Cold here. This week we reached a low of -13 (degrees Centigrade). As I watch the weather statistics I see that the record for coldest weather for the day was in 1973. The date whisked me back to my first winter in university. I barely recall those days, but I do remember hurrying back and forth across campus from class to class and the brown scarf I knit that year to keep my face from freezing.
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To remember other cold weather, I just look at the winter garland of children’s socks and mitts strung across our chimney.
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The red socks and little blue mittens hanging there were knit by my grandmother almost sixty years ago. We would have worn them on many bitter days spent in the cold Alberta winter. I remember my Mom wrapping our heads with multiple wool scarves, held in place by safety pins (long before the days of fleece and high performance fibres).
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The green glove on the line warps me forward in time to the 1980’s when my son was in elementary school and the three-fingered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all the rage. I knit three-fingered gloves for him for three winters, as fast as they were lost. The single green glove on the chimney line is the only one that has survived.
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Now, when the days and nights are cold, I knit. Mostly socks to keep me warm both during the knitting and the wearing.
Alexandra 