Building Community

Our story starts with the famous (but not entirely effective) Super Grover 2.0 from Sesame Street. My boys love this character, who is sort of clueless, but we, the parents, love the tag line after the announcer says:  "Super Grover 2.0!....He shows up!"

This, in effect, is the answer to a lot of things in life, not just building community.  Showing up.  We have joined a new congregation.  A friend of ours is the rabbi, and it is a small, vibrant, intellectual place.  We believe in its mission in our community and think its future is bright.

So, in late 2012, when the rabbi asked if one of us would serve on the board, we wrestled with how we could manage that.  Board meetings happen on week nights, when it is all hands on deck here to do the night time routines, bathe two toddlers and get them to bed.  How would we manage?  We finally decided I would volunteer, and we would pay a babysitter to help the professor every time.  Unfortunately even this solution has not been ideal, and I sometimes come home to find the professor worn out with wrestling twins to bed on his own long after the sitter has gone home. (We still struggle with sleep here)

Some of my friends these days find time to do runs and walks to raise money for cancer, and others do long bike rides and ask for sponsorships.  Right now, the New Shul is my only extracurricular activity, and we are paying for childcare so I can volunteer. There is not even any exercise involved!  However, it is a cause we believe in supporting for our future, and for the boys'.

People who are living far away sometimes ask me what they can do for us, to make this twin thing easier.  This article does a good job of explaining the stress of twin childbearing and parenting-it is hard to say what would make it easier, other than growing another pair of arms....but in thinking about it, the professor and I realized something.  Right now, we are just trying to show up like Super Grover, whenever a twin, a student, etc. needs our help. Sure, we appreciate lots of moral support from afar, and that helps!  thanks! In Winnipeg though, This congregation is one of our local supports.  So, if  you did want to help out, say, to celebrate the boys' upcoming birthday or our anniversary or spring time, perhaps consider this: Think about donating here.

We are grateful for any amount you choose to give.  Thank you for honoring us by considering this.  We are grateful.  We won't be running a marathon or biking for 2 weeks to prove our support, but we have just gone through yet another week caring for sick twins while we have all been down with a stomach virus.  Does that count? :). Joanne

Felted mittens

Here it is, April 25th, and I still need mittens on my morning walk!  It was 23F this AM, well below freezing.  It is the coldest April on record for Winnipeg.  My many pairs of knitted mittens are all sporting holes or a lot of wear at this point...and I don't really have time to make a new pair or three just now.  Plus, it is supposed to warm up this weekend to 18C (mid 60s).  I will believe it when I see it!  In the meanwhile, I had some felted sweaters around that I use to make wool soakers for the twins.  I cut up the sleeves of one of those sweaters, spent an hour at the sewing machine and voila, new mitts:

PS: this is my first "drive by" post using an iPad.  Does it look different?  Feedback is welcome as I am still trying to figure this out...

snowy April after Passover

Thanks so much for all the kind words from commenters.  I am going to try to post when I am able--even if it is just a yarn I'm spinning (that is, a story) and not an actual thing I am knitting, spinning, etc.

On the knitting front, I am working on a cowl and a scarf.  These go very slowly, but that is fine, because we are expecting yet more snow tomorrow, according to the weather report!  In the basement playroom, I am very occasionally able to spin --all with spindles.  I am working on a 3 ply yarn, 2 plies are a medium white wool roving (a remainder from the Brown Sheep mill in Nebraska) and one ply is a chocolate brown alpaca/silk blend.  I wind the singles together on a nostepinne, tuck it under my armpit as a distaff, and ply from there.  It is a very slow experience, but it feels wonderful to get to spin at all.  When the yarn is done and I have big enough skeins, I am hoping to dye it with coffee so the boys can watch its transformation from white and brown barber pole to shades of brown.

We just finished Passover.  It was an interesting holiday.  We had no invitations to go to other peoples' seders, which is the first time that has happened in Manitoba.   A lot of books about having multiples talk about the feeling of isolation that happens, and that can really be true!  It is overwhelming to invite us over these days, I guess, and it is hard for us to keep two boys safe in a non-childproofed home.  

Instead of a normal seder, we did a very simple "toddler Seder" the first night.  I set up our Seder plate, we talked about what was there and what it meant.  We skyped with my parents, who sang a few songs with us.  We ate chicken vegetable soup (pureed for toddler enjoyment) and brisket.  It wasn't a normal Passover, but then, who would want to invite over a family with two toddlers who go to bed by 7:30 or 8?  Most Seders don't start until 6:30 or 7!

The second night, we went to the congregational seder for our new congregation. 
It was a wonderful, grown-up event, so we got our aerobic work-out in, chasing toddlers and trying to keep them relatively quiet during the more serious parts of the evening.  Since there are two of us, and two guys, well, there wasn't much leisure to chat or reflect on the meaning of the holiday.  I think some holidays are just like this!

The boys did seem to know what was going on though and were very happy to eat bread,cereal and pizza when the holiday was over!  Their grandmother (Didi) visited in the middle of the holiday, and we enjoyed buying her flowers and playing with her.  That part of the holiday was very nice.  I didn't clean up as much as I would have liked, but there is always next year...

Where's Joanne?

Hi all...
We have been sick, in one form or another, since December.  That includes 2 separate emergency room visits.  Right now, three of us (the Professor is ok for now) have a cold, but I think we've had every virus known to humanity this winter.  It has been an exceptionally long, cold winter here, even for Manitoba, Canada.  This morning it was -8F, with a significantly lower wind chill.

Anyway, this winter has left me with very little time to post.  Beyond that, I am not sure what to post.  Before twins, this blog was a positive (for the most part) portrayal of some of my fibery professional life, and some of my personal life.  It wasn't the whole story, and it was, in part, so that people who read my books or articles or knitted my patterns had a chance to meet the person behind the work.

However, despite my best efforts, I have not been able to return to my professional life yet.  We have some babysitting each day outside our house, but I spend that time madly trying to clean up and catch us up so we can eat dinner, stay clean, etc.  When toddler twins are at home, well, that is what I am doing.  Twin toddlers are more than a full time situation right now...never mind being sick, going to doctors' appointments, etc.

I'm not sharing the "knitty-gritty" of those details with you. Besides being absolutely mind-numbing for me, it is often a slog that people don't want to hear about.  More than that, I want to maintain some of the boys' privacy so that they (not I) have the chance to shape their own online presence when they want to do that.

I know that some people are still checking in to see what's new on my blog...and I'm wondering what it is you are hoping to see in the future.  Should I stop posting until I have fibery things to report?  Should I return occasionally so you know I am alive?  Please feel free to comment, say hello, and let me know what you think, bearing in mind that my free time is absolutely still at a minimum these days. Sorry about that--I really wish things were different.

PS: In my nonexistent spare time, I am helping to plan the Manitoba Fibre Festival 
for September of 2013!  I am hoping that someday, I will have more time to help make it a success!

coming to a Winnipeg classroom soon...

Hello again!  I'm sorry (yet again) that these posts have been so sporadic...

I am slowly, slowly, trying to get back into having a little bit of a work life.  This begins January 20th....at McNally Robinson, a local bookstore with a community classroom.  I'll be teaching a class on cloth diapering and using wool soakers.  This combines my work knowledge (wool, wool and...did I say--wool?) with the information I've gained while cloth diapering twins.  I hope it will be useful for others!  It sure would have been helpful for us to go to a class like this when we were expecting...!

That is followed by another class in early March on the topics in my book, Knit Green.  (links at right)  While the book was published in 2009, the information is still relevant.  I am hoping to get the "green" knitting conversation going again, at least locally, if I can.

Finally, here is a sneak preview of a v-neck pullover sweater I designed recently.  It is a one-of-a-kind garment at the moment; no pattern (yet), and knit out of some beautiful Polwarth blend yarn I bought when the owner of Rovings, a local spinning/knitting business, retired.  It is a very warm sweater!  Perfect for playing in our basement on those very cold -30F days when we don't leave home.  I'm currently at work on sweater #2, which is being done in more conventional yarns as I test out the pattern.

Right now we are struggling with a virus (fever, runny nose and cough) and I got to sit out on the front porch watching the snow fall after midnight last night...with a kid in the sling -wrapped in a wool blanket--to cool him down.  Sleep is a distant memory, but we're still hanging on here.  I'll try to drop by the blog more often...thanks for stopping by!

losing it

Lots of people have mentioned that they missed the blog posts.  Me too.
It has been hard to find time to do this.
A few things have changed but most things remain the same.
The things that are the same:
-A doctor's appointment every week or two (5 total from Nov.27-Dec.27, including the twins and me) really cuts into our routine....again, no one is very ill but there are some things that should be watched.
-We don't really sleep through the night--at 18 months.

The things that are different are good things:
We have found a marvelous home day care where the twins go to play each morning.  This means I am slowly digging out and beginning to consider returning to part time work in a very low key way.  Stay tuned: I am teaching a couple of classes in the new year.

The professor is almost done with his semester, so he is going to help the boys through the night for a while.  I have only rarely gotten more than 3 hours of sleep at a time, so this will be huge. Toddlers frequently wake up once or twice a night.  I have two.  4 wake ups a night--not unusual.

Here's a short story to illustrate our title (losing it). It ends well.

I am a person who does not lose things.  This is important to my identity! I had my parents' house key (the same one), for about 30 years, from age 8 onwards.  Eventually, they changed the lock...but it took 30 years. :)

Twice recently, I have lost my keys.  This was huge.  My house keys, car keys --the whole enchilada.  The first time I was panicked and did not know how I would pick the boys up from day care.  In fact, both my friendly daycare provider and I considered a mile long walk with a double (or triple, in her case) stroller  to return the boys home while I panicked and searched.  It was already icy and snowy here and while the boys have warm sleeping bags on their stroller, I just couldn't face it without a thorough search.

On the third trip to retrace my steps, I found my own keys.  They were right next to the compost bin.  Buried in the snow.  Yep.  Whew. Lucky.

Then, on Monday, something worse happened.  Again, in a sleep deprived haze, I headed out the door at 7:15 to walk our dogs.  I remember very little of the walk in the dark.  When I got home, I stood at the back door.  No keys in my pocket.  Oh NO.

The professor loaned me his car key (the only other one) and I got the car going and headed on with my day.  Unfortunately, I've had a bad cold, so I didn't feel well enough (or rested enough) to cope with making a new key on my own.  A friend jumped to the rescue, and rushed off through freezing rain to get my (chip encrusted) key made.

This solved the immediate problem, but on Tuesday and Wednesday, we discovered that the copied key only worked every so often due to the electronic chip security issues.  What's worse than losing your car keys?  Trying to start your car in winter here with two toddlers in it and having the key not work. In fact, this just makes me afraid. Snow started in early November this year and this weekend's temperatures will be in the -20F range.  (dang cold)

On Wednesday, there was a slight thaw, it was around freezing, and the twins took their nap in the stroller while a helper kindly went with me to post "LOST KEYS" signs on my dog walk.  Bear in mind that by then, I had walked the dog walk 5 or 6 times (a mile each) trying to find keys in every snow drift.

Wednesday night, a young man (no older than 10), let us know he had found the keys. Hurray!

My car now starts consistently with its original key.

I slept a bit more last night as the professor handled the baby wake ups.  I am still sick but hopefully getting better.

Things, for the moment, are good.

I waited a long time to post so I could say something cheerful.  (That is hard with 2 years without sleep) Here it is.
Have a good one...and be grateful if you have your car keys, please!

making things

 It turns out that making things, creating something, is a really core part of who I am.  That when I am so busy with twins that I don't have time to eat (...and going to the bathroom is rare!), I still dream and imagine what I could make when I have time.  This probably keeps me sane sometimes.

I finally started trying to imagine things I could do quickly and to find pockets of space when I could manage it.  These mitts are an example.  Tentatively called Northern Climes, they combine two patterns. A flying bird and a "northern lights" one, at the tip.  In any case, I only manage to knit on these guys when I am in the car with both babies and my husband is driving....maybe once a week.  As you can imagine, these mitts are taking a long time to make, and I am designing them as I go.  (2nd, 3rd, and 4th mitt are easier in that respect)

My other project was to create two sweaters out of felted, recycled old sweaters.  I made these for two babies (girls) but my boys were happy to model them.  The leftover recycled sweaters were left from wool soakers I made for the boys.  (the boys are cloth diapered and wear wool soakers to bed.)  The red and purple sweater is all Merino wool.  The other sweater has orange Merino collar and sleeves and a beige cashmere body.

There are no patterns.  I "eyeballed" it, cut the pieces freehand and sewed these on my sewing machine.  From start to finish, I could probably go from felted sweater parts to a new baby sweater in 45 minutes to an hour if I were going full speed ahead.  (I'm pretty twitchy these days!)   I never have 45 minutes at once though, so heaven knows how long these took!

To update things, yes, we still deal with health problems quite a bit here and have a doctor's appointment every week or two.  The boys are ok overall, but we have lots to follow up on.  It is still rare for me to get to sleep more than 3 hours in a row.  I can't remember the last time everyone slept through the night.

All that said, sometimes, I manage to make things.  It makes all the difference!