adore it flavored with jasmine (Teavana's Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls has been a longtime favorite of mine).

Oolong: This delicate and delicious tea is oxidized (fermented) for a shorter period of time than black tea, giving the leaves a color ranging from green to almost black, depending on the length of oxidation. Oolong has a nice sweet flavor. Fun fact: A long time ago, Chinese monks used to train monkeys to pick tea for them! This is where the title "monkey-picked oolong" comes from, though the tradition is no longer practiced. The oolong teas from Teavana are very pricey. I would recommend Twinings, but you should always shop around for the best tea at the best price!

White Tea: White tea is made from young leaves of the tea plant, when tiny white hairs are still visible on the as-yet unopened buds. It goes through the least amount of processing and also contains the least amount of caffeine of any of the camellia teas. It is rich in antioxidants as well. I like this tea plain, since the flavor is so simple and lovely (my boyfriend claims it doesn't taste much different from water; I say he needs to cultivate his taste buds). It's great in the afternoon or evening when you just want to relax. The Republic of Tea has some great loose white tea available. I've had some good luck with white tea at World Market. Definitely check that store out if there's one near you!

This is a fine white tea known as Silver Needle, only harvested two weeks out of the year. Source

Those are the basic categories for camellia sinensis! Tune in tomorrow for some delicious herbal teas, including rooibos, maté, and chamomile!

Special thanks to www.tealaden.com, where I did a bit of fact-checking on this post!

Sniffles and Sneezes?

It's that time of year! The cars parked around campus have a light yellow dusting all over them; they're covered in pollen, and it's getting in our noses too. My seasonal allergies tend to hit me more in the fall, but hay-fever is making people miserable right now. 

My friend David is a particularly severe case. He's completely lost his voice this week because of his allergies! Since I have a history of prescribing tea for just about every ailment under the sun, David came to me and asked for some tea to make his throat feel better. 

Now, just about any hot tea is going to have a soothing effect on a scratchy throat. But we want to get to the root of the problem, don't we? So I made him rooibos.

Rooibos tea (I pronounce it "roy-bows") is an herbal tea - i.e. made from a plant other than Camelia sinensis - that is made from a bush that grows in South Africa. It's got a distinctly red color, earning it the commonly used (and more easily pronounced) title, "red tea."

Source

Rooibos tea lays claim to a long list of health benefits, from fighting acne to curing colic in children. But it also contains two important bioflavonoids, called Rutin and Quercetin. These bioflavonoids block histamine, which is the cause of inflamatory allergy symptoms like itchy eyes, stuffy nose, coughing, etc. Just drink rooibos tea regularly and you may even be able to ditch the allergy drugs - this wonder-tea is a safe and natural way to keep those sniffles at bay. 

More good news: rooibos tea is caffeine-free, and does not have the iron-blocking effects of other teas. So you can drink as much as you want! Hydrating, allergy-fighting, and refreshing. Not to mention the antioxidants and other health benefits. So don't just sit there! Follow your itchy red nose to the grocery store or a nearby tea shop and pick up some red tea!

I have one more suggestion to combat your seasonal allergies: try adding some locally-sourced honey to your rooibos tea! Local honey is said to help assimilate the body to local allergens, since it contains trace amounts of pollen from the plants in your area. Definitely worth a try, in my opinion! Head to your local farmers' market or get online and do some hunting to find yourself a local apiary (that's fancy-talk for bee farm). And then enjoy! Honey goes great with red tea.

For this post, I got some of my information from Teavana's page on rooibos. They have some scrumptious rooibos blends for sale, so be sure to follow the link and check them out!

The Life and Tea Times of Anna Bohn

Greetings, Blogosphere!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Anna. I'm a junior at a small but wonderful college in the middle of Missouri, and I am passionate about tea. With this blog, I'm hoping to bring others into the wonderful realm of tea drinkers, as well as provide some interesting facts and history about this timeless beverage. But first, I think I'll share a bit of my own history with tea.

I'm not quite sure how it began. My sisters were coffee-lovers in high school, but I didn't like coffee until college (unavoidable, I'm sure you'll agree). It may have been the need to branch out during from hot chocolate on our frequent Starbucks runs. Or maybe it stemmed from my family's love of Chinese food, leading to hot tea with our buffet lunches. But for whatever reason, I started drinking black tea from time to time in early high school, always with several packets of sugar. It wasn't long after this that I discovered the Teavana store at my local mall, and the real obsession began.


For those of you who don't know, Teavana is a self-proclaimed "heaven of tea." It can be found in many malls in the US, as well as online. For your first visit, I recommend going to a physical store. They have tantalizing samples placed strategically outside the store. After trying the samples, I wandered into the store, and as time went on my appreciation and knowledge of tea grew. I became more sensitive to the nuanced tastes and I used less and less and then little or no sugar.


Several years and a six month subscription to a Tea of the Month Club later, I consider tea not just a yummy and healthful alternative to sodas and coffee, but a hobby and an integral part of my lifestyle. I'm by no means an expert, but I hope you'll journey with me through this blog as I continue to explore the fascinating world of tea!