Cold battery workaround

Yesterday I re-experienced a prob i have with the trike in winter - motor chugging, mainly up big hills. I think it's the cold. My fingers were freezing (after taking them out of mitts to take pics) going in the direction of the chugging. When turned and had the wind at my back, fingers thawed and no more chugging.

I have this bike trunk for the Hilltopper battery in summer, just to give it a place to live. The seat post strap is really worn down due to some rubbing i didnt realize was going on. So the batt lives in this trunk on the rat trap. But it almost overheats in spring-summer in there. Half way thru a short ride, I have realized it's noticeably to the touch. So i unzip and let the heat out. (I likely need another solution with better airflow for the HT batt.) But it occurred to me yesterday, maybe that heat buildup could be useful for winter riding.

Shown here is my Solo Rock battery. It's a tight squeeze to get it into this trunk. But it does fit. When i checked the battery this morning - temp +1C, no sun - the batt was cool to the touch. Certainly no signs of overheating. No chugging. Next step - try this on my steep, cold hill for effect on chugging.

Re moisture. I had left the front end, closest to the wheels, unzipped. There were a few water drops on the batt on the open end. I can certainly orient it so that it zips around further. Not sure if it will offer protection from salt.

Perhaps the old slush-proofing go-to, Scotchgard around the trunk. After that, an aesthetic plastic bag for the winter.

So far so good.

Handlebar Mitts (Pogies) - Road Test 3 - Rain - Passed!

Well i think i've taken these as far as i can. Conclusion - they are great if you're making them out of wool and cloth you have at home and don't want to spend money on them. Also are cuter than store-bought options out there.

Was drizzly today, but came down mild to medium hard on way back. Hallelujah - the insides stayed dry! You could feel the top was damp, but there was no dampness inside. See video HERE.

I was worried the minky cloth i ordered from Spoonflower might not work. But i put my hands in and out of the gloves numerous times on this ride, and the insides didn't get wet.

I like all the colour on them, and the bike patterns.  Used duplicate stitch for the letters, needle punch for the bikes, and french knots for snow, flakes, lazy daisy st for the yellow flowers floating out behind the bikes. The Happy Bike print on the cloth liner was so fun. So aesthetic-wise - 200 percent improvement over MEC type pogies.

It was about 4 degrees C when we were out. The kid had cloth bike gloves, and his hands were wet and cold. Mine weren't. If biking sub zero, i would wear  lite biking glove underneath. I do this with my rubber store-bought ones anyway.

They've been a while in the making. I think you could get your money back selling them if you used fun locally sourced flannel (vs specially ordered cloth), as well as wool already in stash. So let's say $30 in wool, $15 in cloth. Time in labour - 3 hours knitting, 1 hr cutting & sewing, 2 hours topical stitching. So undervaluing one's time at $5 an hour, that's $30 in construction time. Total - $75 in time and materials. To buy them in non-black vinyl colours is over $100, so this is still cheaper to make your own, and has way more character.

If you were to make them for other people, i'd ditch the cloth liner. Make a cover for MEC pogies to give character. The top stitching gives quirky pattern and colour. Simplify the design to take 1 hour. Now you're at $30 in wool,  $25 in construction time = $55 time and materials cost. Ditch the embroidery and you're down to $45 time and mat. If you could sell the covers for $50, then you would start making money.

If it's just a cover, you could make from acrylic-wool blend or just acrylic for less cost/more colour. I will try a prototype pogie cover in A or AW blend, and record results.

I think this bodes well for the experiment i want to do on kayak pogies. Basic mitten shape that can be smaller since it doesnt have to stretch over  brake levers, hole thumb and opposite side for paddle shaft to pass thru. Line with flannel to absorb some water, definitely wool shell to repel splashing.

Rewarding project :)

Whole year of cycling - mission accomplished!

I've been loosely keeping a social media record this winter of when I/we have been able to get out on bikes.

I combed thru my google photos last nite, and effective Feb. 21, we've biked all year. Woo hoo!!!

That doesn't mean every single day. Obviously even in summer there are travel days where we might not have biked - travel days, days that are just too busy, or family visiting days. So i have cut myself some slack on that in winter as well. There might have been a 4 -5 day block where we didn't bike, but never as long as a full week.

It takes a few seasons to get all the pieces in place. Changeover to winter was a lot easier this year with a couple of sets of handlebar mitts at the ready in the garage. I think i have 3 balaclavas now.  They give varying degrees of coverage. My go to one is a Mec that goes quite far down the back of the neck. I gravitate to a turtleneck, polar fleece vest, long coat, bala and wool watch cap over top for super cold days. Was -11 C yesterday, and i was fine. Fingertips feel it when you take off glove to shoot a couple of pics! :)

The next hurdle is making your bike easy to get out in winter. We have an old school garage. Mainly well-aged particle board with a new roof and door. (My point here is to show you don't have to have state of the art, HGTV worthy garage to facilitate this.) Making sure winter bikes aren't stuffed way to the back has been key. Our driveway is pea gravel. It gets icy back there. I have the crew make sure there's a decent amount of salt down. Past years the 2nd car, which older son now uses, has blocked  the way out. Car is more in use this year, so it has been easier to shovel thru to maintain a clear path to the road.

Once you're out to the road, you're in the clear! Here in Halton Hills (nw GTA),  the main road ways are clear pretty reliably within 24 hours after a major storm. I have tended to use the adult trike with electric wheel in winter. Heavy, solid, plows thru anything and doesn't skid out. The only problem it has is that if you get stuck on iced over car tire ruts - that leads to a fear of tripping problem. But the main source of problem for that has been my driveway, not any where else.

It has also helped that bike buddy is taller and stronger. It used to be a worry, him not being roadwise enough to look carefully past tall snowbanks at intersections.

My rides weren't long. In general i like having an errand, rather than just riding in loop. Taking pics becomes an errand. Nothing fancy, just even an update to IG story. This kind of project forces you to view your surroundings with a fresh, appreciative eye every day. (Note to self - new theme needed for next winter!)

The pluses:

* no cabin fever thru jan - feb

* no expensive gym membership needed.

* no struggle with unsatisfying sweaty claustrophobic indoor workout

* outdoors essentially every day

* great life skill taught to the kid

* maintained hip  flexibility

* some hip strength retained

* general positive mental health maintained - no SAD, cabin fever etc.


What to do differently:

* incorporate indoor strengthening regime. In the past when locked in on snow days, i have a workout involving paddle strokes and  light repeats/strengthening/ stretching, that i just didnt do this year due to time constraints. But i am missing the upper body tone up, especially on side that has a weaker shoulder.  So i have to protect time for  at least a scaled down version of that.

So i'll keep posting my #winterbiking pics, i guess until equinox - when that would be #springbiking .

But suffice it to say, photo record shows i have already made it thru a full year of biking :D :D :D

Knitted Handlebar Mitts - Test 2

Finally got around to testing these today with their new alpaca liner.

They actually held up fairly well. I think you can see from the pic that my cheeks are pretty red. It was cold. Like about -2 deg C with a brisk wind.

But my hands were fine. I tried them first with a basic stretchy dollar store mini glove inside. No cold issues whatsoever. Not sweaty. You could feel a cool pocket inside the glove. The metal brake handle was cold, never became un-cold, just not as frigid.

Went around the neighbourhood making scout deliveries.  Probably out for around 40 mins. So a lot of stopping and starting as the kid went from house to house. I cooled down. But hands never got cold.

For about a block on the way home, i used no glove inside the mitts. That was also fine. My hands werent cold to the bone. And the hands do slip in and out of the mitt easier.

The mitt has a narrow black alpaca liner on the inside. I wanted to try a tight fit right against the hand for better insulation. You can still feel cold against the skin, but again not bone numbing.

The brake handle does poke thru the liner. But that's the good thing about knitting. it has kind of built in chinks so there's lots of give.

I could have tried tightening off the draw strings to keep more cold out. I didnt really get a chance before the ride was over.

I like how the knit mitt gives you a lot more colour options, which is what i wanted.

The thing i'm not sure is sustainable is the length of time to make it. If I were to sell, i'd like to keep the  price $50 or less. but i think with the extra yarn in the liner and the time to make and stitch together, i wouldnt make money on it.

If you could get the same results from a  knit as you go double layer, like thru Fair Isle stranding, that might cut time. But the patterning is less mindless than i'd like it to be. I wonder if simply weaving an a layer on the wrong side might do it. not tricky, but extra time.

Back to simple pattern Fair Isle. I might have to give up the band i wanted for  duplicate stitch personalization. But that would have taken extra time anyway.

I'm also not sure right now how it does for snow or rain repellent.  It's not going to be as  repellent as plastic, but it might do okay for snow, and get you most of the way home dry in a light rain.

More mulling required, I think.

Flower girl dress - prototype

Well maybe not that much of a prototype. I've made these hybrid knit/cloth dresses for years. I keep asking myself why. Why not just crochet the skirt as well?

I dunno. I think you can make use of some pretty remnants.

And now that mom's gone, it's a way to use cloth connected to a loved one. A long time ago I inherited a bunch of cloth mom had bought when we were tiny kids. I remember some garments she made from them. Even using cloth she thought was pretty kind of makes me happy.

Mom would have loved the classic gingham in this skirt. I had some pieces but none were quite big enough to make the generous hem mom would have approved of.

That's why i added the crocheted picot lace trim. It's not quite the same blue family, but i like the pallet of blues idea.

As for the matching hat, i sewed lots of cotton hats for my girls when they were small. Out of remnants. I had a beautiful yellow one that a librarian commented on one time. It later went missing. I think it was a hit with more than the librarian.

I didnt have enough scraps or time to sew up a hat to match here. So i crocheted the little hat with  fan motif in the hat band.

It still bothered me that the gingham didn't tie in to the hat. Then it hit me - a ribbon thru the wide gaps in the fan. The ribbon is just a strip of the gingham, pinked and stay stitched all around. Thread thru and simply tie in a square knot at the back. Gives a way to snug up on a tiny head, along with say using bobby pins. I also did a small picot strip of the  hem lace to make it seem like less of an after thought as well.

I love this knit bodice with the sort of ribbon tied shoulders. It makes for a nice stretchy fit around round tummies. The shoulder ties allow quite a bit of adjustment for length. I measured this at 14 inches from shoulder to end of lace for the smallest fit on the doll. Tied longer, I could get a length of 18 inches. You could do longer. You might just have to put a lace strip across the chest so it doesn't dip down too far. Obvs you could also wear with a tshirt or turtleneck under it and more of suspendered skirt effect.

The socks are the ribbon embroidered flower  ones i posted a while ago.

The little Mary Jane slipper shoes are ones i also made a while ago. They could be done in any colour.

To adapt to flower girl white, this could be done in  the offwhite of the blanket in photos. Bodice and blanket are same weight craft cotton. Cloth skirt could be eyelet.

I don't think i would need the periwinkle lace piece if i bought a piece of eyelet that was big enough.

That would make the dress cheaper to produce. To account for time, I could probably list the dress for $30 and the hat for $15.

This sundress outfit was originally made for a toddler cousin who had a birthday recently. It has taken me a year to finish - sigh. But I think she can still wear it :D

Fun project.

Knit handlebar mitts - road trial

Ok so i made a 2nd mitt but gathered the top thinking maybe the wide square top of the first try might be colder.

Square top created by 3 needle bind off; round top by thread long tail thru last row.

Square top went over readouts and brake handles better, with less pulling away than round top.

Tested them today. Temp was 3 degrees C when i got back.

Interestingly, the  round top was colder. I;m not sure why.Wonder if it's because the  square style allowed the  warmth of the mitt to rest closer to the hand.

At first i wondered if maybe the wind blew more on the round top hand. But the round top was still colder on the way back when the wind blew on the other hand.

With skin right against the mitt, my hands were chilly but not frozen.

About half way thru the ride, I put on a nylon cycling glove under the mitt. Hands were  toasty that way. Underpad of mitt gave good grip on the thumb throttle and brakes inside mitt.

Went barehanded on last block home. Freezing. Not the coldest i've ever felt. I've also found that when you ride with handlebar mitts, once you get riding, your hands warm up and maybe generate some warm air inside the gloves. So it could be that taking the gloves off at end of ride, a lot of circulation warm up had already happened.

This ride did not test for waterproofing. Not too concerned about that. Most other cycling gloves would  get damp anyway.

I think these mitts are good for slightly below zero and above. If it was winter cold, I would probably go back to my padded  plastic coated pogies.

But the kmitted mitts do what i wanted in terms of really opening up the  colour options with affordable materials. Simple stripes had a nice Hudson Bay blanket kind of look.

I think i could further personalize these with a band of duplicate stitching, which wouldnt have to be in wool. But much more investment in time would take the affordability out of these mitts.

Wool is more expensive. And tighter gauge would be better. But tighter is harder on the fingers to knit - for me anyway.

Probably a decent rate would be $50. Decent price point if you can upgrade with colour. I would probably post at $45 and  try to keep the # of hours down.

With the square top I changed from in the round to back and forth at the  handlebar opening. With  the round glove i continued in the round using a primitive steek technique. A lot more bulk is created. More time bc i;m not so skilled at this. Note to self - keep it simple, go back and forth at opening, add colour thru dup stitch. Idea - x's and o's - love the earth by biking kind of thing.

Certainly worth developing a pattern for:)

The value of learning to knit

It's come up a lot lately. A friend posted that her son needed pure wool socks for an outdoor program. Or that a child lost a glove and department stores had changed to spring clothes so that she couldn't find a replacement pair.

Another friend, a new gramma, posted some pics online from a super expensive baby shop. One thing on her wishlist was a cable knit cap for a newborn that cost at whopping $30. I posted a pic of the aran style cotton watch cap that i make. One of her commenters asked for the pattern. I doodled it out on a desktop sticky note, and have finally listed a pattern for it.

Not being able to find what i wanted when i wanted it - that's why i stoked up the knitting and sewing engines when my older kids were young. Finding well-made classic decently-priced items for children should be easier. But it's not. If you want it done right, you've gotta do it yourself.

So friends, learn to knit. You could start with this easy baby hat ;)