Last year, when 15 friends came to ice-fish, they gathered on a circular snow bank Tony carved out around the shorefront fire pit. “With the fire cranked up and the sun out, it’s warm enough,” he says. The wife’s mittens, made from waxed cotton canvas with liners stitched from vintage wool military blankets, are from Governor Baxter in Topsham; the thumbless design allows the wearer to make fists for warmth.