Knitting & Yoga and Tea & Coffee
My first commentator Jayne being English prefers tea to coffee and having looked at her profile I assume prefers yoga to knitting. Maybe after reading below, she may give knitting a try.
I lived in Canada for a number of years and Canada being a British Common Wealth, taught me quite a bit about the "art" of tea. A great cup of tea is as satisfying as a great cup of coffee in my book. I even have a specific cup that I use for tea and a specific one for coffee. When preparing to make a pot of tea, I pre heat my pot with hot water, then the water must be "on the boil" when pouring over the tea bags. Some of my friends, would only briefly introduce the tea bag to the water as if afraid they wouldn't get along too well. While in "our" house, we like to think that the tea bags and water are having a party and the longer they play together the better for everyone. We like a spot of milk with ours. When cleaning out the pot, we don't use soap on the inside as that would ruin the seasoning inside the pot. We just rinse it out with again boiling water.
One thing Americans and Canadians have to remember is when ordering tea in the other country. A Canadian will order "a tea" in a restaurant and if they are in the states they will most likely get a glass of ice tea. If a Canadian actually gets the cup of tea, they wonder what this pot of warm water is with the tea bag sitting loose. In Canada, it will generally come to the table already steeping in HOT water in a pot. Sometimes when I order tea in the states, when I mention I'd like milk with mine, they ask me what size milk. To which I have to reply, "the same size idea as cream for coffee."
My first experience in Canada in making a pot of tea was, shall we say a learning experience. I was in charge of making the pot. I had never seen an "electric kettle" before. I had always heated the water in a kettle on the stove and it would whistle when the water boiled. I was asked if the tea was ready and I said no the water hadn't whistled yet. "Whistled, what do you mean?" This electric kettle didn't whistle when the water boiled. I had let the kettle almost boil dry!!! Gulp. We were able to recover from my near catastrophe, we had tea with my first expierence of true fish and chips. Not fish sticks mind you, but real beer battered fish and chips from a white cardboard box that was wrapped in newspaper. Of course we had malt vinegar and ketchup with it and...wait a minute I was talking about tea and coffee and have to get to the knitting yet.
So Jayne we have tea in common. Let's see if I can get you interested in knitting. I've never done Yoga but a knitting friend of mine is also a Yoga enthusiast. Before getting hit by the car a year ago, I was working out at the gym about 4 times a week trying to get into shape. I know the "zone" I get into when working out and can only assume that with Yoga it is more so. I think most of us knitters find that when we use a yarn that feels wonderful, the color is exactly what we were looking for, the pattern we are using is something we have had on our wish list for awhile, and we know the recepient of the item to be knitted will enjoy it (be it ourselves or a loved one) we can be in a zone and knit for a couple of hours without break. During this time we may be planning or working out in our mind all manner of things. When I take a break from my knitting I am refreshed and if something was bothering me when I started, it's all in perspective. My stress level is reduced and I'm happy and healthy.
If you haven't given it a try, maybe this entry will encourage you.
I lived in Canada for a number of years and Canada being a British Common Wealth, taught me quite a bit about the "art" of tea. A great cup of tea is as satisfying as a great cup of coffee in my book. I even have a specific cup that I use for tea and a specific one for coffee. When preparing to make a pot of tea, I pre heat my pot with hot water, then the water must be "on the boil" when pouring over the tea bags. Some of my friends, would only briefly introduce the tea bag to the water as if afraid they wouldn't get along too well. While in "our" house, we like to think that the tea bags and water are having a party and the longer they play together the better for everyone. We like a spot of milk with ours. When cleaning out the pot, we don't use soap on the inside as that would ruin the seasoning inside the pot. We just rinse it out with again boiling water.
One thing Americans and Canadians have to remember is when ordering tea in the other country. A Canadian will order "a tea" in a restaurant and if they are in the states they will most likely get a glass of ice tea. If a Canadian actually gets the cup of tea, they wonder what this pot of warm water is with the tea bag sitting loose. In Canada, it will generally come to the table already steeping in HOT water in a pot. Sometimes when I order tea in the states, when I mention I'd like milk with mine, they ask me what size milk. To which I have to reply, "the same size idea as cream for coffee."
My first experience in Canada in making a pot of tea was, shall we say a learning experience. I was in charge of making the pot. I had never seen an "electric kettle" before. I had always heated the water in a kettle on the stove and it would whistle when the water boiled. I was asked if the tea was ready and I said no the water hadn't whistled yet. "Whistled, what do you mean?" This electric kettle didn't whistle when the water boiled. I had let the kettle almost boil dry!!! Gulp. We were able to recover from my near catastrophe, we had tea with my first expierence of true fish and chips. Not fish sticks mind you, but real beer battered fish and chips from a white cardboard box that was wrapped in newspaper. Of course we had malt vinegar and ketchup with it and...wait a minute I was talking about tea and coffee and have to get to the knitting yet.
So Jayne we have tea in common. Let's see if I can get you interested in knitting. I've never done Yoga but a knitting friend of mine is also a Yoga enthusiast. Before getting hit by the car a year ago, I was working out at the gym about 4 times a week trying to get into shape. I know the "zone" I get into when working out and can only assume that with Yoga it is more so. I think most of us knitters find that when we use a yarn that feels wonderful, the color is exactly what we were looking for, the pattern we are using is something we have had on our wish list for awhile, and we know the recepient of the item to be knitted will enjoy it (be it ourselves or a loved one) we can be in a zone and knit for a couple of hours without break. During this time we may be planning or working out in our mind all manner of things. When I take a break from my knitting I am refreshed and if something was bothering me when I started, it's all in perspective. My stress level is reduced and I'm happy and healthy.
If you haven't given it a try, maybe this entry will encourage you.
posted by barbp | 9:07 PM
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