CraftSanity with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood

Even though work and family obligations kept me from attending her book signings at two west Michigan book stores, I was pleased to get a chance to meet up with Susan B. Anderson both days she was in town. We went to lunch on Wednesday at Marie Catrib's and made a quick stop at a City Knitting, a great yarn Grand Rapids yarn shop. We taped an unconventional CraftSanity interview Thursday at the Grand Rapids Public Library, one of my favorite haunts.

The crazy part of the interview was that I taped it with BOTH my daughters present, which is a CraftSanity first. They're 2 and 3 and therefore not great co-hosts for my show yet. Thankfully, Susan loves kids (she has four of her own) and is a very easy-going knitter. So I gave Abby a cookie to munch on (I seem to bribe Abby with cookies every time Susan visits.) and Susan and I had a fun conversation with a few minor interruptions. Amelia slept in her stroller through the whole thing!

Susan showed Abby and I the adorable reversible toys she designed for a new book project. One was a reversible cat and mouse and the other was a tiger and elephant. So fun! Abby "raced" them across a chair seat while we talked and seemed to really enjoy them. I'm so happy to hear Susan is working on a knitted toy book. Plush toys are all the rage and not just for kids. I know I'm not the only one who had crafted a few toys to put up on the shelf or bring along to work. This is fabulous news.

I'll be editing audio today and hope to wrap get a new show to out before my weekend ends. I'll likely include my chat with Susan as the after show, or possibly post it as a standalone. We'll see how long it is. In the meantime, check out episode 46 to learn more about Susan and her life as a knitter and author.