I worked with Julie Weisenberger, the founder of Cocoknits, on self-publishing Cocoknits Sweater Workshop and its companion Cocoknits Sweater Workshop Journal. Julie has been designing knitwear, designing and manufacturing knitting tools, and teaching knitting, including her signature Cocoknits Method, for many years, but this was her first experience with bookmaking. I guided her through every aspect of this project, from writing, editing, and scheduling to finding, choosing, and collaborating with a technical editor, photographer, and graphic designer, to researching printers and negotiating pricing. There are currently 37,500 copies in print in English. Cocoknits Sweater Workshop has also been translated into German and Dutch, with more translations on the way.

When Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne approached me about their plans to launch an online magazine and retail site as well as self-publish a companion print publication, I was intrigued. About the print publication, they explained very simply that they wanted me to sign on and produce “beautiful, collectible bundles of inspiration and surprise” to be sold on their site and at brick-and-mortar yarn stores. At that time, we didn’t have a format, a name, or specific ideas about content. We didn’t even know how many of these publications we would produce each year. We launched Modern Daily Knitting Field Guides in the fall of 2017, and we produced 29 issues over the course of seven years.

For this exciting project, I helped KnitPro International, a family-owned manufacturer of needlecraft tools based in Delhi and Jaipur, India, create their very first line of hand-dyed yarns. I traveled to India to work with the experts in their dye house on a palette of 108 semisolid and variegated colors for their inaugural collection of four yarns: Viva, Luna, Flora, and Terra.

Making a Life: The Conversation is a six-part interview series I developed and hosted during the covid pandemic. My goal was to generate lively and inspiring discourse how we can embrace the hands-on way we are meant to live, inhabit it joyfully and proudly, and contribute to positive change in the world. Videos of these events can be watched on the Making a Life You Tube channel.

When Modern Daily Knitting cofounders Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne wanted to write and self-publish a beginning knitting instruction book, Skill Set: Beginning Knitting, they asked me to handle the project from start to finish, which included everything from establishing and managing the schedule and budget; editing all of the text; hiring and supervising the graphic designer, illustrator, technical editor, and proofreader; and gathering and assessing printer bids.

Liza Laird and I spent two years working together on Yoga of Yarn. We began by honing her concept and figuring out how to organize her ideas and then proceeded with every other step of the bookmaking process, including writing, editing, scheduling, budgeting, collaborating with an illustrator and graphic designer, and choosing a printer. Yoga of Yarn has won several awards, including Best First Book from Indie Reader Discover Awards and a Gold Medal in the category of Exercise, Fitness, and Yoga from Living Now Book Awards.

I worked with Story Screen Beacon to create this sold-out, two-day event in Beacon, New York, in winter 2020. It included six feature-length films and 12 shorts as well as a panel discussion, conversation group, and maker’s market. I originated the idea and proposed it to the theater owners, curated the film selection, assisted with promotion (everything from reaching out to media, potential sponsors, and maker groups in the region to hanging posters around town), and introduced all of the films on both days. You can read more about the festival here.

Back in 2012 I was asked to be on the Board of Advisors for the online learning site Creativebug, then a startup. In the years since, the company has been bought and sold several times and is currently owned by the craft retailer JoAnn. In addition serving on the Board of Advisors, I was one of the early teachers on the site. My classes, which are still available, are Beaded Leather Wrap Bracelets, Kool Aid-Dyed Yarns and DIY Kids Knitting Needles (both inspired by projects in my 1998 book Kids Knitting), and Stitch Sampler Baby Blocks (drawn from Knitting for Baby, a book I co-authored with Kristin Nicholas in 2000). Click here to learn more about my classes as well as the hundreds of other Creativebug offerings, which cover all sorts of media, including knitting, crochet, sewing, quilting, paper crafts, pottery, drawing, painting, and much more.

Just after I signed the contract to write Making a Life, Janine Vangool, publisher of Uppercase, invited me to track my journey in the Beginnings column of her magazine. Over the next 2½ years, I wrote essays for ten issues (Numbers 30 through 40). In these essays I explored everything from why I decided to leave a secure, full-time job without knowing what I wanted the next steps in my career to be to how a trip to Oaxaca inspired me to rethink my own cultural roots to the inevitable bouts of insecurity I faced while writing.

During my 12 years at Abrams, I conceptualized, acquired, art directed, and edited craft, creativity, and lifestyle books for my eponymous imprint, publishing 10 – 15 titles annually. I also collaborated with the sales, marketing and publicity departments to develop and implement strategies to market and publicize the imprint and our books; launched an e-book program; developed and maintained relationships with authors, agents, packagers, foreign publishers, photographers, graphic designers, and freelance editors; and represented the imprint in the media and at events throughout the country. Click here to see a sampling of our titles.