Hi Knitters,Gotta love that cooooold Wisconsin weather when that's where you live. The Collector got ice skates for Christmas this year. She is so excited about them. My husband decided to make our own backyard ice rink in honor of the new skates. He did a bunch of research on how to make your own ice rink. He went with three of the kids over to Home Depot and gathered all of the materials which included a huge tarp, wood for the edges and brackets to hold everything together. My son and a couple of his friends worked on it one afternoon and made good progress. My husband then finished it up.
We have a cement basketball court in our backyard so that's where it made the most sense to put the rink. They filled it up with water over a week ago, maybe even two but it just finally froze hard enough to get a good smooth sheet of ice. For the past few days The Collector has been skating and skating and skating. Our neighbors have been over skating and they even made up a skating routine for fun. It has been hours of outdoor fun.
This morning is the brightest, coldest day and TC has already been out for hours on her rink. This afternoon her cousins are coming over to spend some time skating. I think that calls for some homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate! I need to get busy with the baking.
We have a cement basketball court in our backyard so that's where it made the most sense to put the rink. They filled it up with water over a week ago, maybe even two but it just finally froze hard enough to get a good smooth sheet of ice. For the past few days The Collector has been skating and skating and skating. Our neighbors have been over skating and they even made up a skating routine for fun. It has been hours of outdoor fun.
This morning is the brightest, coldest day and TC has already been out for hours on her rink. This afternoon her cousins are coming over to spend some time skating. I think that calls for some homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate! I need to get busy with the baking.The Collector is wearing one of my favorite knitted hats, The One for All Hat. This hat has a knit in lining that is so simple and extra warm. The hat has one of the cutest ever pom-pom sets on top, too. I love this hat and have never really gotten a good photograph of it. When I saw The Collector had it on today for skating I thought I would try to capture a better shot of it. The back shot above is pretty good. The One for All Hat is a great first cable project to boot!
Here is the Ravelry page for the One for All Hat!
Outdoor winter fun is always good when you live in a cold climate like we do! Being outside, even when it's cold, just makes you feel better all around. I hope the backyard skating rink becomes an annual event. The cute dog next door, Maddie, enjoys the skaters, too. She stands there patiently watching as they go by. Occasionally the kids take a break and give her some love which is what she is waiting for.
Outdoor winter fun is always good when you live in a cold climate like we do! Being outside, even when it's cold, just makes you feel better all around. I hope the backyard skating rink becomes an annual event. The cute dog next door, Maddie, enjoys the skaters, too. She stands there patiently watching as they go by. Occasionally the kids take a break and give her some love which is what she is waiting for.My sister lives on a lake so she has a backyard skating rink all of the time. Do any of you have a backyard/homemade skating rink?
Hope you are getting outside a bit on these bitter cold winter days.
Talk to you soon.
best, susie
26 comments:
Very cool idea. Love the ice rink. Wish I could do that.
What a wonderful idea! I'll have to keep this in mind for when my children grow up (not yet walking, and actually, one is still on the inside, but due any day now!). What are the dimensions of the rink? Thanks!
Erin,
I'll have to ask my husband, I'll let you know:)
susan
Oooh! A handy husband!
When I was little, we lived about a block from the outdoor rink in Baraboo. It had a warming house with a wood stove but no cookies!
We have thought about doing the backyard skate rink- next year, when both boys are better skaters, we probably will. Right now, we use the rink at my kindergartner's elementary school.
I love backyard ice rinks. Before we put the addition on our house, we used to make a rink out back. Now, if we decided to make a rink, we would have to bring in truck loads of dirt to level the yard or we would have an ice slide.
I LOVE the pom-poms on the One for all Hat. This looks like one that needs to be made.
Today in Detroit, it is warm. 24 degrees. Beautiful. I am getting ready to take the Great Danes for a walk. To cold for the Yorkies.
This such a great idea!
That looks like so much fun!!
My kids are outside in T-shirts and shorts today! Gotta love these AZ winters!!
What a great idea!!!
We live across the street from a small pond so the kids go skating there often.
I live in (mostly) sunny southern California so no backyard rink here. (My husband and son are hitting golf balls at the driving range today!) But we used to do the backyard ice rink when I was a kid in Ohio. I have fond memories of skating on a frozen patio with my cousins. Looks like the Collector will sleep well tonight!
This really brings back memories
(of the fifties). The grade school I attended made a huge skating rink every (Northern Ohio) winter. All of us skated at recess most of the winter.
My father made us a rink in the backyard every year until we finally all left home. It was wonderful. I remember my brother being put on the ice with a kitchen chair to help keep him upright. He was about 2 and a half at the time. Dad also dug seats in the snow for us to sit on.
We had plans for one of these when I was little... then we moved south and we didn't have a flat yard or cold enough weather for it so we learned to ice skate indoors. Looks like fun!
Such a wonderful project!!
This is the second backyard ice rink I've seen on a blog this winter, and although I HATE our Michigan winters, somehow I think a backyard ice rink would make them so much more tolerable! :) Enjoy!
Joanne @ Ready, Set, Craft!
When I was a kid, my stepbrothers used to make a backyard rink with their old pool covers so they could play hockey all the time. Now that my sons are just learning to skate I told my husband that we should think about making a "rink" in our backyard. It's freezing up here in Mass! He didn't believe me that people actually do this. Wait till I show him your pictures!
This brought back memories of our backyard rink. It was a kit designed by Gordie Howe. Many happy hours were spent skating and shooting pucks.
I even had my kids classmates over for a science class all about ice!
Ending of course with hot chocolate and cookies!
Erin,
The dimensions are 16' by 18' so it's not huge but still big enough for fun.
susan
My dad used to make a rink in our back yarn when I was growing up. I LOVED it so much! With the Olympics starting soon I've been thinking about it a lot - I wanted to be a figure skater so bad when I was a little girl!
We also bought ice skates for our daughter this Christmas. We have an outdoor rink at the park down the street. Sadly, she ended up with a broken wrist and just got her cast off last Friday.
We recently bought wrist guards and she'll be ready to skate again soon. :)
Looks like your daughter is having so much fun! Be safe and stay warm!
-Shannon in Belvidere, IL
Oh no, Shannon! Glad to hear the cast is off. Here's wishing for safer skating ahead....
That is pretty darn cool to have your own rink.
Looks like so much fun! It's cold enough here in Pgh to skate outside, but it's been years since I've been on skates. I'd end up like Shannon's daughter. And that would mean no knitting! Can't have that!
We raised our kids in Michigan and lived on a small inland lake. They would anxiously wait for the ice to be thick enough to go our on. Some years we would be lucky enough to have beautiful, smooth, clear ice to skate on before the snow would land and pit it, requiring shoveling, smoothing, and possibly spraying to get the "right finish." Only thing about the clear ice was you could look down and see way to the bottom of the lake at places, and even see the fish lying dormant, waiting for the thaw and warmer water. A cause for a little unbalance at first, but you learned to not look down! Once the entire lake ice was covered with snow, my son loved to cross country ski on it. Lots of fun in winter land. :-)
I grew up in Milwaukee and a friend had her own private rink one winter. I still remember how special that was! Not all crowded like the rinks at the schools or the lagoon at Jackson Park. Enjoy!
I grew up in southern Texas so alas we never learned to ice skate. Now I live in PA and there is a pond very near our home. Once the pond freezes over it's covered the entire winter with skaters and ice fishermen. Very lovely to watch while sipping something hot, from inside the restaurant that sits alongside it.
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