Monday, January 11, 2016

The Old Wood Stove

My youngest son left a couple of comments on my last post.  One was teasing me about going for a snowmobile ride or sledding, knowing how I detest the winter cold.  The other reminded me of an old pot-bellied type stove that was the main source of heat in an old house where we lived in northern Minnesota, many years ago.

There is a gas furnace that provides heat for my building.  It does a good job of keeping my apartment warm, even though my landlord regulates the temperature settings.  The windows keep out drafts and the floors stay warm.  But it just isn't the same as using a wood burning stove.

The air in northern Minnesota seems to get very dry in the winter.  Most folks run a humidifier to keep the dryness at bay, but at that time I couldn't afford to buy one, so I kept a pot of water on top of the stove to add moisture inside the house.  This worked pretty well.

My kitchen stove was electric, and to keep the bills down in winter, I would often use the stove as a crock pot.  We ate a lot of venison then, for the price of beef was mostly outside my budget and deer were plentiful.  A venison roast in a dutch oven, surrounded by potatoes, carrots and onions, slow cooking all day, makes a meal fit for a king.  Having raised chickens, I would cook one for a meal the same way.  I don't know what the difference is, but those meals tasted better than anything I roast in my oven.

I would make soup the same way, putting a pot of meat, broth and vegetables on top of that wood stove early in the morning, right after my kids got on the school bus.  By the time they got home, the soup was done and all I needed to do was slice a loaf of homemade bread for supper.

During the time we lived there, I was gifted a knitting machine.  The closest larger town had a woolen mill with a store of sorts attached to it.  There I could buy wool fabric remnants and bulk yarn.  The yarn came in hanks that had to be wound into a ball or a cone, using a small hand cranked yarn winder.  I didn't mind doing this, for the prices of the yarn was so much less than the skeins sold in the stores.  I took a class to learn how to use the knitting machine, bought some yarn and got busy.

My kitchen table was in the same room as the wood stove.   Many hours were spent with my knitting machine on my kitchen table, making knit caps, scarves and mittens for my family, the stove keeping me toasty warm as the winter winds howled outside.  At that time, a style of ski cap was popular with the school kids.  It had the name of the town on one side and the name of the kid on the other, the letters embroidered on when the hat was completed.   My kids were really good walking advertisements, wearing their caps, and I soon had more orders than I knew what to do with.  I set a comfortable rocking chair next to the wood stove and there, in the middle of all that warmth, I sewed the knitted garments together and embroidered names like mad.

I wouldn't mind getting another knitting machine.  The ones they sell now are computerized and can do all sorts of fancy stitches and patterns, but I really liked the no frills machine I had then.  If I wanted a pattern on a garment, I just embroidered it on.  I'm wondering if it might not be worth having something like that machine, for it didn't need electricity to work.  And I could make sweaters and afghans with it as well as the caps and mittens.  I might have to check into finding another machine like it.

It is funny how a simple comment can bring back memories like those of my old wood burning stove.

17 comments:

  1. Getting another knitting machine sounds like a good idea. Then, you'd probably also have to install another pot bellied wood burning stove too :) Can't have one without the other lol

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  2. Dani...I think I will see if I can find a knitting machine similar to the one I used to have. I am not so good with regular knitting needles, but loved making things with the machine. Can't seem to be able to talk my landlord into the pot bellied stove, however. Darn.

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  3. Hi Vicki! I have tried to teach myself to knit, but I just cannot seem to get it. I have been crocheting for years and love it. I looked at knitting machines on Amazon, but there is such a range of prices and mixed reviews on the various types of machines. What sort of knitting machine did you use? Jana

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  4. Great information, Vicki, and very useful for our times, Thank you. Fern

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  5. We enjoy our wood stove too. It has a spot to stick a pot or bread pan on the top. We have been making bread on it lately. It takes longer to cook than in an oven (about an hour vs. 20 minutes) but it turns out delicious.

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  6. Jana...I love to crochet, too. Mostly granny square afghans. I learned how to hand knit, but it is more a chore for me than a pleasure.

    Keep in mind that it was probably 35 years ago when I had my knitting machine. It did not have the punch cards for knitting multicolor designs, nor was it computerized in any way. I can't remember what model it was, but it was a Brother brand and it did just straight knitting. It had a long bed of needles and a carriage that I slid back and forth to knit. I could make cables or lace patterns by moving the yarn stitches on the needles. If I wanted a design like a fair isle design, I used a "duplicate stitch" over the knitted stitches after finishing the piece I was making. That was done by hand with a regular yarn needle and different colors of yarn.

    Since I just got to thinking about getting another knitting machine while writing this post last evening, I haven't done any research to see what is available or even if any company makes this kind of machine any more. I think I would prefer one like my old machine because it doesn't require a computer or electricity. It could be used in a grid down situation and without all the bells and whistles, there is far less that could go wrong with it.

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  7. Gorges...I'm with you! Other kinds of heat will keep us comfortable, but there is nothing like wood heat to warm a person clear to the bone.

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  8. Thank you, Fern...I don't know why I didn't think about a knitting machine earlier. In a climate like mine, warm caps, mittens, sweaters, etc. are a necessity and although hand knits are wonderful, the knitting machine makes it possible to quickly provide those garments for a family without having to rely on computers or electricity. I have definitely added a knitting machine to my list of wants.

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  9. Lisa...The stove I had was just the pot belly type with a flat top. I never tried baking bread on it for fear of winding up with a loaf that was burned on the bottom and raw on the top. But some of the best roasts, soups and stews that I ever made were done on the top of that old stove. Folks buy electric tea kettles and sauce pans, but I never wanted anything like that, for I could keep most anything warm the old fashioned way - on top of the wood stove. :)

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  10. We have a couple of wood burning stoves, one in the kitchen and one in the basement. I don't use the kitchen stove hardly ever, it's a backup for the propane stove. But when it's not just bitter cold, I use the wood burner in the basement sometimes. Once it gets like it is now, I seal the house up and just use the propane heaters.

    I didn't know there was such a thing as a knitting machine.

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  11. Harry...It is good to have a backup heater where winter can get mind numbing cold. I just don't do well with cold any more - makes my joints hurt. There's just something about wood heat that helps - seems to soak in and ease the pain.

    I didn't know about knitting machines until I got one all those years ago. I liked it in that I could keep my kids in warm knitted clothes easily, where hand knitting takes a long time. Turned into a little bit of a money maker at that time as well. I've been looking at them online today and the prices are outrageous, but I am hoping maybe I can find a used one that won't break the bank.

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  12. look on craig's list. sometimes things are free. people just want grandma's [fill in the blank] to go to a good home.
    also every town has access to 'freecycle' where you sign in and look at what is available. not as great as craig's list but price is right--free.

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  13. I, too, miss the comfort of a wood fire. There was nothing like it to dispel the damp. But I'm cozy here with my new thermal window drapes, electric heat and 90# golden retriever lap dog. Saw MN in the news last night, brrrrr. Stay warm and safe. SJ in Vancouver BC Canada

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  14. Deb...It has been a long time since I owned a knitting machine and apparently there are a number of options that I didn't know about, so right now I'm doing the research to see which one I would like to have. I will check Craig's List and Freecycle. I have found that new machines are pretty much out of my price range. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  15. SJ...There is something comforting about a wood fire, isn't there. I'm guessing that the 90 lbs of golden retriever is a big plus for staying warm! Here in MN the temperature didn't make it to above zero all day. I feel sorry for my son who works outdoors most of the day, but he says he has a job and that is better than many others. And his new forklift with a cab and heater in it will be ready next week. Me...I don't have to go anywhere except to my bank which is just across the street, and I'm thankful for that.

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  16. Thank you for sharing your post. I thought it was really entertaining, as well as funny. The section on the wood stove reminds me of my late Grandpa's house. Back then I was about 8 years old, and during our visits in the winter, I was always getting too close to the stove because I thought it was very interesting.

    Jodi Bennett @ Marsh Heating

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