CraftSanity with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood

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Are you a multi-tasking knitter who loves to read? Great. So is Kathy Goldner.

Kathy is the founder of Knitting Out Loud, a new company that produces audio knitting books so you can listen to stories about your favorite craft while you click those point sticks.

Tune into this week's episode of CraftSanity to find out how Kathy started this crafty business nearly a year ago and how she finds the talented voices to read these knitting gems.

Also, Kathy was kind enough to let me play clips from five of her audio books during the show, so settle in with a project and let the audio book sampling begin.

Win An Audio Book! Have a favorite knitting book that you'd like to listen to while knitting? Recommend a title for Kathy to make into an audio book and get in the random drawing for an audio copy of "A History of Hand Knitting" by Richard Rutt. To enter, simply copy your post into an e-mail to Jennifer@craftsanity.com. Please include your mailing address in your e-mail so I know where to send your prize if you win. The deadline is Saturday, March 8. Good luck everyone!



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Taking Names: Who do you want to hear from next? Send your comments, guest and show topic suggestions to jennifer@craftsanity.com.

Download the show (you may need to right-click the link)
Listen to show in browser

Subscribe to CraftSanity on iTunes

RSS feed for podcast Dearest Listeners,

It's bitter cold in Grand Rapids today where the mercury is hovering around 4 degrees. Even, Juna, our Alaskan Malamute who loves to nap outside on a snow pile, is hunkered down inside today. It's too cold to go out, so it's a great day to grab your favorite blanket and settle into to a cozy chair and listen to a podcast.

Today, I offer up a great conversation with Samara O'Shea, the wordsmith who writes custom letters for clients over at letterlover.net and the author of "For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing." Samara's approach is wonderful in that she didn't write a straight how-to guide. She mixed in her own letter-writing adventures and really made the book come to life.

So please tune in to find out how this 28-year-old writer made the jump from magazine writing to become a personal letter writer and published author. (You can read more about Samara in the story I wrote about letter writing for The Grand Rapids Press.)

WIN THE BOOK! Be sure to enter this week's contest to win one of two copies of Samara's book. All you have to do is write a letter about what letter writing means to you and send it to my P.O. box (address below) postmarked no later than Feb. 29. I will call upon Samara's letter writing expertise to select the winners. Are you a letter writer? Did you ever receive, or send a letter than changed your life? Send me your story for a chance to win a book and have your letter scanned and published online. Please write: "For the Love of Letters" on the envelope so I know your writing to enter the contest. Please include your e-mail address so we can reach you quickly if we need to.

Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood
CraftSanity Podcast producer
P.O. Box 888192
Grand Rapids, MI 49588-8192

Pen Pal Exchange: And because I've been really enjoying receiving letters lately, I thought I'd start CraftSanity Pen Pal Exchange. So, if you're interested in writing to a fellow listener, e-mail your full name, age, interests, and mailing address and I will attempt to match you with a pen pal with similar interests. Please write "Pen Pal Exchange" in the subject line and send me your response by Feb. 29. Samara and I are going to participate in this exchange and we'd love for you to join us.

Fabric Postcard Swap: Okay, here's one more opportunity to get cool mail. I'm also be hosting a fabric postcard swap. (Visit the blog tomorrow for the instructions on how to make these.) If you'd like to participate, e-mail me your name and address by Feb. 29 and I will match you with a swap partner. Partners will be assigned in early March and the deadline to mail your postcard is March 31. The theme is "Spring" so think flowers and sunshine.

Whew. Okay, I think that's it.

Happy writing everyone!

Cheers!
Jennifer

P.S. In case you're wondering, next week's show will be 100 percent crafty. : )

Support the show! Buy a CraftSanity T-shirt or button.

Taking Names: Who do you want to hear from next? Send your comments, guest and show topic suggestions to jennifer@craftsanity.com.

Betz White is back with a recap of her adventures as an up-and-coming designer and crafter who used her original cupcake pin cushion design as a spring board to a book deal and appearance on The Martha Stewart Show.

Betz has been very busy since I I first interviewed her in the summer of 2006 for CraftSanity episode 24. She's published a book, "Warm Fuzzies, 30 Sweet Felted Projects" and writing a second one. And just last week she got to watch Martha on TV demonstrating her "Heart-felted Scarf" project on the show.

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Tune in this week for a lively chat with Lily Chin, an internationally famous crochet and knitwear designer and champion promoter of both these wonderful art forms.

On this episode of CraftSanity, Lily shares the story of how she got her crafty start and gives us an behind-the-scenes tour of her life as a pattern designer and fashion industry insider. She talks about her experiences crocheting runway pieces for the likes of Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren and Isaac Mizrahi, and even offers her solution for managing a large yarn stash in the Big Apple where abundant yarn storage space is hard to come by.

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This week I'd like to introduce Hilary Seabolt, an inspiring young woman who discovered her felt toy-making talents about two years ago and launched a homemade business called Lilly Bean Market from her home in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Hilary in the attic studio where she creates play food out of wool felt. (She was the subject my weekly craft column published today in The Grand Rapids Press.) Each piece is machine sewn, then embellished with hand-stitching. Hillary ships felt food to shops and customers across the country and abroad. From ham and cheese sandwiches to fish dinners, cookies, cakes and good ol'  PB&J, Hilary has created a collection of 60 items to keep you and your children entertained for hours.

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At long last, I'm back podcasting. Here's an interview I taped with one of my favorite knitters, Susan B. Anderson, when she made a return to trip to Grand Rapids in November.

Susan who hails from Madison, Wis., was in town to promote her latest book "Itty-Bitty Nursery."

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The yarn is expensive and fabulous, the color is exquisite, and the cable pattern is divine. So what's the problem?

Him. He won't wear the damn sweater you spent hours stitching. Every now and then even the most gifted knitters and crocheters find themselves in this seemingly no-win situation.

Realizing this after creating a few items that bombed with her boyfriend, Debbie Stoller has just come out with a new book she hopes will reduce the frustration on both sides when crafty folks make gifts for men.

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This week I'm bringing you a chat with artist and crafter Kristin Roach, 24, of Moline, Illinois. Kristin is the creative force behind the website Craft Leftovers, where she posts free patterns weekly. Tune in to find out how this art major at Northern Illinois University manages to balance school, her job at a yarn shop and her crafty side businesses.

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This week's guest is Sabrina Gschwandtner, author of a "KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects From Knitting's New Wave," a fantastic book that just came out last month. It's a wonderful collection of profiles of 27 interesting knitters, some you've surely heard of and others you'll be glad to learn about.

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Many of you have requested her as a guest and now she's finally here. Settle in for a chat with Amanda Blake Soule, that 31-year-old crafter, blogger, photographer, writer, unschooling mama extraordinaire who documents her creative family life in Portland, Maine on her blog Soule Mama.

Come along on a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to be the "Soule Mama" and hear all about her exciting book-writing adventure.

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Frustrated by the growing list of soldiers dying in the war in Iraq, Anne Landre, 52, of Milwaukee, Wis., decided to pay tribute to growing list of female causalities by stitching each woman's name into a fiber art project.

As the list of fallen soldiers grew, Anne launched the Mother's Day Project and enlisted the help of volunteers, each stitching a single name on a swatch to be returned to her. Anne's plan is to take the names and incorporate them into a traveling tote bag that the stitchers will each get a chance to use as they go about their lives for a week or so. The response was so overwhelming that Anne got enough volunteers to make two tote bags. I got in on the second bag.

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CHICAGO - Women rocked the blogosphere at the BlogHer 2007 conference at Navy Pier and I was glad to be a part of it. There were mommy bloggers, food bloggers, exhibitionist bloggers, weight-loss bloggers, political bloggers and many other blogging enthusiasts numbering in excess of 750. While I find many blogs fascinating, I went to meet the art and craft bloggers, the people who make stuff and write about it. People, well, like me.

The BlogHer organizers gave me the green light to record a panel discussion called: "The Art of Crafts" on Saturday, so I turned it into a special BogHer edition of the CraftSanity podcast.

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Many others have crafted since, but Carol Duvall was among the very first to craft before a live television audience.

One of her hallmarks was her uncanny ability to teach television viewers how to whip up interesting projects using items they could find around the house. From finding creative purposes for the old plastic L'eggs pantyhose "egg" containers and milk cartons to other household goods, Carol never seemed to run out of ideas.

While crafting became Carol's claim to fame during a television career that lasted more than 50 years, that was not her intention.

Tune in this week to hear the story of how a working mom who never aspired to be the "Queen of Crafting" became just that.

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This week we're going to visit the kitchen of soap-making, super mom, Dee Bellini, 44, of Wyoming, Mich. She is a married, mother of five boys who works full-time as a parts manager for a fork lift company. When she's off the clock, Dee is working hard to grow her soap business Bars by Bellini. Like many of us who rush home from our day jobs to work on projects, Dee is pursuing her crafty dream on the side and one day hopes to have a shop where she can sell her handmade soaps, lotions, scrubs, sprays and lip balms.

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The wonderfully inspiring Amy Karol is back to star in another episode of CraftSanity. (She made her debut on episode 27, so be sure to check that out if you missed it.) Amy is still as artistic and crafty as ever, but there have been some major developments since we last heard from her. She just had another baby girl and published her first book, "Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew." Congrats, Amy!

We taped the interview before Amy went into labor, so you'll have to visit her blog for the latest news from the homefront.

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Julie Jersild Roth is a soft spoken woman with big talent. Like Nell, the lovable character she created for her book "Knitting Nell," Roth has a quiet voice.

But listen up, folks, because Julie, 48, of Minneapolis, Minn., has a wonderful story to share. This week, Julie is going to tell us what it's like to be a children's book author and illustrator and even read her book to us.

And in the usual CraftSanity fashion, we talk about a bunch of other stuff, too. Take a little audio stroll with us and get inspired for your next creative project. (And find out how you can win a copy of "Knitting Nell.")

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Tune in this week for a chat with Afya Ibomu, the author of "Get Your Crochet On! Hip Hats & Cool Caps." This 30-something author, certified holistic health counselor, and crochet artist will talk about her book of fabulous patterns and give you the courage to do what yarn snobs define as the unthinkable: crochet with acrylic. Afya will share the story of how she got into crocheting hats and selling them to famous rap stars.

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Annie Mohaupt majored in architecture but found the office setting was not for her. When a friend asked her to share a table at the Renegade Craft Fair, she had a reason to execute that shoe idea she had been kicking around for a while. The shoes were hot sellers and the rest is history. Now, Annie, 31, of Chicago makes shoes full-time. To date she has turned out more than 1,000 pairs of cute and comfortable handmade shoes. (These shoes are so great -- I bought a pair myself).

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Doing her part to get people stitching, Heather Holland-Daly is an up-and-coming cross stitch designer whose unique designs will make you want to grab a hoop and some colorful thread.

With a background in theater, Heather, 40, of Bellville, Ill., has taken an interesting career path from the stage to retail to becoming her own boss as the owner and creator of her very own cross stitch design business.

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Ellen Knudson appreciates the beauty of text on a page. She's a lover of letters and the words they add up to when she make her books the old fashion way with ink and type and a needle and thread.

As a book artist and operator of Crooked Letter Press in Starkville, Miss., Ellen spends quality time with each beautifully constructed book she prints on her beloved letterpress.

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Here's a look at the refashioning projects CraftSanity listeners submitted to get into the drawing for a copy of “Sew Subversive: Down & Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista” by Melissa Alvarado, Melissa Rannels and Hope Meng.

This week’s guest is Betty Christiansen, a 37-year-old freelance writer, editor and knitter living in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. She is the author of an inspiring new book called “Knitting For Peace: Make the World a Better Place Once Stitch at a Time.”

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This week CraftSanity features an interview with Melissa Alvarado and Hope Meng who, along with their friend Melissa Rannels, co-own Stitch Lounge, an urban sewing studio in San Francisco and co-authored the fabulous refashioning book "Sew Subversive: Down & Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista."

Tune in to hear the story of how these three crafty women stitched their way into business and the wonderful world of crafty book publishing.

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Hannah Rogge, 28, of New York City, is a crafty woman with a unique style of her own. With blue hair and nail polish and jewelry fashioned from nuts and bolts from her local hardware store, Hannah isn't afraid to craft outside the box. Tune into this week's podcast for the story of how this Rhode Island School of Design graduate splits her life between her day job designing animated windows and her after-hours craft habit.

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Diets and support meetings didn't work for Janice Taylor. So when she heard a wise voice in her head, she listened to it and turned her obsession with food into an art form. She began making delicious foods the focus of her art instead of her dinner plate. Today she refers to the voice as "Our Lady of Weight Loss," the muse that inspired her to creatively shed 50 pounds and invent a new profession for herself as a weight-loss artist.

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Before Laura Buzard created her own line of Laura Bee Designs handbags and opened a fabulous store and working studio in Seattle, Washington, she was crafty woman with a dream. Now she's a successful business owner specializing in custom designs made from fabrics customers select from her stash.

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"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.