CraftSanity with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break." - Chinese Proverb

Seven months ago, I didn't have a podcast, blog, or rss feed. But I had an idea in my head. I knew I wanted to connect to creative people and chat with them about their lives and their art and present those conversations to the public. So I started sending out e-mails to people creating interesting things and asked them if they would chat with me for a podcast that didn't exist. Surprisingly, just about all of them agreed.

Six months ago, my husband and I posted episode 1 and I wasn't sure there would be an episode 2.

Two months ago, I interviewed Chicago artist and Red Thread creator Lindsay Obermeyer, a stranger whose work I'd seen in a gallery a few years ago and never expected to meet.

Two weeks ago, I got off my duff and started crocheting a hat to contribute to her project.

Last week I finished my hat and dropped it off.



Last Thursday, I had a great lunch conversation with Lindsay and her assistant Sam. We connected because of art.

Then, last Friday, I walked around a spiral of 700 hats connected to the Red Thread Lindsay knitted, searching for my own.



Several others were doing the same.
I don't know the person who made this hat...



or this one...

But I did meet Caroline Clark, 43, of Grand Rapids, who was walking the circle, too, looking for the four hats she made. The project resonated with each of us for different reasons. For Caroline there were three. She's knitter, a cancer survivor and mother of an adopted child. That Chinese proverb means a lot to her and it was great to hear her story.



To the steady beat of drums, my husband and I put on connected hats, held onto our daughters and danced along with with hundreds of people, mostly strangers, and enjoyed a shared performance art experience. At the end we did the wave and I'm sure it looked ridiculous, but it wasn't about looking cool. I mean, how could it be?


(left) Lindsay, me, Sam



And when it was over, the hats were happily used and scattered about, then gathered up again to be put on display at a local gallery before making their way into the hands of people with cancer. We had fun in those hats and we made them with love in our hearts. May they bring luck and joy to the people who wear them next.

Now that I have my CraftSanity podcast up and running, it's time to join the creative bloggers of the world and contribute what I can to the to the creative landscape.

Above is a picture of the "Knitted Babe" I made during my maternity leave. If you look closely, you'll notice that one of her eyes is bigger than the other. She's imperfect and fabulous. You can make a knitted babe, too. The pattern is in Claire Garland's book "Knitted Babes. " Claire gave me a "Knitted Babe" dress pattern to post when I interviewed her for episode 8. You can can find it on the project's page along with loads of other free project ideas. Enjoy.