221 thoughts on “Praise Wool

  1. It’s happened to us a bunch lately (with less excuse). It’s good knitting time, although you really start to notice the lack of a furnace pretty quickly in this weather…
    Stay Warm!

  2. Oh noes! This is one of the reasons stash is good. And a shoking number of projects. Stay warm!

  3. Yikes!!! Hug your stash to keep you warm. And if you decide to knit some stockings/tights, they will go faster if you do them toe-up lol
    Hang in there!!

  4. Figures. Never occurred to me you’d been spared once I heard what had happened. Just pray the rest of Toronto doesn’t find out whose run of luck triggered it.
    However.
    That’s three. Mr.Washie/soilstack, ankle, power. Lift a glass to BSG and cast on the most daunting project you can conceive. You’re golden to go.

  5. Bless wool & candles! Too bad you can’t generate voltage with knitting needles. As fast as you knit, you would have all the lights burning in no time.

  6. Damn good job you can knit without looking! I’d need glow in the dark DPNs and perhaps one of those head mounted torches! Hope you’re keeping warm.

  7. Stay in, stoke up the furnace, keep warm and knit your socks off! (Not literally, I hope!) Can’t quite remember when you were hoping to watch your BSG programme. Hope the power doesn’t inconvenience this!!

  8. Happened to us last night too in Indiana! Good thing I had just unpinned that hyooge square shawl I finished…

  9. I thought of you when I saw the news.
    PS. It never works when I click “remember your personal info” on you comments. I have to type everything in like a chump.

  10. OMG. We had four days without power back in December. The temperature was in the teens and it was brutal. The house got down to about 35 degrees at night. When stoking the fire (every 15 minutes) I could keep the living room in the mid 50s. Whew and brrr! We certainly learned who are friends are–neighbors that we shared the bounty of our freezers with. Heating everything over the gas grill (outside) or over sterno. True friends!

  11. And did ya see the water line break in Montreal? Makes the fact that we have feet upon feet upon feet of snow seem trivial.

  12. Ooooooffff. That’s even worse than your stay in the cabin last year. Do you miss it, by the way?

  13. Trade you one overnight of no power for a frozen main water pipe.We have power but no running water.Gosh, how I just love melting snow just to be able to flush the toilet…

  14. Bummer. That is why I have prakticed knitting in the dark/very little light. We went to our “kolonihavehus” (I cannot explain it, but try google it) and I forgot we had no electric lights. So I learned knitting in dark.
    Goooood you had wool!

  15. Oh no. But I think rams is right, you’ve gone three-and-out. Thank goodness for all that lovely insulating yarn in your stash. Remember all the times you threatened/promised to roll around in it? Well…..

  16. Bummer. But I’ll bet the people who think you’re crazy for filling your house with wool are feeling a little foolish. They’re shivering while you can just burrow into the wool.

  17. I have a headlamp knitting during for power outages. Last year we had an ice storm that knocked out power for 18 hours, and I bundled up and knit furiously — and interestingly, my hands stayed far warmer knitting than if I’d been just holding a book with them. Clearly, knitting has many beneficial side effects.
    Stay warm!

  18. Oh, burr! Do you have a fireplace or a woodstove?
    On Breakfast Television this morning, they were reporting that some streets were getting their power back on by about 7:30 a.m. I hope it came back on quickly at your house. Power outages can be romantic, but not on the coldest night of the year. There is nothing romantic about the sound of pipes bursting.

  19. You poor girl, out of the rain, in to a powerstrike, what is next? Thanks for leftover candles from Christmas. We had a powerdown once on Christmas Eve, no electricity nowhere, total darkness, reminds you how lucky we are, in earlier times, before streetlights, people went visiting only at full moon, scared to get drowned in our ditches and canalfilled country (Netherlands). Anyway, policecars came to a halt at our house, seeing a Chtistmastree with lights on, people ring the bell asking if we had a powergenerator. As we said no, they frustratedly told us not to lie, see your Christmastree is alight. We had to wave our hand behind the flames of the real candles in the tree to show we told the truth, next policecar same story. As your ankle hurts, if lights are still out, do you have a bicycle with a headlight?Let Joe park it so he can tread the pedals with the frontwheel running free and you can do your knitting, if you should have burnt all your candles, they did it in WWII over here, I have heard. At least you are in company in this portion of bad luck, so I still think you are in for something really good soon.

  20. I feel so wimpy, whining about our -7 degree weather, when I have heat and power. Hope your lights are on and your toasty warm by now.

  21. I’m really glad that I don’t live in Canada right now… no power = no heat = unhappiness + freezing

  22. Yikes! Hope you all kept warm and well.
    On the good side, the photo would make a great Christmas card for next year. It’s so restful and peaceful. I am sure that’s not at all what you were feeling.

  23. Oof! Praise wool indeed! Yet another sensible reason for stashing. (Yeah, like we need a reason! Although it doesn’t hold water quite as well in Texas).
    But if you can blog you must have power with which to watch BSG, yes?

  24. YEOW! When I loose power at least I have my wood stove to keep the house warm. How did you manage? I also have learned that I don’t have enough candles to knit by. I now keep extra batteries for my headlamp!!

  25. This is a good time to remember what you taught us in Knitting Rules!, page 30, Five Reasons to Keep a Stash, reason number 2.
    “Yarn, if you get enough of it, can totally act as house insulation…”
    Shucks!, Mr. Washie, your kitchen, your plumbing, your ankle and now this. It sure is a good thing you can knit.

  26. Last night we had an hour and a half power outage in 7 degree F weather with below 0 F windchill. I totally empathize.

  27. flameless candles use batterys
    and are safe when hurricane
    weather comes this fall i shall have mine
    or as this week some one in a car hits
    the light poll half the city lights
    shut down pluss 911

  28. Ya know, when I saw the candles, I was afraid that was what happened. I am assuming that since you have posted, your power has been restored. Thank wool is right!

  29. Dude. The blog posts are practically writing themselves these days. Remember my family motto?
    Boring Is Good.

  30. I’ve just got to ask—what kind of heat do you have? I’m thinking almost every system runs on electric–even wood boilers have some kind of electricity for fans and pumps and whatnot. Good thing you live in a “wool house” huh.

  31. I’m with Denny: Are those mitered mittens?
    I’ve got some pretty Hancho and I wanted to make some sort of hand-warming knitting with it, so I might just have mitered mittens on the brain…

  32. If nothing else, the power outage made for a very pretty picture. Yarn by candlelight, how romantic!

  33. I love candles in a power outage. One year long ago, freezing rain at Christmastime, power died not long before Christmas dinner was ready. Gravy wasn’t made yet! I was not about to have roast turkey without gravy, if I could think of some way… I put four candles together on the countertop and held an old pot over. It was enough to make gravy with! Not a lot, but everybody had a couple of spoonfuls.
    I’m glad your power’s back on. Stay warm and enjoy BSG.

  34. Oh – I was afraid you were in the affected area. Trust you just hunkered down surrounded by your stash. Glad the power’s back up for you. We have power here, but there are watermains bursting all around us………

  35. Took me a minute to realize there was a problem–I live off the grid and usually without lights, so candles around the needles, ??? Will admit to having a headlamp permanently grafted to my head though. At this time o’ year, I’m snugged into the stove (-24 F this morning) kntting away, and my Favorite thing to beat any winter blahs is to check YOUR blog, most inspirational knitter/designer person. (yes, I have to turn on the generator to check in with you. So Very worth the noise.) Hope you’re warm and reconnected by now!

  36. Thank goodness you have a hobby other than television or video games! Here in the “boonies” the power is rather iffy and about once a month we have a lovely outage that requires candles, a fire, a large glass of wine, and some mindless knitting. I always imagine I’m living in a cabin on the frontier when I have an evening like that. It makes me feel good about continuing the tradition of knitting, and I gloat a little bit to the hubby that I manage to stay entertained even without power.

  37. Hope you were able to stay warm. I could deal with the loss of electricity, but not the lack of warmth. Happy to see that you survived.

  38. And people wonder why we have big stashes. To keep warm, naturally! Hope nothing happens to prevent you from watching BSG!

  39. My Ipod, knitting, and candles. What a perfect evening as long as I would have enough wool on to stay warm. I could take it for a few hours now to eliminate the nightly new reports.

  40. Oh you poor thing. I got an email from my daughter this morning saying that she went to the Bloor Cinema and the power went off as the trailers were ending. Then as she headed home all the power was out. She lives in an upstairs apartment in an old house which is pretty chilly at the best of times. As she turned off Dundas she was happy to see 6 houses at the end of the street with their lights on. Hers! She must have been at the edge of the grid. It must have been horrible for you and your family. Lucky you had wool!

  41. Guess all that practice, competing with your siblings, puts your family into shape for this sort of thing?
    Glad it’s over!

  42. Thank goodness for iPhones, and furnace-hot children to keep us toasty warm.
    I want to know why 15 degrees outside is warm, and inside you see your breath.

  43. Oh no! You lost power? I heard a lot of people did in T.O. I really hope your power is back on in time for the BSG finale!

  44. So, the suggestion I made yesterday of getting an electric space heater wouldn’t hav edone much good.
    Good that you had candles on hand. Nights are long this time of year, I understand.
    Stay warm!

  45. Wow! Must call the kids! They live in the west end. I hadn’t heard about this! Hope my grandkidlets didn’t freeze!!!

  46. According to Grey’s Anatomy (yes, I’m embarrassed) cocoa changes bad juju. Try a little hot chocolate to change the flow of luck. I do this now when things get a little crazy (again, appropriate embarrassment).

  47. Wow! Even our power doesn’t stay off for that long! I think it is colder down there than it is up here in Yellowknife (today), but we’ve just come off 3 weeks of minus 40 and below, so we’re enjoying the minus 5 as we know it will go back down again before long. The birth rate always increases during power outages!!!
    Thinking of you all and hope the power stays on.
    Janet MF

  48. Stephanie,
    A bit much, to say the least. Wow! So sorry about the luck–good thing knitters are a hardy bunch, (as well as Canadians!) Hope your home is quite alright..no frozen pipes, etc. Where is global warming when you need it?
    Knit on….Rebecca

  49. You know, I woke up today to no water. However, I had heat and electricity. I think I’m pretty lucky in comparison!

  50. I, too, am sending warmth. My pool is at 90, hop a plane and be our guest til this cold snap is over. Mary

  51. From the article
    “There were no reported instances of looting or spikes in 911 calls related to the power outage, which left one police station in the dark, said Toronto Police.”
    Too cold to loot or cause other ruckus is very, very cold 🙂
    Either that or Canadians just have better manners.

  52. Glad you made it through! I thought of you right after I phoned to make sure my Grandma and Aunt were okay. Fortunately they live on the East side of Downtown.

  53. Holy Moley! I thought we were cold with temps not going over 20s F. No wonder knitting tights seemed like a good idea.
    Warm thoughts/vibes are immediantly Toronto bound!!!

  54. We had -25 degrees Celsius this morning and I can’t even imagine not having heat or hot water!! Yikes.
    Hope you’re able to watch your show…just as a little mindless distraction!

  55. We have two kerosene lanterns for just such an occasion. We also have the furnace plugged into a UPS. It only uses electricity to light the pilot. We tend to cuddle together as a family and play board games and knit when the electricity goes out.
    We’ve talked about getting a bigger UPS so we can plug in the computers and DSL too, but just haven’t made it a high priority. As long as we stay warm and can see, it’s nice to not have the TV and computers 🙂

  56. Hey look that’s me standing at Jane station with 1000 of my closest friends for two hours this morning! [snark]

  57. Praise wool indeed! I tried to knit last night while our candles still burned high but gave up and praised a deck of cards and a warm blanket instead!
    We got our power back about 8:30 this morning. I suppose we were lucky as there are still a few pockets that don’t have power at the moment. And it’s so bitter cold out there!

  58. Holy COW–I can’t believe it. I agree, it’s time for you to have a break. This is ridiculous. PLEASE take care of yourself. (Gorgeous candles, though.)

  59. Less than a day? Pssh. Talk to me when it’s 6 days or more. 😉 (That’s how long we were without power in September after the windstorms.)

  60. Delurking to note that the article did not mention the state of Yarn Harlot’s power situation.

  61. Don’t see a glass of wine in the photo. If you don’t need an adult beverage to handle the situation your coping skills are most impressive!

  62. Oh dear, I thought about you when I heard the news about the blackout. Hopefully your family managed to stay warm, probably not too much of a challenge, maybe you could insulate a room in your house with your stash? :-p

  63. I am amazed how on the last two days when you blogged about four lines yesterday, and five words today, but links and photos, how you could get so many comments!
    Here in Auckland it is 25.5C inside – so hot – and when changing my daughter’s bed before lunch got down to bra and shorts, the heat this last week has been exceptional. Changed to sleeveless singlet now. Phew.

  64. Well, hopefully your troubles are over now. We once went a week a year ago in February no electricity. Thankfully, we have a woodstove, first time I was ever grateful that we had no horses. Melting snow on the woodstove so we could flush the commode, cooking over a campstove in the kitchen.
    Wanda, where it was -37.22 C last night. I have more raw wool than finished and would have gladly buried my bed in it last night.

  65. It isn’t the -17 degrees, is it – it’s the “feels like -27” part of the forecast that kills you.
    My sympathies. My power went out early on Christmas Eve and did not reappear until Christmas morning. It was cold but not so cold I couldn’t cope. But I hadn’t realized I have no battery-operated clocks in the house (not even a wristwatch), and I had no idea what time it was until dawn. The things you don’t think of. After the last power outage I bought a hand-cranked radio, but you don’t hear the news (or the time) because people on the stupid radio are playing stupid songs, aren’t they, until long past the point where your arm is so tired you’ve turned it off.
    There has been fog here in Vancouver, nasty damp cold fog, and they keep saying it’s going to lift but it never does. I am sad. But at least the power’s on.

  66. Nothing like knitting by candlelight. Of course, some yarns can keep me warm just by looking at them. We are all sending you warm thoughts!

  67. Wow ~ When the Universe tells you to slow down, it stops at nothing. I hope you made the most of it ;>)

  68. OMG It was just waaaayyy to cold for that to happen. Thank goodness for your gas stove…hope you have a gas hot water heater too and could jump in for a hot bath to warm up. Take care…and don’t get sick/chilled!!! Break out the liquid antifreeze tonight. Sunday is suppose to be warmer..after the snow storm that is on the way…just sayin’ to prepare you!! 😉 bets

  69. Oh! a power outage. right! I knit by candlelight last summer, when a forest fire played havoc with our power transmission lines. Fortunately I was not in the evac. area, just a mile off. My laptop would have been fine, but no power meant no cable, no wifi. Aargh. Lo-o-o-o-o-ve dem candles!

  70. yes, i so get it. we were 6 powerless days in dec due to ice storm in massachusetts.
    the silver lining…my kids all love wool. they GET it!!!
    and my 9 year old son wore my first project ever, a pink lopi sweater. a Harry Potter fan, he called it his Ron Weasley sweater!!!!!!!!!
    but it was 3o degrees warmer than today…

  71. At least you had power back in time for BSG! (and after 6 days w/o power in NH, USA due to a nasty ice storm, I still feel bad — being without power in this weather is HORRIBLE!)

  72. I’m glad you’ve got your power back. Had the same thing here. It finally came on around 9:30 Friday evening. I was at work cause it was a nice WARM place to be, and no body was around to bug me.
    Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again this year.
    Crossing fingers my pipes are ok. I have a blockage, but nothing looks funny and no water anywhere.
    Now it’s finally getting warm enough to knit!

  73. Agreed! Definitely not fun. I’ve never been so happy to come home and see a light on. Now if only the heat will fill up the apartment.
    Thank goodness for friends who let you watch battlestar galactica at their house!

  74. What a mess…. I am glad you made it through all right. I can see the headlines now…….
    Famous knitter found with half finished tights on needle, huddled in her yarn stash. Details at 10.

  75. Fess up!!!! your new washer and dryer put the town over the edge for power usage 🙂 …..glad the lights are on now

  76. Well, at least you got to show us that lovely picture, and I’m glad you at least weren’t sepparated from your knitting, if not your light. And candelight can be awefully romantic!

  77. If this had happened earlier in the winter, I might have suspected some furnace-war skulduggery.
    Glad your fingers have thawed enough to type the tale.

  78. Just think of how bad it would be if you were allergic to wool like Amy Singer! She would have to have a much bigger stash to stay as warm! Glad you guys made it through the blackout without freezing. Did you master the art of heating water over some candles to make instant hot chocolate? I hope so. Nothing makes you want hot tea or hot chocolate like a blackout during the coldest part of the year. I hope that you didn’t have any freezing pipes.

  79. Phooey – a new washing machine and dryer and no power to run them. That just isn’t fair!
    (Not to mention you’ve endured enough trials and tribulations recently.)

  80. Your luck seems to have been sucked into the vortex of a black hole. You’ve been through too much lately. Hope the rest of the year goes better for you.
    How cold was it in the house?

  81. Thank goodness for candles and yarn eh? You east coasters are really suffering, but it’s us west coasters that are doing the most whining.
    Hope you’re warm now!

  82. OMG – BRrrrr. I hope you stayed warm enough. How dreadful. And here I was thinking of you yesterday as I was knitting while watching the 1995 flick “Sabrina” with Greg Kinnear. Maybe that’s what brought the lights back on? (OK, probably not, but it was definitely a warm thought anyway).

  83. Oh my goodness. Having lived through the famous ice storm I feel badly for anyone that has no electricity or heat –especially with the temps the way they are. ::They”” say trials like this build character but I don’t believe “”them”‘ Hope you have things back in order by now. Hail to wool is right!!

  84. “There were no reported instances of looting or spikes in 911 calls related to the power outage”
    You’ve got smart hoodlums up there! Even they don’t want to freeze to death!

  85. I hate it when it happens since I don’t live on my parents farm any more ( they have a generator for the barns and it’s also hooked up to the house). I live in Halifax/Dartmouth and we lost power for 24 hours two days before Christmas and on Christmas eve for about 12. We were lucky though because some people were out from the first one right over Christmas. It was due to “salt on the lines”.

  86. We lost power for 3 days two weeks before Christmas. With headlamp in place and school (I’m a teacher) cancelled the following week, I was able to knit presents for 6 more people than I had planned. Non-knitters were far more upset about the whole thing.

  87. You make it all look so romantic. Making lemonade with the lemons, praise wool indeed.

  88. luckily i am close enough to long island sound that ice storms generally miss us. so the power substation down the road makes up for this by blowing it’s fuses for no apparent reason a few times per summer. i hope you & yours made it throw the blackout in good health!

  89. Gads, I kept thinking you might have got caught up in that… a bit much? There’s an understatement. I’m sure you can barely speak about it.
    Crazy up in Montreal too with all those bursting water mains and flooding. Just got off the phone with my daughter, doing triage with her … Keep your snowmobile suit close at hand. Seriously.

  90. But the important thing is:
    Was the power back on in time to watch your show that you had made socks for?
    I’m glad everyone is safe and warm now.

  91. Not the first time I’ve been glad to live on the cheap side of St. Clair. Opened my house to a giant playdate of chilly boys denied the pleasure of Kindergarten.
    Although I think just the noise and chaos generated by six boys would produce enough heat.

  92. My first thought was – did it get back up in time for BSG? I certainly hope so. I was involved with baby things – so I’m watching it today on the DVR.

  93. Oh, poor Harlot! We are having a cold spell here in Florida…it got down to 40 degrees fahrenheit last night. But that’s warm compared to where I used to live…minus 24 degrees F. I feel your pain. You are welcome to visit anytime you would like a break from the cold and snow.
    Sincerely,
    Blogless Mary Lou

  94. Praise wool, indeed! Glad you survived the chill. I guess I’ll have to stop whining about it being in the low 40s (~4 to 5 C) here in north Florida.

  95. Yes but what about BATTLESTAR GALACTICA? Did you still get to see it? Inquiring minds want to know!

  96. I have seen our weather go from -42 F to +46 F in a few weeks! Now we are back to normal the temp. is heading down to the teens.
    It all makes for great knitting weather! Enjoy!

  97. What a wonderful picture! We historical reenactors always feel smug when the power goes out, and sit around our candle lanterns nodding wisely at each other. (Well, OK, we’re wrapped in every blanket in the house too, and here’s a truth: not a man jack of us would be happy about giving up the good ol’ loo, and anyone says otherwise is full of it.) (OOOH a FUNNY!). But in our climate we do have the consolation of having a lot of blankets and good outdoor clothing, &c. And knitting doesn’t use any batteries or eeeeeeee-lectricity.

  98. Hello
    I watched the new on SRC Thursday night. With the freezing temperature. I hope you’re alright and that you have power today.

  99. I was thinking about you when I saw the news. Did you get to see BSG? And if you did, are you ok? 🙂

  100. Been there. Done that. Burned the t-shirt in the fireplace to keep warm.
    Happy to know your lights (and heat) are back on. Quite the experience being knocked back to the dark ages, huh?

  101. Yikes, I did think about you and family when I heard the weather news. This will be a season for the books – wheewww. I’m ever so glad you have knit the family woolies for help against this. I can’t imagine that type of cold seeping into my house. Take best care, everyone stay healthy.

  102. Glad to here your power is back on. It is truly amazing how family members without hobbies find being without electricity, a struggle to entertain themselves. Harlot, and anyone else who lives where winters get cold, you need to get yourself a kerosene heater and a five gallon jug of kerosene (with stabilizer) to store in basement or shed. We have had several heaters and the best we have found is called ‘Keroheat’. It is rectangular. It pulls cold air in the bottom and pumps heat out the top, it will warm more than one room. The fuel tank is removable for filling, no handling anything hot. Five gallons of kerosene will last about 3 days. We live in a total electric home and this is how we have coped with ice storms and high winds. We also now have a generator for lights and refrigerator. Got the generator the ice storm that was going to be weeks before the power was to come back on. And you know how it works, LOL, the next day the power came back on.

  103. What’s a “spike”???
    (this excerpt from the news you linked to..)
    “There were no reported instances of looting or spikes in 911 calls related to the power outage, which left one police station in the dark, said Toronto police.”

  104. man.. the last two winters in TO have been fierce, have they not?
    this is wayyy wacked.. but corrina nearly burned her house down with those candles when the wax melted through on the side.. molten wax poured out, overflowed the little dish, and then ignited. it was not pretty.. after washie, and the walls, and power outages, etc.. well, i wish you had a bigger plate under them.

  105. The power going off in Toronto put a fright on Montrealers and most of us turned down our thermostats and stopped washing our clothes. Hydro Quebec kept giving out warnings that we were going to overload the system and be without heat in -30C temps. The first couple of days no one paid attention but when the lights went off in T.O. the message got through here. Bad enough we’ve had 19 water pipe ruptures over the past 19 days. Tomorrow it will be a balmy -12C, like spring, almost.

  106. Miki: they mean “spike in 911 calls” as in, there wasn’t a sudden influx of calls.
    I know my landlord did call 911, though. He went to bed before the power went out and didn’t wake up until the house alarm started beeping (probably protesting the lack of power). He thought someone had broken into the house and cut the power, so he called 911. They were nice enough to explain it to him.
    Of course, then he called me. At 4:21am. To tell me the power was out and to keep warm. *sigh*

  107. Looks romantic! Candlelight and knitting mmmmmm…. Now you just need a bubble bath. Hope your power is back on now.

  108. Now that was a bit much!! Especially when TO is so damb cold right now. In the National Post yesterday they had a whole page of pictures and the title was “Summer is still 6 months away!” All the photos were of various situations around the world that the weather was playing havoc with- like Winnipeg, TO, etc. Hope you are comfie now.

  109. We had a week without power (which also means no water, as we have a well….) in December, just before Christmas. So I feel your pain. But not, I must say, too badly, lol!!
    I was wishing I knew how to knit by candlelight, though!

  110. Oh, knitting by candlelight. Crazy weather has one benefit: stay inside, next to someone warm, with lit candles and a big ole blanket. And hey, somebody drink the beer before it gets warm!

  111. Has anyone from our area commented? Weeks without power and six school days missed. Might have been more, but we finally got into the Christmas break time. Ugh.

  112. What’s with this baloney happening in such horribly cold temperatures? Did you drain your water pipes? Or did your house stay warm enough that you didn’t have to worry about them freezing. I have one spot that’s not insulated right, and I either have to run a heater on these cold nights or drain my pipes. And that’s *with* power, so I think of such things.
    Glad you’ve got power back. Brrrr.

  113. Ouch! Stay warm and safe!
    I’ve been lucky to not have the power go out during a snow storm in ages. The idea of that and our heat going out at the same time is enough to make me cringe (and is one of the reasons why I miss having a gas stove).

  114. OMG and here I was griping about the 3′ – 4′ of snow that was falling ALL day Friday. And all the shoveling. I feel for you. I know what it is like w/o power in the sub zero weather. SUCKS !!!! I now have a wood furnace. I feel guilty. Even if you could have come down here to stay warm with me you wouldn’t have made it through the snow storm. I am glad the power is back on and I hope you have thawed out.

  115. oh, i’m so glad you got power back quickly. we were without power for 8 days in December & i’m really happy that my 1815 house was built to run ok without power (hand pump in the basement for water, fireplaces for heat, etc. my chickens were awful cold though).

  116. Lovely photo!
    But, how are your pipes? All that work you just had done…. Maybe we need a pattern for “woolen pipe warmers”? A kind of solo tight – one leg at a time?
    Me, I LOVE my woodstove!

  117. My mom (and two dogs, of course) had to come and stay with me as they were in the blessed area that was the last to get their power back on. As she said, “It’s much more fun when the power goes out in the summer.”
    Word.

  118. The one thing I dread when it’s cold out here in PA. Glad you made it.
    And to think that your family used to think your suggestion for using skeins of yarn as insulation in every room was just silly!

  119. Me south of Bloor here, our power was off a full 24 hours. But at least I had the good sense to lug my makeup and hair iron with me to my (heated) workplace on Friday morning.

  120. Given the choice no electricity and heat, or no water – I will take the no water I just lived thru for the last 3 days. Although, as you just lived through, being able to flush at will is seriously under rated. Thankfully for us, DH was able to repair the break at the well head so we had water for chickens and alpacas and flushing the toilet twice a day!
    KNIT ON! It keeps the edge off.

  121. I agree! My power stayed on, but I still had to walk 45 minutes in to campus… the shuttles were far too crowded to get on. Thank goodness for wool!

  122. are you making any head way on the pretty thing cowl pattern from last weekend? we are waiting with baited breath… i hope it won’t be tooooo much longer, thanks.

  123. We got a foot of snow yesterday, but luckily, didn’t lose power.
    Not only is my Obama “Hope” sweater done, but the sweater vest I started on Wednesday is practically ready, too! (Even though I had to rip out and re-knit most of the front.)
    I’m glad you had your wool, too. =^..^=
    p.s. Start those tights yet?

  124. Glad to see you are ok, as I was out on a -25C night ( scraping my car off after leaving work at 2 am ) I thought of you and your cozy cowl, and felt warm. I made an alpaca ( blue sky in grey) hand warmer for a teenage daughter, so I can imagine the softness!

  125. Who knew one rejected washing machine could wreak vengance on an entire city? Movie title: Mr. Washie’s Revenge.

  126. D’ya know, when we lost power for 24 hours last summer I was foolish enough to think (only momentarily in my defense) that because my laptop has a fully charged battery, I could connect to internet. Yeesh!
    Sending warm vibes your way!

  127. Cold…Winter… darkness.
    Yuck.
    Major YUCK. I would be outta there like lightning…
    Thank god for candles, yarn and needles.

  128. LOVE the photo….but then I read the news story. My computer crashed so I missed all the excitement. Isn’t wool wonderful!?!?!!! Glad service has been restored.

  129. The photo is beautiful!
    Power outages are a rather common occurance in my neighborhood.. so I have become the Queen of the oil lamp. It is probably a good thing I collect the foolish things as well.
    the heat source becomes a whole other matter. The fireplace cranks 24/7 during these times. we have light, but the heat remains meager at best.
    Carolyn

  130. I thought your pictures was only supposed to be a shrine to wool. Now I see that the candles were necessary. Sending warmth thoughts from Florida your way.

  131. Adding a second comment here — your message was prophetic. We in Philly got several inches of snow yesterday, and sure enough, when I got home, we had no power. And it dropped to 17 degrees. Ah, how I wish I had the fireplace I had at my old home.

  132. Umm Harlot? I made something REALLY PRETTY— maybe if you have a sec- can you peek over to the bloggy?:)
    It’s my first design… (well not DESIGN, but you know) I’m pretty excited!
    Umm yeah blatant blog pimpage.. can’t HELP IT!

  133. I think it would help if you consider all the problems you’ve had so far as concentrating all the bad stuff for 2009 in just a short period of time. Then the rest of 2009 can be great! Hang in there and stay warm.

  134. Oh my, are you all right? seems like forever since you’ve posted. are you frozen so stiff that your fingers can’t work on a keyboard? seriously, worrying about you! hope your superb sense of humor is carrying you through
    Lea

  135. I was going to email you and say “Hey! Your power is off!” but then it occurred to me…it’s hard to check your email when your power is off.
    Glad to hear you’re alright. *hugs*

  136. Dear Stephanie,
    Are you and your family alright?
    I am getting worried because you haven’t posted.
    Karin MT in Albany, NY

  137. I hope you are well. Seems like it’s been a long time since you posted and “the blog” is beginning to worry. Ok, maybe a little more than beginning to.
    Update when you can please.

  138. Hi Stephanie,
    I want to join my voice to the others here and say that I hope you and your family are well.
    Take care. Keep knitting.
    Rosane.

  139. Relax, people. I’m sure all is well. If you’re indoors nursing an injury and relaxing, there’s probably not a whole lot to write about. 😉

  140. Missing you. Hope everything is okay. It’s surprising how much I look forward to your blog even though I have never left a comment. Give us a sign you are okay.

  141. I’m starting to wonder if Toronto is still in the dark. Of course, since U.S. television only talks about national news, we wouldn’t know if you were still out of power. Stay warm and thank heaven that all the stash acts as extra insulation for the house.

  142. I’m adding my voice to those who are worrying about you. What a ‘family’ you’ve built here. The ripples into others’ lives that you have generated. The force of all that wishes well-being to you all.

  143. I can’t believe no one mentioned that on the night you bowed to the altar of wool, Hugh Laurie explained that Christmas was borrowed from the pagan festival of knitwear!
    (On Leno. NBC should have the video available.)

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