I am the wife of an ice hockey player.
I am the mother of two ice hockey players.
If your first thought was for the olfactory assault that results from those two facts, chances are you know a thing or two about hockey.
If you're not in the know, let me clue you in: hockey players come off the ice wringing wet, and it's not from falling down on wet ice. It's from sweat. There's no delicate way to put it. If they were to strip off their underlayer and throw it against the wall, it would stick.
The underlayer enjoys the privilege of an acquaintance with the inside of a washing machine. The outer layer, with the exception of the jersey... not so much.
Those big padded shorts, those leg guards, those elbow guards, those gloves, that chest protector, that helmet... all those pieces of kit will probably never be washed during the entirety of their existence.
And hockey players take a perverse pride in this.
The kit bag comes home at the end of the game. It is opened. The underlayer and jersey are thrown into the washing machine, where - if I have any say in it - an antibacterial agent is added to the drum. The rest of the kit is left to dry out. Often spread over various surfaces. If you're lucky, said surfaces will be in the shed, or the garage or somewhere away from the house.
Drying racks are commercially available, but no-one in my family has ever got as far as buying one. So I grabbed a few bits of reclaimed material and made a couple for my sons.
The advantage of this is that I was able to customise them to my sons' measurements.
If you'd like one (perhaps as a Christmas present for the hockey player in your life), get in touch. Of course, because each one is handmade using materials available at the time, no two will be alike. I can also customise them with the player's name or number, or apply team colours to them.
I am the mother of two ice hockey players.
If your first thought was for the olfactory assault that results from those two facts, chances are you know a thing or two about hockey.
If you're not in the know, let me clue you in: hockey players come off the ice wringing wet, and it's not from falling down on wet ice. It's from sweat. There's no delicate way to put it. If they were to strip off their underlayer and throw it against the wall, it would stick.
The underlayer enjoys the privilege of an acquaintance with the inside of a washing machine. The outer layer, with the exception of the jersey... not so much.
Those big padded shorts, those leg guards, those elbow guards, those gloves, that chest protector, that helmet... all those pieces of kit will probably never be washed during the entirety of their existence.
And hockey players take a perverse pride in this.
The kit bag comes home at the end of the game. It is opened. The underlayer and jersey are thrown into the washing machine, where - if I have any say in it - an antibacterial agent is added to the drum. The rest of the kit is left to dry out. Often spread over various surfaces. If you're lucky, said surfaces will be in the shed, or the garage or somewhere away from the house.
Drying racks are commercially available, but no-one in my family has ever got as far as buying one. So I grabbed a few bits of reclaimed material and made a couple for my sons.
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| Son 1's rack - empty |
The advantage of this is that I was able to customise them to my sons' measurements.
If you'd like one (perhaps as a Christmas present for the hockey player in your life), get in touch. Of course, because each one is handmade using materials available at the time, no two will be alike. I can also customise them with the player's name or number, or apply team colours to them.
 |
| Son 1's rack - loaded (except for shorts) |
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| Son 2's rack - loaded |
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