Ten on Tuesday: how to beat winter

Ten on Tuesday topic for 1/29 is 10 Ways to Beat the Winter Blahs.

  1. Spend time outside in the sun.
  2. Make something.
  3. Spend time with people.
  4. Wear lots of vivid color. (Or spring color, depending on what suits you.)
  5. Bury yourself in a good book. Or two.
  6. Listen to some upbeat music.
  7. Exercise. Something sweaty and challenging. If you can do it outside in the sunshine, even better.
  8. Eat something with lots of flavorful spices.
  9. Take a class. Learn something new or go deeper into an old topic.
  10. Go to a concert or a dance or something like that.

The light returns

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Though the snow lingers…

My world today

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Is filled with white

How are things going over the winter work time?

Winter is actually a good crafts work time for me. Although I don’t always achieve the goal, I do like to hibernate a bit during the winter and organize and contemplate plans for the year. This year has been a bit busier than most, but we’ll see what can be achieved. I have been thinking about what I would like to do in the various crafts of my life.

For example, weaving… I took a class just a week ago on 18th century textiles. It was lovely.  I got several ideas on what I want to work on next, plus more than half of the warp to use up. I got some help on warping, which, with the Peggy Osterkamp book I received for Christmas, is helping me to understand better why my cottolin warp was such a mess. I saw a loom just like mine, except I think that mine is older, and suddenly I understand some things about my loom that puzzled me before. All of this is progress.

Sewing…stalled, but I did pick up some cloth when I visited New York.

Quilting…stalled at home, but still plugging away on the hand-quilting of denim quilt at work.

Cross-stitch…equally a non-starter at home, but also plugging away one lunchtime a week.

Knitting goes quite well; in fact it will need its own post.

Spinning…goes well, but in fits and starts.

All things considered, it is a good time, yet there is so much more I want to do!

Horror of cold

I’ve come to realize that in my attempts to save money by lowering heating costs that I am fighting something of a losing battle. Why? Because I HATE COLD. To be more precise, I hate being cold. I’m okay with it being cold outside, as long as I am warm. But to save money on my gas bill, I have to lower the temp inside to somewhere in the low 60’s F, and I have found that I just can’t do it. If my fingers are cold, then I don’t function well. If my toes are cold, then I don’t function well. If my ears are cold, I am an unhappy woman. And these are the hardest parts to keep warm. Sweaters, long johns, sweats, all these work great for the rest of the body, but the extremities? Not so good.

Now part of my problem has to do with my house. The living room and kitchen have a connected cathedral ceiling, which of course does Not Help when it comes to warming ME. Running the fans helps a little, but it’s hard to tell how much. I end up having to turn up the heat just to warm me up to a functional level. It’s most noticeable when I’m teleworking, therefore at home for long periods of time stuck in front of a computer, having to type. My fingers need to be warm.

I wonder if fingerless gloves would help? I may have to try it.

The only thing I can figure to do is a small electric heater, focused directly on me, that allows the general temperature to be lower, thus using less overall energy. I wonder if that will really work? The only true test is to do it, then watch my gas bill.

All part of my continuing efforts to use less energy. I do believe in leaving only a light footprint upon the earth, but not at the cost of my health.