About

Heather is an author, podcaster, designer, mother, speaker, and founder of Crafting-a-Life, Inc. and Crafting-a-Life Books. In everything she does, Heather treats literature and history with serious enthusiasm and a light touch.

Heather’s work revolves around a simple idea: helping people live better lives by sharing knowledge and enjoyment.

Here’s how she does it:

With her podcast, CraftLit^® she has been offering entertaining audiobooks every week since 2006. It's a great way for busy people—like commuters and stay-at-home parents—to enjoy books that they feel they should read but haven’t gotten to yet, all in a friendly format. (Audiobooks-with-Benefits^™)

Through her research on how simple activities like knitting and doodling can boost attention and memory, she has traveled across the country, encouraging everyone from students to military veterans and families with kids who have ADHD to pick up needles or pens to enhance their memory and happiness: Cognitive Anchoring.

With her Grounded: The Seven series (seen in Vogue Knitting, Winter 2013-14), she introduces young adult characters who are smart, independent, and relatable, making them stand out from typical teen stories. Readers of all ages have enjoyed these books, especially the character Rosie and her socks.(GroundedSeries.com, GroundedSeries.com/updates/category/socks/)

With the What Would Madame Defarge Knit? series, Heather brought together a group of talented designers who have created thoughtful essays and beautiful knitting and crochet patterns. She and her publisher, Cooperative Press, have also found a way to support these designers by giving them royalties while producing their work in the U.S.—something rare in the crafting world.