My studio, unfortunately, happens to be the coldest room in our house. It's just around the corner and around another corner from the woodstove - our source of heat. I am, by nature, also the perpetually coldest person in the house (you've seen my kids barefoot in winter for years - it makes no sense to me, either!). The combination of those two things - coldest room, coldest person - well, brrr.....that's all I have to say. Especially during this very frigid week we are having here in Maine. I do have an electric space heater in my studio which is effective in keeping one side of my body warm at a time (have I ever told you about the first winter we lived here when I developed a strange 'rash' on my legs, only to discover that it was just a result of sitting too close to the space heater and that I had effectively burned myself while trying to keep warm? It's called Erythema ab igne. Yeah. That was ridiculous.)
Now that I am in this space for good, we are investigating connecting a teeny woodstove into the chimney that is inside the walls of my studio. And thinking about opening up the bathroom in here, and putting in a claw foot tub in place of the shower. (woodstove plus claw foot tub? In the same room? Oh my gosh, sweet heavenly day!) I've learned to adjust for the time being, for the joy of heating with wood, and living in this house I love so much, and really have made improvements in this little space of mine - so close yet SO far away from the cozy woodstove as it is. My chair is lined with a sheepskin, I just added a rug beneath my feet, I keep a lap blanket around always, and I am quite a fan of my longjohns and of course the wool. All the wool - from head to toe and shoulders and lap. Ah, wool! But it wasn't until this very winter that I discovered my hands were more cold than anything. I can't type fast enough to keep them warm, and I can't keep them warm enough to type as fast as I'd wish!
Enter my new handwarmers. Simple little handwarmers made from the free pattern Wabi Mitts from Fringe Association. They're knit in a fingering weight yarn, held double at times and singly at other points. It's a sweet and quick little pattern, and just the right result for my studio hand warmers. The yarn is from Shivaya Naturals many years ago now, and is the very last bit leftover from the baby surprise jacket I made while pregnant with Annabel (would you look at that wee little thing? Ah! My baby!).
A simple and light layer of wool on top of so many more layers of wool. I think it's just the right amount now to keep me cozy and warm in here. And how delightful that wool is the answer to what I need? Because yeah, I've got that.
