Knitting Iris

Rendezvous 2009

 
 
Our town's, big, annual Rendezvous weekend was this past one. 

E woke up Saturday morning stating that he wanted to be in the parade that day. and that he wanted to dress up as a monster in his brother's Halloween costume of a few years ago.  Fortunately, our truck and flatbed trailer were already being borrowed for use in the parade so he was able to hitch a ride on there with friends. 

Sure, the annual event has more of a mountain man/black powder shoot/buckskins and beads/gold digging/rodeo/mud bog/vintage car/quilt show/flea market/bag piper theme, so why not let a little green monster tag along on the belly dancer/drumming float?  Well, at least he was warm in that suit on such a chilly morning.  Brr!  You never know what you're going to get for that weekend.  We've seen it all, 80 degrees, rain, and even snow on this day in the years we've been here.

Anyways, E so loved being on that side of things for a change this year, in the parade itself and, since they were near the beginning of it, he was able to step back out onto the sidewalk with his cousins and friends and nearly catch up with them in the candy gathering.

Meanwhile, C missed the whole thing as he was home caring for an ill hen who was having trouble laying an egg.  Let's just say that he learned a lot that day, and unfortunately, despite all his best efforts, she didn't survive through the following night.

So, with a sick chicken in the bathtub, E dragging out all the dress ups searching for a costume t0 wear, and R playing and belting out "Go tell Aunt Rhodie, the old grey goose is dead!" on the keyboard, all I could think was, "Yup.  Here we are.  This is just our normal crazy little world"

Just everyday stuff around here.  You just never know what the day will bring.

And you thought everything around here was all calm and peaceful.  Ha.  I guess it is, if you call this nutty, chaotic life of ours sweet harmony.  I know that, for the most part, we do.

Missoula weekend

 
 
 
   
   
 
 

Two weekends ago. 

What does a family of four from a small town do when they visit a bigger tpwn a few hour's drive away?

Go to hardware, farm, yarn, fabric, and garden stores.  Go out for morning coffee and tea.  Eat thai food.  Check out graffiti.  Play in a kid park.  Ride a carousel.  Walk along the river.  Check out the budding-out trees.  Watch actual TV, muting all the commercials.  Swim in the hotel pool.  Go to C's lumber supplier to sort through and hand-pick individual boards for his next client.  

Enjoy the views on the drive.  Stop at all the second hand stores on the way home and pick up 5 laying hens from someone selling off their mixed farm breed chickens along the way. 

Spend more time looking than actual $s.

As for the boys, they kept a running list of animals they saw along the way (not including humans) and they tallied 22 not including all the birds we couldn't identify as we drove by:  horse, chicken, goat, cow, dog, cat, domestic duck, turkey, raven, swan, Canada goose, hawk,  bald eagle, donkey, pigeon, mallard, bison, magpie, seagull, sheep, pony, deer.

This isn't really our typical "vacation".  We're really more the camping and fishing type.  But, I guess it's not all that out of character for the way we spend our time in a town.

My only regret is that we missed the first farmer's market of the year by not going a couple of weeks later.  Missoula has the best farmer's market, and I've only ever been to it in September.

Tuesdays

This is where you'll find me today (although this pic was taken two weeks ago), and now you pretty well know my week's schedule, so if you're wondering why I've been a little absent around these parts lately, well, now you know why.  And that's why it's taken so long to get this pic and post up here.

The job is seasonal, only a few months, since, around here, if you don't have it in the ground by the beginning of July then you might as well wait until next year, unless it's trees, bushes, and perennials,  garlic, or bulbs, and then you can plant them again in the fall.

There really isn't a much better job around, in my opinion.  Sure it can be dirty, physical work.  But, long before others are even outside digging in the dirt, I get to be in here playing with babies, baby plants that is.  And I'm thrilled to find that they're using only relatively low-impact fertilizers.

And, again, here too I'm working with really nice people.  This is a family run business, so I'm in the greenhouse, for the most part thus far, with the owner (someone I enjoyed working with 12 or 13 years ago when we both worked for another family run nursery in town) and her 19 year old daughter and 79 (yes!) year old mother in law, while her husband and father in law work with a crew outside in the tree yard.

So, yeah, between Sundays waiting tables, M-W-F at the showroom, Tuesdays here at the nursery, not to mention homeschooling, yarn dyeing, starting a garden, cooking, baking, cleaning, dishes, bill paying, business paperwork, laundry, shopping for groceries and other necessities, dealing with trash,compost & recycling, brushing the shedding dogs,  plus reminding the boys to practice piano, feed the dogs, water the geese, stock the woodpile, and put away their dishes and laundry, life is just the teensiest bit busy right now, and it hasn't exactly been easy to find a comfortable balance.

Occasionally it's been downright overwhelming. 

Needless to say, knitting, sewing, other crafting, blogging, and a social life have taken a little bit of a back seat, and happening on a much less frequent basis.

Still, I need and like this little corner of the online world, but I'm spending more time over on Flickr right now to try and stay in touch out there, so I hope you're over there as well so I can keep a better eye on you all.  No, I'm not disappearing, just letting you know what's up with the sporadic posting of late.

That said, there might be some posts in the next few days from the last couple of weekends, for my own sake, to feel like I'm caught up around here.

Bench Monday, his bench.

Bench Monday, his bench., originally uploaded by Knitting Iris.

This is our furniture showroom, where I spend my Monday afternoons, bringing homeschooling work along for the boys and the laptop for me to do payroll, pay bills, take care of monthly tax paperwork, and the likes (and, of course, poke around Flickr and check out all the other bench monday pics). For now we're here on Wednesdays and Fridays, too. Can you still call it "home" schooling?
I shuffle the boys back and forth to piano lessons from here, as well, which is where they were when I shot this.

It's built of a combination of formed and highly polished concrete, reclaimed barnwood, and rebar. The cushion of hair-on cowhide and heathered grey wool looks a little wonky here, thanks to me.

Shh! Don't tell C that I was standing on his bench!

Garden progress report

April 24th.  The garden, at present.  Poultry yard behind.  A glimpse  of the chicken coop at far right.  One of several piles of roots removed from the garden at front center.

April 18th.  Teetering on the remains of what used to be the archery target last fall.

April 1.  Clearing trees, or alternatively, "Handknits At Work".

April 1.  Dragging and piling brush.
 
April 1.  Cave deep within the brush pile.

As you can see, lots and lots of work, but a fair amount of play as well.

Earth Day 2009

 
 
 
Taste:  morning tea out in the sunshine.
Touch: fine, dark compost made by sifting grass roots and rocks out of well-aged horse manure into the wheelbarrow through the sieve C built yesterday evening of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and scrap lumber.
Hear: wild Canada geese honking overhead and in the neighbor's field.
Smell:  fresh baked bread.  earth.  sawdust.
See:  grass greening up.

Doing:  measuring out the spacing for planting/transplanting apple and pie cherry trees in the garden.
Learning:  how to care for four, wee, two day old pilgrim geese that arrived by priority mail today.
Cooking:  homemade wheat tortillas, black beans, and rice for burritos.
Listening: soft rain on the roof tonight as we drift off to sleep.

Black walnut dyed self stripings

 

Knit for the boys with a skein of sock yarn (shy of 100 grams by maybe 20 grams or so), dyed self-striping with black walnut hulls.  The heel and toe colors were picked out by each, R requesting that extra little stripe of blue at the top of his pair.  If you look closely you'll notice a couple of different reds and a couple of different blues to try and use up some leftover stashed sock yarns. 
They were finally finished today, the warmest day of spring yet, topping out in the mid 70's in town, not quite so warm at our place, however.   I tried to knit these up a little on the big size so they'll fit next winter.  We'll see about that.
Several people have asked over the years how big to size socks for kids.  I'm never quite sure how to answer that, especially since kids grow so fast and are each sized so differently at any given age.  The boys are now 6 and 9 years of age and these were both knit over 48 stitches on Addi turbo 2's which I believe are more like something between a US size 1 and 2 (or maybe they're Addi 1's?   I can't remember right this moment how their sizing works, but I know they're smaller than a US 2 and bigger than a US1). 
Anyways, they're knit up on only 8 stitches fewer around than those I knit for myself, over 56 sts, and they're a little tight for the boys to get on their feet.   Once they're on, though, they're fine.  I'm thinking the next pairs I make for them I'll try 52 stitches.  None of us have inordinately wide or thin feet, so I'm finding it surprising how little difference there is in the number of stitches between their socks and mine.
Squeaked in another Bench Monday shot there, last minute.  Not, however,  the one I intended to try and get.  I never realized just how many benches there are in our lives.  This could go on for quite some time.

Flew the coop

After a night spent camping out in the now finished chicken coop, we're off to Missoula for a couple of nights, figuring we might as well get away before the chicks come (still a week or so to go).
E brought some critters out to spend the night in one of the nesting boxes by where he slept.  : )
Have a great couple of days.

Fifteen minutes of fame, on the menu of a small town diner

9 years ago, upon becoming a parent, and in particular, a stay at home mom, I think the thing I found THE most difficult to come to terms with (aside from the fact that my entire identity as a person had been redefined for me starting the very second our first son was born), was the fact that I was no longer working for any monetary income.  Apart from my first couple of school years in college, I'd worked, and worked hard, for a regular paycheck since I was 12, and so knew little else of life between then and 30 years of age when I became a mom.  It was a big part of who I was.

Well, after R was born, it took somewhere between a year and two years before that pull to go back to work finally, slowly, started to release its grip on me.  Besides, no matter how I looked at it, it just didn't make sense for me to go back to work unless, of course, for some reason it became necessary financially.   The wages I could make in this little town we live in would barely cover the cost of  gas and daycare.  The reality is that we barely left our children with anyone, not even family,  until they were well over a year of age, if not two, and that nursing and caring for our babies, our children, was our top priority.  Besides, two working parents just wasn't what we had in mind for the lifestyle of our family.   We just couldn't imagine working opposite shifts and never having time for each other, nor altogether as a family.

But, as time went on, I did finally settle completely into this new life and eventually became comfortable with not working, for an income that is.  I came to enjoy it pretty unconditionally, as long as I got a sanity break every now and again.   I'd even go so far as to say I learned to realize what a luxury it was for me to not have to go out into the world to work and stopped wanting to do so any longer all together.  Let's face it it.  The reality is, I was pretty darned spoiled, even when I thought I was going to go nuts spending all my time with two young children.

That being said, for the past 5 weeks I've been back working, at the very same job I was doing up until about a week or so before R was born, just over 9 years ago.  Just on Sundays.  Waiting tables at a diner in town. 

It's not exactly that I needed to go back to work.  But, what with all the word on the street, on the radio, in the papers, in the news online, I was having a hard time not worrying about these next days, weeks, years, decades to come.  Finally, I realized that I could either sit around and stress out which really wouldn't be good for anyone, neither myself nor those around me, I could either continue to worry, or I could be proactive and do something. 

And so, figuring I'd better get on it while there still might be some jobs around to be had,  I quietly put the word out around town, put some feelers out, that I was thinking about going back to work. 

In the event that full time, seasonal work had presented itself, we were even seriously considering putting the boys into school until the end of the school year.  As that didn't happen, and since it is already so close to the end of the school year, we've decided not to do so at this point.  This year, anyways.   I don't think we were really ready for such a lifestyle change all at once anyways.  Once again, though, if it were necessary, there would be no question.   We'd do it and we'd adjust, and it would be just fine.

As it stands, going back to my old job has been a mix of good and not so good.  In order to do so, I've had to bite my tongue (hard!) on some personal, small town issues.  I've had to swallow my pride.  On the other hand, I'm back out in the world again, right in that mix of small town gossip, yet amongst friendly faces I once saw on a regular basis.  It makes me crazy when I can't remember all their names, but then I realize that they don't remember my name either anymore, I've been out of the loop for so long now.

There's an aspect to being back there that feels a little like "old home week", although I have to admit I'm terribly rusty, and the computer used there now adds a whole new dimension.  I'm trying not to drop kick the thing.

Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to be working with a bunch of really nice women, and I keep reminding myself that there are so many great people I never would have met had I not ever worked this job in the first place.  Several of the other women I'm working with have also come back to work after their babies have grown enough for them to do so, only none have taken quite as long a sabbatical as I.  I definitely hold the record there.  Some of their babies still cry when they walk out the door to go to work.

But let's just say that, with nine years under my belt since I last worked there, an 8+ hour shift on my feet leaves me seriously whooped and SORE and a little brain dead.  Oh. My.

One more thing.  I have to wear a t-shirt with a logo on it now, too, which so goes against the very depths of my being, clothing wise.  But, I guess it could be looked at from the perspective that at least I don't wreck my own clothes each time I spill ketchup or coffee or what have you on myself.

As for the boys, it's had some very positive side effects.  They've gotten to spend a lot more time together with their papa, and vice versa.

On my end, the job itself isn't exactly all-fulfilling by any stretch of the imagination, but I do come home with cash in pocket, enough for groceries for the rest of the week, and that feels every bit as good as it ever did.  One thing I can say with certainty is that people are far more generous in their tipping around here than they were 9 years ago, at least some are.  I'm actually pretty shocked by it at times.  

And I get to come home to hugs and exclamations such as, "Mama, you smell like french fries!"  or "Ewww!  ketchup!"

About the picture above?  Yes, there's a sandwich with my name on it on the menu, from the days the restaurant first opened, when I was still a vegetarian, and pre-pregnancy, during which  I couldn't stomach vegetables and thus started eating meat.  Funny thing is, I didn't come up with that sandwich myself, and even back then, it was one that I would never choose to order from the menu, but apparently people like it or it wouldn't be on there still. 

There's a whole other story behind that sandwich and the day I orginally went to interview for the job 11+ years ago, but I think you'll agree, if you've made it this far, that I've said more than enough already!

Easter Weekend '09

 
 
 
 
 
Whew.  Quite a weekend.

Saturday: mass cleanup and preparation for the potluck/bonfire/birthday party/full moon drumming that, at one point, was rained out so that there must have been about 40 or more people cozily jammed into our little house for dinner.  Then, the rain stopped and a huge, bright, fully arched, double rainbow appeared out in the field between us and the mountains bringing everyone pouring back outside to the fire.

Sunday: the after-party cleanup, in the wee hours of the morning, followed bythe easter bunny hiding eggs in the yard in the dark of night.  Not long after, two very sleepy boys and two even more sleepy parents were up and outside hunting them down, E completely inappropriately dressed for the weather but absolutely adamant about wearing shorts, a tie dyed t-shirt, and sandals.  Then C and the boys were off to brunch with the cousins while I went to work (more on that later).  

The weekend finished off with a mellow dinner and a couple rounds of dominos, and me collapsing into bed before 9 pm (almost unheard of) after barely managing a full chapter of Anne of Green Gables to R (couldn't end the evening on the sad, next last chapter anyways).

I hate to admit it, but it's just so nice to be done with our skiing filled weekends.
Happy Bench Monday!