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Volume II

January 1, 2007 / / 9 Comments

Happy New Year Everyone!

It has been one year since I started blogging here at Amy Artisan. I “discovered” the world of knit blogging in October 2005 – there was an article in The NY Times that talked about Major Knitter – I visited her blog and started clicking on her links to other knit blogs. I was hooked and decided that I wanted “a blog of my own.” Throughout the fall of 2005 I continued to read blogs and started researching the best way for me to blog. In November I claimed my URL.

Looking through this year in the blog here are some of the highlights:

  • The Knitting Olympics were a fun way to join the knit community in working on a personal challenge within a deadline. In 2007 I plan to knit another Capri shawl – looking at the currrent one I see several holes that I really shouldn’t have let remain in the project. I also enjoyed sharing the story of the Needlepoint Olympics that I grew up with – that entry was how I shared my blog with my parents.
  • Lolly’s Project Spectrum has had me looking at colors in a new way – in my knitting, in nature and all around. I look forward to what Project Spectrum 2.0 will hold in 2007.
  • Knitting for Others…In addition to knitting for family, friends & myself I have really enjoyed the opportunity to knit for others (Comforting Jef, Warming Grace, Papa’s Quilt, Comforting Jenn). In the coming year I look forward to more knitting for others.
  • We all remember our childhood books! The post that had the most comments was D.E.A.R. on Beverly Cleary’s birthday. In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing another childhood read memory & asking you to share yours as well.
  • Even though work had me on the road for a good part of the year I knit quite a bit! I think I knit more items this year than in all my previous knitting years combined. While I still haven’t conquered socks yet (a definite goal for 2007), I knit quite a variety of things: several scarves (5), a hat, 2 shawls, a poncho, lots of dishcloths(15+), wrist warmers, first forays into felting (clutch purse & several bowls), baby bibs (3), a lap blanket, a couple of baby blankets, the iPocket and Travel Pocket (small forays into designing), and a small forest of knit Christmas trees(6). The vast majority of these knits have been gifted to others – very few have remained with me.
  • In 2006 I also participated in the knit community - in person. Meeting Debbie Stoller at Arcadia Knitting, visiting several “new to me” yarn shops, Stitches Midwest (& meeting a swap pal), a yarn swap at Arcadia & meeting a couple of local knit bloggers, Bonnie Marie’s trunk show at Arcadia.

I’m normally don’t do a lot of the memes that make the rounds; however, this one was a fun walk through the past year. Here are the first sentences from each month of 2006:

  • January: Welcome to my latest endeavor…the Amy Artisan Blog!
  • February: Baa, baa, black red, white & pink sheep have you any wool?
  • March: (First I will divert your attention from the fact that I haven’t been able to start on my Project Spectrum Red & Pink items by sharing a picture of a stargazer lily that I took last summer when visiting a tulip farm in Holland, MI.)
  • April: As we move into the celebration of all things Orange & Yellow during Project Spectrum: April I thought I would share a mosaic of some orange & yellow Dale Chihuly glass from the exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in 2004.
  • May: The weekend road trip to Ohio was a lot of fun.
  • June: …46 hours to be exact – that’s the elapsed time between when the cab dropped me off on Friday evening & when the cab will pick me up on Sunday evening to head back to the airport.
  • July: Wishing you a safe & happy July 4th holiday!
  • August: While browsing through The New York Times yesterday one of the top articles I saw was about a favorite Southern California summertime event – the tableau vivant that is Pageant of the Masters.
  • September: Contrary to popular belief, I haven’t quite fallen off the face of the earth.
  • October: As my recent lack of blogging has shown, I’ve been pretty close to “lost in my work” here in Chattanooga since early August.
  • November: When Miss Butterfly lived in Chicago, we had a fall tradition of going to Didier Farms to get pumpkins and apples.
  • December: This was the knit project I took home to GA with me over Thanksgiving.

Looking ahead to this new year I have lots of Artisan things that I’d like to accomplish & I look forward to sharing them with you via this blog. Thanks for reading my insights into my artistic endeavors and other things this past year!!

These Hands

December 31, 2006 / / 9 Comments

The stories they could tell throughout the years.

In high school they excelled at typing and shorthand – skills that led her to secretarial work – in a law office, for the California Highway Patrol, in the guidance counselor’s office at Mom’s high school.

During World War II, as a young bride they wrote letters to my grandfather when he was a Navy Seabee in the Pacific.

They learned to knit at a Sear’s class with her neighbor and best friend, Velma.

They knit and crocheted incredible items for everyone in the family.

They tended her backyard garden – strawberries, raspberries, spinach, the huge avocado tree…

In 1997, they taught me to knit.

In 1999, they learned to use email as a way to communicate with family and friends as an alternative to her faithful letter writing.

These days her hands aren’t nearly as busy as they used to be. They can often be found petting the kitties.

These days her hands are rather Fetching, don’t you think?

What do you give a 92 year old Grandma who doesn’t need much these days? Some rather fetching handwarmers to keep warm the hands that have done so much for so many.

This was a last minute knit decision – so much fun! More of these will be knit for me & others in the near future. This pair – Koigu Kersti from the stash. The colors seem vintage to me – a great choice for a great lady!

 

Home & Handknits for the Holidays

December 29, 2006 / / 4 Comments

I hope that each of you had a lovely time celebrating the holidays with those near and dear to you. I was able to enjoy a week at home in the ‘Ville with the family.

If you had asked me 5 weeks ago what my Holiday Handknits would be this year I would have said “1 gift.” By the time that Christmas rolled around, it turned out that I had many more handknits to gift.

As I mentioned earlier, I knit several Christmas trees while at home for Thanksgiving. I also finished up a 6th tree that was gifted to family friends on Christmas Eve. In addition to my own “mantel forest” that I’d like to knit before next Christmas, I’ve had several other requests from Mom & Dad for trees to gift next year. Stay tuned.

In addition to the trees, here are the other handknits that I gifted this year.

First up, the “secret knit” that I worked on starting in August. Earlier this year, when my Dad & I were in the yarn aisle at JoAnn ETC he jokingly gave me a not so subtle hint about wanting a knit scarf. Now he has an Artisan scarf. I bought this yarn at Stitches Midwest – Brooks Farm Limited Edition Sock Yarn. The pattern is the “broken rib” pattern from the Knitting to Go deck (& sent to me by Judy for the Vacation Knitting Swap earlier this year) on size 9 needles. This was the perfect project for my plane commuting to/from Chattanooga. The colors of this yarn are gorgeous – blues, greens, browns – it goes great with many of Dad’s coats and jackets.

Dad's Scarf

Next up, the first installment of the “Artisan Dishcloth of the Month” club for Mom and Rebecca. Each month in 2007 they will get a new dishcloth from me. These are “grandma’s favorite” in the Sugar’n Cream Mistletoe colorway. The second dishcloth was knit (start to finish) at the Chicago airport last Thursday when the flight was delayed because of rain and fog.

Christmas Dishcloths

The “last minute” knit that I alluded to earlier was indeed a pair of Fetching gloves for my Grandma. (Stay tuned for a longer post on them…)

Additionally, a couple of my felted bowls were gifted.

On the receiving end of gift giving, I received 2 great items that will help with Artisan Knitting in the coming year: a swift and the One Skein Wonders book. Thanks Grandma!

Christmas at home with the family was a lot of fun. Our traditional Christmas Eve movie was on the 23rd this year – Night at the Museum was delightful. After church, on Christmas Eve family friends came over for a yummy dinner, gift exchange & a “newer” tradition of watching The Vicar of Dibley Christmas Lunch episode. Later in the evening we watched It’s A Wonderful Life as we always do on Christmas Eve evening. Christmas Day was lovely – when we first get up we open our Christmas stockings (which are all needlepoints from Artisan Dad) and then enjoy breakfast before opening the gifts under the tree. After delicious homemade cinnamon rolls and peppermint coffee the gift opening began. We don’t open the gifts as a free for all – rather, Dad hands out the gifts & only one of us opens a gift at a time. I think the gift givers are as excited to see the reactions to gifts as the gift receivers are to open the gifts.

The day after Christmas was a day trip up to Chattanooga to visit friends from my 6 month project there earlier this year.

While at home I also taught one of Rebecca’s friends how to knit. A couple of hours one morning and Sheila was well on her way to making a “grandma’s favorite” dishcloth. Sheila is the 3rd person that I have taught to knit – as I was teaching her I was very aware of “what” I was doing with each step of the dishcloth. Sheila is so crafty so she picked this up rather quickly.

As 2006 winds down and 2007 begins I’m looking forward to a couple of days of reading, knitting and cooking – some of my favorite things that seemed to be in short supply for a lot of this year.

Weaving In the Ends

December 22, 2006 / / 5 Comments

Just like every knit project has the “final ends” that need to be woven in before the project is complete – this post is a bit of the knit bits that I’ve been meaning to mention & wanted to post about before the holidays get in full swing.

Bejeweled KAL

After you are finished with your holiday knitting, how about starting off 2007 with a little bit of lace? Lolly is hosting a Bejeweled KAL for Shobhana’s lovely little scarf pattern. Go purchase the pattern by the end of the year & she will donate her profits towards the shipping costs associated with the Dulaan knitting project.

I have several yarns in the stash that would look lovely with this pattern & I will be casting on for the scarf after the holidays.

ISE – Victoria in Canada knit me a lovely scarf for the International Scarf Exchange. This is a lovely, dense scarf knit in one of my favorite color combinations – chocolate & turquoise. Thanks Victoria for a great scarf that will be used in the winter months ahead.

ChicKnits Patterns – Bonnie Marie is launching a hard copy version of her lovely knit patterns. On Dec. 10th, Arcadia Knitting hosted a trunk show to celebrate the launch. Most of her knits were on display and she also led a seminar on how to get the right measurements. While I’m not yet ready to tackle one of her beautiful sweater patterns, I did pick up the felted bucket hat pattern and a black tweed yarn to knit it up in the new year.


Comforting Jenn – A belated picture of the square I knit for Cathy’s Comforting Jenn blanket. A dusty sage & dusty mauve superwash held together & knit into a “Grandma’s favorite” square.

One Skein – I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I was working on some felted bowls from the One Skein book. The first batch were knit with Lamb’s Pride Bulky or 2 strands of Cascade 220 on size 15 needles. I think they need felted a bit more.

The second batch were knit with the wonderful private label yarn from Sit’n Knit over in New Buffalo. These were knit on size 10.5 needles. I love how they turned out & will definitely be making more of them with this yarn.

It was fun to look around the house to find assorted bowls to shape these against – I have some ideas for the next batch.

A Last Minute Knit – Because I didn’t have enough to do to get ready for the holidays…I’ve decided on a last minute knit gift. Thankfully it’s a fast knit and I’m loving it! I’ll reveal more after it has been gifted.

‘Tis the Season – Finally – a bit of holiday fun. If you haven’t done so already, go check out Purl’s Radio WKNP – the 12 days of Knit-Mas – yarn inspired versions of your favorite holiday songs.

A Cup of Christmas Tea

December 18, 2006 / / 10 Comments

Christmas Tea

With all of my business travel this year I have been fairly disconnected from my girlfriends here in Chicago. On Sunday afternoon I was able to catch up with a lot of them – over a cup of Christmas tea.

As I’ve mentioned before, I find the act of afternoon tea to be a lovely “timeout” from the rest of life and this was no exception. Until this weekend, most of December had been filled with work – including trips to the client site in WI. But once this past week wrapped up I had passed a large milestone on the current project and could turn my attention to things Christmas-y.

First up, a holiday tea. Among the many things that my Mom taught me was the art of simple hospitality and entertaining. As I was pulling everything together I thought of the many times I was in the kitchen helping Mom get ready for gatherings at home. Given my recent schedule, I knew the menu would contain more store bought goodies than I would normally include. However, I did find time this weekend to make several treats – all were simple recipes.

On the menu: Sugared Cranberries; Peppermint Truffles; Mom’s Sausage & Cheese Biscuits; Cran-Pumpkin Mini-Muffins; Ham & Turkey Roll-ups; Cucumber Sandwiches; Amish Friendship Bread (Thanks for bringing it Michele!); Mini-Quiches, Pastries & Cookies from Costco; An assortment of yummy teas.

As everyone arrived and introductions were made for those who didn’t know each other we were gathered around “the spread” in the dining room. Once everyone had loaded up their plates and customized their tea to their liking we moved to the living room where we enjoyed several hours of chatting with each other surrounded by the light of the Christmas tree, the nativity mantel and other Christmas decorations. It was so much fun to see friends who didn’t know each other before yesterday find commonalities and have fun conversation.

As we wrapped up the afternoon we all agreed that this was a great timeout from the hustle and bustle that can consume the holiday season. For me, it was a wonderful chance to reconnect with dear friends who make Chicago “home” for me.

Next up, getting the Christmas cards in the mail, a few packages to ship to their destinations and pulling together everything to head home to the ‘Ville for Christmas later this week.

As you are in the midst of your own holiday preparations I hope you are able to find the time to take a “timeout” and connect with the people near and dear to you.

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