Amy Artisan

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Friendship Circles

What does friendship mean to you? It is defined as:

friend·ship
noun
1. the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person’s friendship.
2. a friendly relation or intimacy.
3. friendly feeling or disposition.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME; OE fréondscipe. See friend, -ship]

—Synonyms 2. harmony, accord, understanding, rapport.

Friends and friendships mean many things to many people. Throughout the years many books have been written about friends and friendship: how-to win friends; memoirs of friendships and novel that focus on friends are just a few of the types.

This is the 100th post here at Amy Artisan. If you’ve read for a while, you know that friends and friendships are an important part of my life. (A few friendship posts.)

The last couple of months have been pretty intense with work – at times I was a bit disconnected with friends. But one thing about great friendships – even if you are disconnected for a while you can pick right up where you left off! It has been great reconnecting with friends over the last couple of weeks.

Circle of Friends
(just a few fun friendship memories from recent years)

To celebrate this blog milestone, it’s time for a bit of a contest. Up for grabs, 4 copies of The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (& maybe a few other goodies). To enter, leave a comment with a favorite friendship memory. All comments on this post received through next Friday (4/20) will be entered into the drawing – names will be drawn when I gather with some girlfriends on Saturday (4/21) for a day of scrapbooking. In addition the 100th post, I’m also nearing a comments milestone – so the milestone commenter will receive a treat as well. (If you’ve been a lurker and never made a comment, now is a good time to say hello.)

Friends can be found anywhere – pals from high school and college days; co-workers; book club gals; church; and new friends made through blogging here at Amy Artisan. Sometimes friendship circles overlap and sometimes you are the only common thread among your circles. I look forward to hearing about your friendship memories!

18 Comments

  1. Wow! I’m first?? The first thought that really came into my mind after “Happy 100th Post!” was about how much I appreciate that YOU have consistently extended your friendship to ME through comments on my blog. A person can only spread themself *so thin* before they can’t read any more blogs or respond to another comment. Yet you have always kept coming back, leaving thoughtful comments, and I’ve thought of you as my friend for quite some time now. Thank yo so much for that Amy. 🙂

    Beautiful beautiful photo collage celebrating your recent connections with friends! xoxox

  2. Speaking of friendships…I’ve already received my own – autographed, no less – copy of the book from my friend Amy Artisan. So, I won’t mess up the “pool” for any other posters.

    Thanks for the friendship memories…those pictured above, those not shown…and those still waiting to be made!

  3. What a cool contest. It really brings us back to the root of it all. Favorite friendship memory: I moved a little less than a year ago and had about 10 people show up to help. Much more than I was expecting. Showing up to help shows how committed you are to a friendship. It was truly appreciated and not something I’ll forget.

  4. Congratulations, Ms Amy Artisan! Yes, you are indeed one of my friends in blogland! Thank you.

    I’ve known my best friend for almost 35 years (yikes!). We were college roommates freshman year, paired alphabetically (what are the odds of that working out?). We were just talking tonight, about some little thing…and because I have known her so well for so long, I understood just what she meant before she explained a thing. We’ve had our ups and downs, but she knows me and I know her, no explanations ever needed.That’s friendship.

  5. Congrats on your 100th post! I’m glad to have gotten to know you over the past year, and that your one of my bloggin buddies.
    I’m having such a hard time finding my favorite friendship memory!
    When Corra started Kindergarten I met a new friend Amanda at the bus stop. Our husbands have never met, and Amanda and I talk on the phone quite a bit. One day her husband asked “are you talking to your wife again?” when Mike asked me “who are you talking to? your wife!” *L* men!

  6. I love this post! Such a great idea.

    I had the worst year of my life in 7th grade. I didn’t quite make the transition to popularity that my other friends did and I was literally left behind in that cruel way girls in junior high have perfected. I had no friends. So needless to say that year was bad. I didn’t want to go to the first day of 8th grade. But on that day, the period before lunch, I met Megan. Megan was funny and pretty and smart and she asked me if I wanted to sit with her at lunch. She became my best friend that year and all through high school. Friends are a powerful force. Megan’s friendship changed and saved me. I love friends.

  7. When I had just gotten my license, our church youth group sold chicken spagetti plate tickets. I was allowed to drive around and sell tickets, but that was it. So, my friend and I sold about 120 tickets that year. 🙂 All we needed was the incentive of getting to drive.

  8. Amy, Amy, you more than surpass the definition of friendship. I treasure you and all of the memories we have made together!

  9. Happy 100th post!!! Here’s to 1,000,000 more!!! I love how friendship is always an important focus of your blog. After all, it’s one of the most important things in life.

    It’s hard to come up with a friendship moment to tell you about. Maybe this one: My best friend Heidi and I have know each other since kindergarten, and we’ve been Official Best Friends since the 6th grade. She’s very into drama and my other pal Dave and I would go see her plays all the time. We’d go to cast parties and she’s say “This is my best friend in the whole world, Karen. And this is her friend Dave.” One day, Dave complained to us that he was tired of always being referred to as “her friend Dave”. LOL He said “I’ve seen tons of Heidi’s plays – can’t I be Heidi’s friend now too??”

  10. Great topic! And one that makes me feel lucky, as I struggle to think of just ONE good friendship moment?

    I’ll just go with a recent one. Had lunch today with two good long-time friends. We hadn’t gotten together in a long time. The conversation was all light and fun, as in the pros and cons of the Beauty Queens on the Amazing Race and which restaurant locally has the best mole. But even just sitting there and looking at these friends-of-decades, and things we’ve been through–personal disasters, medical crises, strained friendships, watching our parents age, all the usual–and still be friends even though we’re all wildly different than we were when we met–speaks very well to the quality of good friendship, I think.

  11. Congrats on the milestone!

    No specific story, but I love how each friendship changes who I am. A small piece of that person becomes part of who I am, too.

  12. Goodness, how can I pick just one? I think my bloggy friendships have been a new thing in the past few years and friendships that I have really valued. You, among others, have been my go to people for knitting reviews, techniques I need help with, a good comment or compliment, or just a fun person to visit with about food, knitting, travel, or whatever! Thanks for keeping up a wonderful blog 🙂

  13. Hi Amy – I won’t join in the contest as I already have a copy of the book, but ’twas me who took your photo with the Yarn Harlot, and I wanted to say how nice it was to meet you and spend time chatting with you in line. Hope to talk with you more in the future 🙂

  14. What a nice theme for a contest! I’ve enjoyed getting to know you through your blog, and meeting other blog friends. I can’t imagine life without you all now! 🙂

    What separates the real friends from just acquaintances for me is your ability to be yourself with them, to show them all sides of your life and not fear that they will judge you. A couple of years ago, I went through a horrible time where my husband was in the hospital, my grandfather was dying, and my work situation was very stressful. There was only one friend I knew I could call and talk with who would take the time to listen and encourage me, and I have never forgotten that kindness. 🙂

  15. One very special friend of mine I have known since we were 4 years old. We have pictures of ourselves together at age 4 in these adorable sunflower ballet recital costumes. We weathered all of the rough years of middle school, high school, and college together, and she now has a child who is almost the same age we were when we first became friends. I totally agree with your comment about how even though you may be disconnected some times, the bond always seems to remain strong with the best of friends. Thanks for inspiring me to reflect on these special relationships!

  16. There are so many! Two that come to mind – I was in the hospital for 12 days in 1993 due to surgery for a pancreatic tumor. There was a nurse who was just there for me. We have exchanged Christmas cards and family pictures since that time. I’m due to see her again next week for lunch! Can’t wait! Another more recent one — Last Spring, I noticed on Yahoo Groups that a knitting group met every Tuesday night at Barnes & Noble in Richmond, VA. I wandered in one night and felt an INSTANT connection to those ladies. They were/are a wonderful group and I’m fortunate to count them as my friends. My favorite friendship quote – “The difference between a good friend and a true friend — When you’re in jail, a good friend will come and bail you out. A true friend will be sitting beside you saying, “Damn, that was fun!!!”‘

  17. Congratulations on your 100th post, my dearest and longest friend!

  18. sounds like you are an excellent cook! i don’t think that meal would be ‘simple’ for me…also, i love your teal bejeweled scarf. i have been interested in trying that yarn for a while.

    btw – i saw you at the ‘no sheep’ event at loopy – but didn’t make it over to say hi before you left. hope to see you soon!

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