Amy Artisan

For being the shortest month (even with an extra day this year), February was filled with quite a bit of fun. A highlight was having my sister come visit, up north, for several days – a separate post is on the horizon for that. In the meantime, here is February 2012 as captured with the smartphone camera…

What made up February? A bit of knitting…knit valentines for loved ones; a birthday gift knit came off the needles (a month before the gifting) & was blocked on the hotel floor; the Snow Moon was beautiful over the bay – the shots are from 2 different nights; the first stop once Rebecca arrived in WI was a tour of Lambeau Field; Rebecca & I also spent a few minutes along the shore in a local park; stumbling upon Meyer lemons in W-mart & having to pick them up – one sat on my desk for the week & brought many a smile; on Leap Day, winter “finally” arrived – about 9″ when it was all over.

Another year has started without my joining a “Project 365″ (or 366 this year) group to encourage me to be taking a picture a day. I have always enjoyed taking pictures and want to “do more” with my photography; however, for the time being that isn’t on the agenda. My “fancy” camera sits at home – maybe still in recovery mode for all the pictures captured in Italy over the summer? My point & shoot is in my work backpack or at the hotel (I’m not carrying a purse these days). My smartphone is always with me & so, for now that is the camera that captures my moments. This year, I aim for a monthly recap of captured moments here on the blog.

Without further ado…JANUARY 2012.

The view from my smartphone

So what did January hold? This month, the new weekly planner contains mostly Marinette moments – I was only home for one weekend. While north: a local cafe provides a great weekend hangout – so my new weekend routine up here includes time in their back room with some combination of good coffee, soup, friends, knitting, reading; a rather mild winter weather month – although one morning the car read -10 (!) on the drive to the office; a serendipity in the local cafe led to attending the Newsboys concert up here on a Saturday night – I have been a fan for 20+ years and enjoyed this group and also became a fan of 2 of their opening acts – music from the 3 bands is the soundtrack to my time at the gym; a paperwhite kit that I picked up in December managed to grow and bloom in my office – while the window wall may be chilly some days at least it provides beautiful sunshine; a snowy Saturday morning drive; a bit of evening knitting at the hotel; a surprise care package containing Mom’s fragile sugar cookies (unbroken!) meant cookies for breakfast one morning.

This is my third winter in northern Wisconsin while on this project. In that time, I have seen all sorts of winter weather: some precarious drives north on snow covered highways; some near blizzard snowfalls; some slushy snow days; some icy days; some no snow days and everything in between. On Saturday morning, I awoke to the best type of snow: picturesque, weekend snow. Overnight, a few inches fell – just enough to frost everything in a white that seemed to glisten in the morning sun. First thing Saturday, I had a “quick” errand to go to a favorite pottery studio about 45 miles north of here – along the shore in the UP. After clearing the snow off the rental, I was ready to go with coffee in my travel mug & sunglasses on to minimize the sun glare.

The drive north was lovely – M-35 was dry and there wasn’t much traffic on the road. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sun was shining brightly & the snow was still white. The trees along the route were frosted and tipped in a pure white – every so often, a breeze would shake some snow from the branches. After a busy week in the office, it was nice to step away from the hustle & bustle and just take in the beauty of a winter morning. With the start of a new year, it is natural to resolve to do things differently – this drive was a great opportunity to look back on the month and take stock of how I’ve been doing with the changes I’ve been wanting to make in the new year.  A good friend has property along the route of this drive. At some point on my drive, I thought “camera and snowshoes” – this snowy morning seemed like it would be perfect for exploring the property with camera in hand – zooming in on snowflakes with a macro setting, zooming out to a bank of trees or swath of grasses frosted in the light snow. Alas, no camera or snowshoes on the agenda for the day. (And never mind that I’ve never been snowshoeing – it just seemed like the thing to do.)

After an hour in the car, I came to the sign for “Rocky Shores Pottery” and turned from the dry road onto the snow covered driveway – my tires breaking through the white canvas. Shirley, the potter, was in her studio and we chatted as I picked out a few pieces of pottery for friends. After just a few minutes, I was back in the car & retracing my tire tracks on the snow covered driveway to get back to the road. I waited for some southbound trucks to zoom by and then pulled out onto the road back.

Along the way home, I pulled into a park along the shore. Again, my tire tracks broke the snow. A swing set was snow covered – a reminder of warmer days past and warmer days to come. While I didn’t have my camera with me, I did have the camera on my phone – so I stepped out of the car and each step of my boots crunched through the snow as I stopped to take a few pictures. The water along the shoreline has frozen over but in the distance you could see the sun dancing on open water.

By the time I got back to the hotel, much of the snow had disappeared. Before long, I was back in the car with a friend to spend the day shopping. But for those few hours on a Saturday morning, the stillness of a snowy route provided a tranquil respite from the busyness of the everyday.

When I first started blogging, knitting was a ‘hot topic’ that occupied many of my posts. In recent years, while my knitting skills (& stash) have greatly increased I don’t think I have been knitting quite as much. In 2011, I knit a few things – although most of them have yet to be documented. In the absence of digging into those projects right now, here are a few recent stitches from up north.

For Christmas 2011, I only had one gift knit – an afghan. This was made for dear friends up north that truly are like family. Many a fun hour has been spent with this family – lot of time just hanging out. So, a cozy afghan for the living room. (project details here)

(this quick pic was taken in my hotel suite – hence the clashing with the chair)

I’m ready to start some new knit projects; however, in the interim I have been cranking out my ‘old standby’ dishcloths. A tableau from last Sunday…working on a dishcloth while teaching a young friend to knit (a hot pink scarf)…as we caught up on life & enjoyed frosted mint mochas at a local cafe…a perfect way to spend a winter afternoon…

Wasn’t it just last week that we were opening up the 2011 calendars for a new year? And now, a new year is upon us once again. There is something refreshing about opening a new calendar. Even in this age of e-everything, I look forward to the traditional calendars…on my fridge, a large month-by-month from Dad (this year…Reading Woman); at my desk the Dilbert page-a-day that provides a bit of daily laughter – some days are so spot on; also at work is a small monthly calendar on the wall – last year it served as a countdown to my summer vacation with my sister in Italy; and a weekly planner to track all the little & big things that converge from all corners of life.

As I look at my new weekly planner, I wonder what new adventures will fill the pages in this new year.

Looking back on 2011, while the blogging here at AmyArtisan was minimal the entries in the weekly planner were full & included many things that I couldn’t imagine as I started using my 2011 calendars.

Many of these deserve a post of their own but for now, the highlights…a fantastic Italian adventure with my sister…after 15 years in consulting, a career/job change…sweet times with my girls in Texas…a bit of gardening & canning in the midst of it all…and many lovely moments with family & friends…

In this new year, I think that “a new” will be a common phrase around here…a new job means a new home in the coming months…a new home will mean a new routine (friends, church, etc.)…a new focus on the artisan side of life & a return to blogging.

It has been 6 years since I first hung out the shingle at AmyArtisan…and while there are so many more e-places to compete for time, in the last year I have really missed writing out here. So, as I get started with my new year I look forward to filling the e-pages out here with snippets of the adventure called life in 2012!!