Dusted off

Today I’m wicked tired. Just… all in. It’s sort of a nice change from the aimless drifty feeling of the last while, that’s for sure. Last week we managed a ski-holiday of a sort, despite Joe’s broken arm, and I am here to tell you that I miss hotels and restaurants. We had a good time and it was very nice to be somewhere else, but when the covid-times finally end I am going to go somewhere that is unequivocally not self-serve. A person, a person that I am going to tip very well, let me tell you, is going to bring me a meal and clean up afterwards and I am going to be crazy about it because now that I’ve done a ski trip where you get up and cook and then get a kid to ski-school (outdoor and distanced for the win!) then come home for lunch and cook and then ski and then make dinner and clean that up is completely amazing and so much fun and I am awash with gratitude that we got the hell out of this house – but it’s a lot of work for someone who’s partner in crime is one-armed. (Tip of the hat to Meg and Alex who busted themselves helping out with everything.)

Still, Elliot did learn to ski (he’s an animal out there. Zooms past you with this little voice going “whoo hoo!”) and Alex and Meg learned too, and Joe had as good a time as he could, poor broken chum.

We drove home just before the big blizzard that’s buried Toronto over the last two days, and today I spent hours trying to shovel out our everything. In the end it was impossible to do by myself and when I realized that I was on the brink of tears with how huge the task was, I remembered that I’m in a family and called for help. Carlos turned up almost immediately and he and I shovelled while Luis and Frank did their best to knock down our snow mountains.

I don’t know if you live in a place where it snows a lot, but if you don’t, let me tell you this: Shovelling is some serious work, and I am feeling it in my back and shoulders, and just as soon as I’m finished this post and a bit of work, I’m going to have a bit of a rest and spin.

Like so many of us, my sweet little Ashford has been languishing these many pandemic months, but last week I had an idea and I’m going to need it up and running to make it work. I am still wildly in love with thrummed mittens (still going to do a thrum-along on the Patreon) and I was ploughing through a ginormous one when I had an idea.

How much fun would it be to find myself enough fibre that I could spin yarn for mittens, and then thrum with the same fibre. Don’t answer that, I know you’re aquiver with the excitement, as am I. I’m almost embarrassed by how exciting an idea this is. Exciting enough that I hauled the wheel out, dusted it off (I mean that literally) and did a full workup on it. Cleaned, polished, oiled, a new driveband and new tension, and it’s spinning like a dream- I am wild with passion for this concept, let’s just cross our fingers that it’s captivating long enough to finish the project.

So – off I go. It’s almost dark here, and I’m going to light some candles, make a nice dinner, and then have a date with a friend I’ve missed.

PS: This Sunday, despite having discovered that teaching live online is not my jam, I’m going to do a Fiberside Chat. It’s an hour long Zoom thing, and while teaching by seems funny to me, a chat seems lovely, doesn’t it? You can click on this link to register, and scroll through the yarn shops listed on the right to see if there’s a shop local to you that you would like to support- if you’ve got a preference. It’s a collaborative thing and there are 30 shops taking part (including one Canadian one, River City Yarns). See? Right up my alley.

59 thoughts on “Dusted off

  1. We haven’t had our first “big storm” yet and I am both dreading and looking forward to it. It is almost magical how everything turns into that white fairyland……and then comes the shoveling…..

  2. Snow shoveling is for sure not for the faint of heart. Living on an acreage we have to have a tractor with a snowblower. Even then it takes over an hour. Glad you had help.

    Enjoy your spinning! That is an awesome idea.

    • we have the most awesome neighbors here in Emmett, ID, three of whom fight to plow the neighborhood driveways as soon as the snow stops (its a small neighborhood). All my DH has to do is the concrete pad where the cars are. We don’t usually get too much snow so the guys love to put the snowblade on their tractors and woo hoo!!!

  3. I’m already signed up for your Fiberside Chat, can’t wait! Telling stories is every bit as good as teaching, and you always have lots of stories to tell. I just love these chats, they put us in touch with people all over the world when we can’t travel. Glad you were able to have a vacation despite the extra work and Joe’s arm. The snow is so beautiful! Especially since we don’t get that much here in New Mexico, but I grew up in New England and loved it. But absolutely, recruit help with shoveling, preferably younger people.

  4. Normally when we get a large amount of snow, I use it as an excuse to stay inside, look out the window at the beauty of nature, have a cup of tea and read a book without feeling guilty about being unproductive. But in these pandemic days/years, that’s no longer a treat because I’ve been staying inside far more often than I’d like. If only spring would arrive soon, soon, soon to the northern hemisphere!

  5. I only really remember 6’ snow drifts a few times growing up, we just don’t get anything much now. Snow days where staff and pupils are off school, because we’ve just not a country set up for regular snowfall, are mostly a thing of the past where I live in England. About 10 years ago we got 3 days off one start of the new January term – the best start to the year ever! (Not the attitude I know!) Ha!

    • Me, too – 1982 was bad, but 1963 (showing my age) was worse. However, I ‘only’ lived a mile from school and we were expected to put on our wellies and walk.

      But I was in the US (Upper NY State) from Nov 1997 to July 1999 and came to the realisation we didn’t know the half of it – Ice Storms, anyone?

      • oh yes!! Montreal in 1961 or 62. We had just moved from England into an upper apartment and the ice took out a tree that then came through our big window. bbbrrrr

  6. I can still remember my first meal out after lockdown, the delight of reading a menu of meals I hadn’t shopped for and prepared. It felt really special in a way that it hadn’t done before.

    My standard reply to all moans about the weather (too hot/cold/wet/windy/grey) is “well, at least you don’t have to shovel it”

  7. If you aren’t going out, why do you need to shovel? I don’t live somewhere that this is an issue so not sure if I’m missing something!

    • Oh how I wish it were true. Even if you stay in, there’s stuff you have to shovel. You have to do the sidewalk in front of your house- and if there’s a fire hydrant on your property, you have to keep that clear. You also need to shovel out your dryer vent (so the CO2 doesn’t poison you) and sometimes your furnace outlet or inlet. I also have to shovel out the recycling and garbage bins and the gate they are behind, and for safety’s sake, the back door – so it can be opened and we have to exits in case of disaster. Even the minimum is a lot of shovelling!

    • I’m sure the postal service and any delivery people would appreciate a shovelled walk.

      Especially since as snow compresses, it becomes very slick and easy to fall on.

    • Also, in places where it snows a lot often, once you get behind you may not be able to get out for months. The snow builds up into mounds from the snowplows clearing the streets and they don’t go away until sometime in April.

    • If you have a dog, you have a reason to reason to shovel even if you have a fenced-in yard. I remember winters when we had to shovels paths through the backyard just so our small dogs could relieve themselves without getting lost in the drifts!

  8. It always amazes me that something as light and fluffy as snow can be so unbelievably hard and exhausting to clear! I’d say you’ve earned yourself a nap and a hot bath after all the work you did. I’m also starting to wonder if Joe didn’t maybe break his arm on purpose to get out of shoveling this winter — just kidding!

  9. I will be out with our Brownie troop shoveling cookies in front of a Trader Joe’s in Brookline, MA, from 12-4 on Sunday (hint to locals) but will sign up just for the replay iff it’s not taking a spot from someone else! Thank you!

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  11. Am I mistaken in reading that Joe broke his arm also? Big shout out to Elliot for keeping going after having his arm repaired! Have to thrum up some mitten tootsweet for a trip to Alaska to meet my USAF daughter on TDY in a couple weeks!

  12. I am so excited to watch these thrummed mittens come into existence!

    And thank you for sharing Elliott with us, what a joy that little face is!!

  13. I’m glad Carlos could help with the shoveling, but you’ve earned yourself a hot bath, some hot buttered rum, and some OTC painkillers. The boys should have been sledding down the snow mountains — I did when I was their age!

    The mitten in progress looks great. I hope Joe’s feeling better. Good luck with the Fiberside Chat.

  14. When we had our first big snowfall here eight years ago, and it took me two 5-hour sessions to dig out the car, I said out loud to nobody “I’m too old for this s**t” and went out and bought a snowblower. It was on sale, runs on regular gas, and has saved me and my elderly neighbors a ton of time and work. I only use it if we have wet snow and more than four inches, but it still helps a lot.

  15. Oh ! The skiing ! So awesome ! We went skiing for March Break in 2020, and only got to ski one day before the hills were closed. So we hiked and snowshoed and enjoyed the fireplace. A lot. A watched Trudeau at 11:00. A lot.
    Two years in, and we still plan to head to our regular March Break rental in Quebec and hope to ski. If not, hiking, snowshoeing, etc. And knitting ! No one tells me we have to go anywhere.
    Yarnharlot, one of the reasons I started to can was to avoid cooking during our ski holidays. I can up pea and soup, sloppy joes, stew, beans, jam, spaghetti sauce, apple pie filling, brandied plums (!!!!!!), etc. and just pop the lid and heat so that we maximize our runs and reduce the time in the kitchen. Just sayin’…..
    Lots of love from Woodstock,
    Mme Tricote
    xoxox
    PS. Stay safe – Omicron is peaking ? ! &*(&%

  16. I have been knitting “thrumed” lobster claw mittens by thinning down 18-24 in lengths of roving to 1/6 thickness and stranding it along with the yarn so I can knit it with the yarn every 3rd stitch. My lazy way to Thrum and it is working out great for my older less agile hands.

    Well versed with the snow shovel after this week’s 18 inches of snow in western NY.

  17. I had my knee replaced 10 days ago and every. single. thing. has gone wrong: extra days in hospital, 15 patients for one nurse (because Covid), no physio (because chest pains) and so on. I’m finally home (and soon to be alone, which will be interesting) and the one thing I hadn’t ancitipated has happened: I can’t get into any position that will allow me to knit! Not only is this a personal disaster but my neighbor has just become a grandmother and there’s that poor baby without a hat to her head! So I thought I’d come and complain where I was most likely to be understood.

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  19. I am looking so forward to the Thrum knitalong. I keep checking Patreon to see if it is up yet. Could you pretty please post a supply list before class? I will need to order stuff online and shipping seems to take forever. No LYS in McBride BC

  20. Back when we lived in New Hampshire, I remember my three year old asking if she could play on the swingset. I looked out the window from the second floor–we got 72″ in a set of snowstorms–and told her, Try to find it first.

    Meantime, my husband got an offer letter on a job in California from a guy who knew what we’d been dealing with and promised, “No home delivery of snow.”

    We were recently considering a move to the Pacific Northwest and every time I came across a real estate photo with snow in it I thought nope nope nope shoveling is not something I want to be doing with a funky heart.

  21. I am looking forward to the knitalong on Pateron. I have already gotten my yarn and roving. Well, I thought I had my mind made up then I bought more roving today.

  22. I admire you every time you (and family) go skiing. Nothing about skiing recommends itself to me, and I had back surgery after my last ski trip.

    And yet, we live at a Virginia ski resort and I love to watch others whoosh down the slopes.

    But yes, having to cook and clean up in between skiing would be a bummer. Especially in the evening when you just want to sit down, enjoy a fire and a glass of adult beverage.

  23. Well…Only for you would I register…and I did. I hope the Zoom link arrives…and works. Being in Alberta, and having loved meeting you eons ago in Edmonton at the Friday night talk you gave for RCY…well, I just had to “see” you again.

  24. I love your blog but I rarely read blogs anymore. Is there a way to subscribe so I don’t miss months of your writing? I think I’m going to your chat today/tomorrow (I have to sleep first).

  25. Your Fiberside Chat was marvelous! Warm, informative, easy to listen to and so wonderful for understanding how good knitting is for us! The sign behind you, though, should say:” Keep Calm and Carry Yarn” . And your Love Note was beautiful on you. Thanks for a great chat!

  26. I do not know if they are available in Toronto but if you can ditch the shovel and get a snow scoop – even if you only use it every few years. Much much easier on the body wet or dry snow and you can move more at a time.
    I am on my second one.
    They are a bit on the bulky side but you can separate body and handle.

  27. All’s I heard was “Skiing, knitting, skiing…” then saw your face. GIRL! You have not visibly aged since your blog started! Canadian Cryo-therapy is working for you. ya hot-tot.

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