Dinner Was a Lot Different Without You

Hi Knitters,
As I gave my 11-year-old daughter a good morning hug today I told her how much I missed her. Then I asked her if she missed me and she thought for a moment and said, "Dinner was a lot different without you." Isn't that funny? My husband made a mean Hamburger Helper last night and apparently it didn't hit the spot for her. You better believe I am cooking tonight!

Well, I am going to post about my recent travels in bits and pieces this week due to the large amount of good stuff I have to share. If I did this all in one post it would be way too much at one time. I started my week away in the lovely state of Michigan and the wonderful Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood (pictured above with her girls), of the craftsanity podcast and blog fame, was a fun host. We went out for lunch and boy, did we ever have good conversation. Jennifer is smart, witty, cute, cheerful, funny and a talented crafter. She recently started a new weekly crafting column for the Grand Rapids Press called Running with Needles, which you can read online. She genuinely loves crafting of any sort and her passion is obvious. She even picked me up with her beautiful daughters and we headed off to the public library for an interview for her podcast. I loved having her girls with us but it wasn't easy for her to keep Abby, the older sweetheart, occupied while we were talking. Her younger daughter, Amelia, slept peacefully in the stroller. It was pretty funny all of the sounds and chirpings during the interview. I hope she leaves them in. I will keep you posted when she puts up the interview. It's kind of an update from the last longer interview I did with her. Thanks, Jennifer, for squeezing me into your hectic schedule for a couple of days. You made my trip!

The first event I had in Michigan was at Treehouse Books in Holland. If you haven't been to this quaint little shop, run, don't walk! It is straight out of the "You've Got Mail" movie. There are animals and birds, all kinds of books for kids through adults. There was a great turnout for the event, knitters galore! Mothers, daughters, kids, grandmas, teens, even a couple reluctant sons made the event. There was even a non-knitter there who reads this blog and got a book to give as a gift (Hey, Sarah from in the midst of it, she is one of your devotees and found me through you!). I love it. Many of the attendees were at my event last year and came back. I recognized a lot of the faces, which is always fun. There was a cute mom who brought all four of her kids and best of all, there were several new-ish knitters who learned to knit using my books. That is maybe my favorite thing to hear, very satisfying.

One knitter of note at the Treehouse event was the owner of a beautiful knit shop, Lizzie Ann's Wool Co. that is located directly across the street. Her name is Lindy and she is loads of fun. This yarn shop is adorable, sleek, cozy and chock full of wonderful yarn and accessories. She snuck me into her shop later in the evening for a private shopping spree. How fun is that? She is sending me my goods and I will share later, I got some good things. I hope to get back there soon to teach a workshop of some sort at her cozy shop. She is cute, friendly, smart and fun. I think we could cook up something fun together. I'll keep you posted.

I have no pictures from Treehouse Books. Unfortunately, I forgot to have my sweet escort/driver, Mary, snap some shots. We had fun, the host, Amy, was gracious and the knitters were a treat. Thank you for everything, Holland. What a wonderful place.

Jennifer took me to a great newer yarn shop in Grand Rapids called, City Knitting. It is an urban knit shop nestled into the lower level of an older building. It has a great feel and a fairly large space. The owner gave me a t-shirt they had specially designed for their shop and you can purchase it online (check out the link above to get one). It is really cute and clever. I will get a photo of this to show you later, too.
On Thursday I had an event at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids. What a nice crowd of knitters. The set up here is for a much more formal event with a microphone and podium and dramatic lighting. I like to do some simple demonstrations and kind of a show and tell/chat so I spent most of the time right up next to the knitters in the chairs. It was so dark in there I had trouble seeing my stitches, but I tried! This was a kind, inquisitive group, I really enjoyed them all. Most of them brought their knitting, which is always good. I got to meet the Knitting at Knoon designer, Chris de Longpre, so that was a treat. You have all seen her beautiful designs and ads in the backs of knitting magazines for many years. She sells her entire line of patterns at Jimmy Beans Wool so be sure to check those out, you won't be disappointed. She was so sweet to come to the event (it was a drive) and I enjoyed meeting her. She was also working on a beautiful sock which was making me long to sit and knit with her!

Sweet and kind, I enjoyed them all!

I got such a kick out of these women. They attended the event and I could tell they were just so excited about the knitting. They actually work at Schulers and they told the cutest story about waiting for the box of itty-bitty nursery to arrive at the store and screaming with joy when they opened it. Aren't they cute? They came last year, too, pure fun.

This is sweet baby Addison wearing her mother's version of the inca snowflake hat from itty-bitty hats. What a doll! See her paci-clip on her sweater? That needs to be switched to a knitted version immediately! Her mom is really cute herself. She learned to knit from my first book and has fallen in love with knitting. How couldn't you with Addison to knit for? I love the babies and I love the babies in knitted hats! Lots of knitters brought pictures to show me with babies wearing itty-bitty hats throughout the week. I couldn't enjoy anything more than that. Please don't hesitate to bring pictures to share with me. That's what makes all of this so fun, to actually see the babies and kids using the knits.

All in all, Michigan is one of my favorites stops with the gracious people, fun knitters and beautiful locally owned shops. Thank you to everyone for a wonderful knitting time last week. I am appreciative of all of your efforts on my behalf.

best, susie

p.s. Next up, NYC! You are not going to believe some of the happenings here but I have photos to prove it!!!!