Amy Artisan

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Category: Reflections (page 5 of 8)

Think Pink

September 21, 2007 / / 4 Comments

Historically, I’ve not been drawn much to the color pink. However, there is one pink that I am consistently drawn to – the pink (ribbon) to support Breast Cancer.

Think Pink!

In recent years I have participated in the American Cancer Society’s annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk as a way to show support. This year the Chicago walk is planned for Sunday, October 21st along the beautiful lakefront.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

This is the third year that I’m joining in the Making Strides walk. In recent years, breast cancer has continued to creep closer and closer into my circle of family & friends.

I walk for my cousin, Ruth. In early 2004, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer and suddenly this disease crept into my family. Since her diagnosis she underwent sucessful treatment options and today is cancer free. I walk to honor Ruth’s courageous battle against this disease. I walk for her husband, Russ, who has been with her every step of the way. I walk for her kids, Nathan and Ellen, who have had to watch their mom in this battle.

I Walk For Ruth

I walk for my college roommate, Kelly. Since our college days, Kelly has had to watch her mom & sister battle breast cancer. I walk for her mother, Janet, who has battled through cancer and had to watch a daughter fight the same battle. I walk for her sister, Kim, who has most recently finished her treatments.

I Walk For Kelly

If you are here in Chicago, I’d love to have you join us for the walk on October 21st. It is a beautiful walk – the trees along the lakefront are normally full of radiant fall colors.

As I walk I will be wearing a pink scarf that I knit this month – each donor name will be attached to a pink ribbon to form a fringe so that each donor will be walking with me. After the walk, this scarf will be donated to a local breast cancer support group.

As a bonus for my blog donors, at the end of the walk, I will draw donor names for a couple of thank you gifts. What are the gifts? Think pink, think yarn.

Thank you for listening to the reasons why I think pink and why I am making strides. Together we can work towards a day when this disease will no longer creep into our circles of family and friends.

Hope starts with you and me!

Sounds of Summer…(& Socks, Too)

September 8, 2007 / / 8 Comments

Hibiscus Bloom

…the buzz of the air conditioner
…the gentle whir of the ceiling fans
…the repeating song of the neighborhood ice cream truck
…this year, cicadas
…ice cubes clinking in a glass of iced tea
…the sprinklers watering the lawns
…the neighborhood kids playing outside till well after dark
…lawnmowers starting
…fireworks being shot off by neighbors
…summer rainstorms – some (or a lot this year) with thunder & lightning

…songs under the stars…

With all of my work travel last summer it seemed like I didn’t hear a lot of the sounds of summer. Being back home in Chicago this summer has meant the opportunity to hear many sounds. In addition to the “routine” sounds of summer, a few summer evenings have been spent at favorite outdoor concert venues.

In June, my all time favorite band, Pink Martini, finally played at Ravinia Festival. (when I first heard them 5 years ago I immediately thought they would be a great act for this fun summertime venue) It was a perfect Chicago summer evening for this concert. Seven of us brought our folding lawn chairs, blankets and all the fixings for a simple picnic spread – while waiting for Pink Martini to take the stage, I did some sock knitting. By the time the first band took the stage the lawn was pretty filled; however, many people left after Arturo Sandoval – all the more room to spread out and enjoy the show.

In July, The Decembrist’s were in town playing with the Grant Park Orchestra at Millennium Park. Rain threatened as we gathered on the lawn to picnic – the first 30 minutes or so ended up being rainy but that didn’t stop the fun. The lawn was packed with concert goers. As the final song was being performed another storm came in so the music was accented with thunder & lightning that only added to the effect. As we headed for the parking garage after the show the sky opened up.

This week allowed for one last summer outing to Millennium Park – The Joffrey Ballet performed to the tunes of The Beach Boys, Motown and Prince. After a teasing rain shower as we headed to the park the evening turned out to be perfect weather for show. I love to watch the lights of the city come alive through the canopy of the Pritzker lawn.

The Joffrey @ Millennium Park
(more pictures here)

As I’ve listened to the sounds of summer I have been knitting away on my “summer socks” that I started back in May. While enjoying the ballet this week I finished up the second sock (actually, all but the Kitchener on the toe but by then it was too dark to do it). These are the 3rd pair of socks that I have made – again using the 2 circular needles method. This time I used size 1 needles and did a 4×2 rib pattern & continued it around the entire foot. I picked up this yarn (ONline Supersocke 100 Summer Color) on my first visit to My Sisters Knits, right after I started blogging, I loved the colors on the skein and as the stripes appeared during the knitting process I loved the colors even more. The colors of these socks remind me of the colors of my pot of portulaca on the back deck.

Summer 2007 Socks

Before long the seasonal soundtrack will change and the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot will become a loud chorus. This fall as I crunch through the leaves I will be wearing handknit socks for the first time – I can’t wait.

Of course, I have another sock on the needles – actually I started it about a month ago. This time, I’m using an “actual” pattern – Ampersand and am loving how the tvyarn is knitting into the sock so far.

MTM Socks

What sounds are “the sounds of Summer 2007” for you?

Summer Scoops!

August 10, 2007 / / 9 Comments

With the summer heat that has invaded Chicago over the last couple of weeks, icy treats are a good way to beat the heat. My favorite these days is iced coffee.

Another favorite summer cooler is ice cream – although I don’t seem to keep it in the freezer a lot these days. Ice cream from the grocery store freezer case is nice, but there is just something much better about ice cream from a fun shop or ice cream that you make.

Not too far from my home is an ice cream stand that is definitely a throwback to a different era. One Saturday this summer I ‘finally’ stopped in to check it out and it was worth the stop. On a hot summer day I thoroughly enjoyed my soft serve cone that had been dipped in butterscotch. Their menu was huge – I went with a standard favorite for this trip instead of something new. As I enjoyed this cone I thought on other favorite scoops from summers past. Grab a few napkins and don’t let the ice cream melt…

When I was in elementary school we would visit my grandparents in Akron, OH during the summer. I remember many a trip to Springfield Lake to play in the water and we would always stop at Strickland’s Frozen Custard on the way home. From then on, any frozen custard treats were always measured against Stricklands. Earlier this summer, Mom & Dad’s road trip included a stop back in Akron – so of course they had to enjoy some custard for old time’s sake. The expression on Dad’s face sums up this delicious treat.

Strickland's Custard

When visiting Harbor Country in the summer season, the weekend isn’t complete without a stop at Oink’s Dutch Treat for ice cream. Our trip this summer included visits on both evenings. (And I saw several other vehicles there on both nights – we weren’t the only ones indulging!)

Ice Cream at Oinks!

Without a doubt, one of my favorite summer scoop memories is the first gelato I had in Florence during my Italy/Greece trip in 2005. After a long time traveling, we finally arrived in Florence around 1AM and were quickly back up & ready to start touring with Rebecca’s school group. After a morning of touring the sites we had some free time and our first stop (before lunch even) was a gelateria that we had seen early on. After Jen, Greg, Rebecca & I ‘finally’ decided on our flavor selections the gal behind the counter was kind enough to take our picture. Throughout the rest of our trip we tried to eat gelato as often as we could; however, I’m not sure that any of them quite compared to the first scoops.

First Gelato in Florence!

Ok, I managed to make it through those frozen treats without a brain freeze or ice cream dribbling from the bottom of the cone. Now it is your turn…

What are some of your favorite summer scoops?

Community in Action

April 29, 2007 / / 9 Comments

On Saturday while out and about running errands just about every intersection was an example of community in action. It was the annual Misericordia/Jelly Belly Candy Days drive – where many volunteers were out collecting donations to support a local community that supports those with special needs. As I drove around the city and up in the northern suburbs, car after car after car after car had a red “I Helped” tag on the mirror or dashboard.

Misericodia Jelly Belly Days

Our book club book this month focused on community as well – Better Off by Eric Brende was his memoir of the 18 months he & his wife spent living within an Anabaptist community. While his focus was giving up technology, the community was an integral part of being able to live with less. This week there was a crash on the Indiana tollway killed several people – including a couple of members of the Amish community. One of the articles I read about the crash showed community in action – as soon as word spread through the community a neighbor arrived to help milk cows, women showed up with food and everyone gathered around a grieving family.

The blog world, especially the knitblog world, is a community of sorts – with many virtual connections. Since starting to blog I have enjoyed participating in a community that comforts by knitting squares for assorted blanket projects. When I saw the Yarn Harlot earlier this month, in addition to her humorous stories I was touched by the details about how Knitters Without Borders has raised over $320,000 in some extremely short timeframes.

In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, Mosaic Yarn in Blacksburg has launch Hokie Healing with the goal of providing knit blankets to the families of the victims and those injured. Through May they are collecting 8″ x 8″ squares in the Hokie colors – orange and maroon. Phyl has a great post offering suggestions for colors and themes. Over 2000 squares are needed to make these blankets come together. (Thanks Robin for posting about this earlier & making me aware of the need!)

Hokie Healing

One of my errands on Saturday was a trip to The Village Knit Whiz to pick up some Hokie color yarns – I came home with 2 beautiful skeins of Araucania Yarns Nature Wool Chunky (colors 104 & 108) yarn and plan to keep knitting squares until the yarn runs out. I don’t know anyone at Virgina Tech; however, when I was in college I was a part of a solar race car team. In June 1994 we were in Indianapolis for a prep/information weekend & I remember the VT team there showing their Hokie pride when it was time to introduce their car name and number. In the spirit of “We are all Hokies” my weekend knitting has been orange & maroon – so far a “Grandma’s Favorite” square & a “Bejeweled” square.

Hokie Knits

How have you seen community in action recently?

Friendship Circles

April 12, 2007 / / 19 Comments

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!

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