Heated debate
Beautiful as all these trees are,
what this means is that it is getting cold in New England.
Alex and I, as graduate students on a limited budget and also reasonably intelligent people with a distaste for getting robbed blind by the natural gas company, have not yet turned on the heat in this house.
Every time we think about it, like when we notice the frost on the walls in the morning or see a bottle of vodka left out on the counter overnight that has frozen solid, we remember what the bills were like last winter.
You know it’s pretty bad when even the dog is wearing a scarf indoors:
I found this lying around and figured I’d put it on. Pretty nice scarf, if only Ma would take these sticks out of it.
I mentioned to Alex that it was 54 degrees in the house this morning and that maybe, just maybe, we should think about turning on the furnace for the season.
He thought for a moment, then said, “How are my wool socks coming along?”
Another pause. “You could think about making me some fingerless gloves, too.”
I am interpreting these apparent non sequiturs as a “no.”
Remember the dude who asked me if I was now living in a Jane Austen novel? Because of the Middlesex Fells? Right. I thought I was living in a Jane Austen novel, but apparently my lot in life can be more accurately described as Dickensian.
I will be spending most of the winter wearing fingerless gloves and a hat indoors. I will hereafter answer to “Cratchit.”
Due to the frigid conditions in my home, I have been knitting away on the Wildflowers scarf Shelley appropriated earlier today:
And just because I can’t resist, another close-up:
Wildflowers Scarf, if casting you on was wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Last night, Alex and I were brainstorming cheaper ways to keep warm this winter and, short of setting ourselves on fire (which, when you think about it, really takes care of the problem in both the short and long term!), most of those solutions had to do with wool.
Alex’s initial suggestion was a “house cozy” that could be completed and then precision-dropped from the air to cover the entire house and serve as external insulation.
(Good thing I have the LYS job! My employee discount will sure come in handy when I go to purchase the yarn for the house cozy! I’ve estimated it will take approximately 705,000 yards of aran-weight wool.)
We quickly came to see the house cozy idea as rather impractical and—inspired by my Wildflowers scarf—shifted our creative energies to the idea of His ‘n Hers Full-Body Wool Union Suits with convenient rear access flaps and hoods! Mine in the Wildflowers colorway, of course, and his in either the manly Granite or suggestively feral Jungle colorway. I haven’t decided which would be more exciting. Opinions?
I think that that cable fabric stitch I’m using for the scarf would make a delightful overall pattern, don’t you?
We’ll kiss high gas bills goodbye, not to mention our dignity and self-respect! Never say I’m not always, always thinkin’.
And speaking of goodbye to all that, my other attempt to stay warm in the house involves a new pair of boots. I love them almost as much as the Wildflowers Scarf. They were, however, classified as combat boots by their manufacturer, which they are…
if the last time you saw action was the Battle of the Somme.
But listen. I gotta run. I need to spend the rest of the afternoon chopping up some of the furniture for kindling.
October 28th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
If being incorrect is wrong, then I don’t want to be right!
October 28th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
54? Hah! Here in the Land that Central Heat Forgot, that’s balmy. I like the house cosy idea. Of course, you can always do the boring things like only heating the room you’re actually in at the time, using an electric blanket, and wearing a hat to bed — don’t laugh, it works. And if it’s any consolation, after awhile you stop noticing the cold. Just please turn the heat on before Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t want two of my favorite people turning into Popsicles.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
god, i love those boots. it’s like a little piece of flanders that is forever england for your feet.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
I vote for the feral jungle colorway…it sounds warmer. I must say, I love my woodstove and I really, really love my DH who brings in piles of wood for me to burn!
October 29th, 2006 at 11:38 am
We have a wood stove along with a huge pile of wood – that isn’t split because nephew broke the log splitter and didn’t say anything to anyone so now we wait for repairs. I am wearing my knitted sweater and socks – thinking about making fingerless gloves and have developed an unnatural love for a fleece lap robe. And if it gets really bad off I go to sit on the water bed and knit, do some cruzin around the web or watch tv.
We aren’t graduate students but believe me retirement income is just as bad – and when you live in a tourist area YIKES. DH keeps cranking up the heat – every time I walk by I turn it down – can you tell who pays the bills in this house 😉
Next week we will be getting some split wood even if we have to buy some to hold us over. arrgghhh
Of course that means that when it is 10 degree weather I will be opening the doors because the living room is too hot LOL
October 29th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Wow! Where did those boots come from?
October 30th, 2006 at 2:38 am
1. Traditionally, from what I hear, vodka should be kept in the freezer anyway, so you’re ahead of the game there.
2. I vote for the Jungle colorway for Alex, it does sound more exciting. Especially if you’re trying to find him in someplace with tropical folia– Uh, wait, that won’t work… Oh well, you can find him easily in snow!
3. The scarf is *gorgeous*.
4. Cables? Couldn’t that feel a little bumpy?? [g] Conversely, I suppose it could equally provide an eggcrate foam pad effect.
5. Love the boots!! And Shelley in the scarf.
6. Ditto the additional fall leaves pic. 😉
7. After reading AOL news article on the NE windstorm late this evening, I’m hoping all is well, you still have power, and aren’t having to use any of these tactics out of immediate necessity! (OR weathercasters are frantically warning all of us we’re going to get ‘cold’. As in, it’ll hit 30 some nights in the coming week in PDX. I’m sitting here going, “And this never happens in the Willamette Valley? Grief, people, where were you during the ice storm last winter when the airport froze in for 3 days? Duh, it’s almost November.”) (I’m *so* mature.)
October 30th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
What about a small electric heater? They make them now that don’t use huge amounts of electricity – I’m thinking of getting one, only because getting fire wood has become the be-all and end-all of my existance, and I’m rebelling! I’ll probably end up using the fireplace again this year, but only if I can find some resonably priced firewood (see, it’s a never-ending thing in my life!) I have tons of recipes for fingerless gloves – it’s my current obsession.
October 30th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Hey, as a former graduate student, I can attest that poor (in many ways) heating/cooling solutions in the home mean more hours in the lab! It’s actually motivation, right? I was in school in Davis, and boy did I spend most of the day in the lab during summer. Got to get indoors before it gets really hot (7am?) and stay there until it cools off (9pm?). You could resort to hanging out in the T station for heat – don’t worry, no one will think you’re homeless with your fabulous handknits!
October 31st, 2006 at 7:39 am
That cable scarf is lovely. I was just about to start a Chistmas-present-scarf using the Here and There Cables from Scarf Style, but your cables look much more relaxed and happy. Of course, I have the first Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches but not the second one … I suppose I’ll just have to buy another knitting book, sigh.
November 9th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
LOVE the boots! Wherever did you find them?
And the scarf is lovely too : )
December 6th, 2006 at 11:09 am
[…] Due to the Dickensian conditions in our home, however, which I’ve discussed in painful detail previously, I’ll do anything to get those mitts finished—including working with DPNs—because I need something to wear in the house to keep my fingers joints from seizing up in the cold. […]
June 30th, 2007 at 5:55 am
I am also very interested in the manufacturer of those boots. They are just what I’m looking for style-wise. Not too heavy or thick, not too dull or shiny.