CraftSanity Podcast Episode 195: Susan B. Anderson teams with son to launch Barrett Wool Co.

Photos courtesy of Barrett Wool Co.

Sometimes the best love stories are the ones we write with our children.

Often underrated, the parent child bond is an awesome one and it’s lovely to hear the stories about what happens when the kids grow up and leave the nest only to return as trusted friends, collaborators and in some cases – business partners.

On this episode of the podcast we go behind the scenes of Barrett Wool Co., the new yarn business that Susan B. Anderson launched with her son, Evan Anderson in November 2016.

While Susan, 52, has been on the knitting scene for years as a designer, teacher and author of a respectable stack of knitting books, Evan, 25, is a recent business school graduate. He worked as an accountant in cubicle city for a while before he and his mom decided to combine their skills and launch a yarn company based in Madison, Wisconsin.

The new yarn line was well received and their yarn and pattern kits sold out, reaffirming that this new family business was an early success and quitting his day job was the right move for Evan, who now commutes back to his childhood home daily to work with his mom in the basement. To find out when new yarn, patterns and kits are available in the shop, you can subscribe to their newsletter using the window at the very bottom of their homepage.

I interviewed Susan first and then checked in with Evan. While it would have made sense for me to interview them together, this approached set the stage for them to reflect on their relationship and tell the story behind their business in a way that I imagine is slightly different than it would have been if we all had been talking at the same time. Evan credits his mom’s strong fan base with the success of their new yarn company launch and Susan is quick to point out that Evan’s dedication to the day-to-day operation of business makes it run smoothly behind the scenes.

In addition to the podcast, I wrote a story about Barrett Wool Co. for the Craft Industry Alliance Journal that will be published soon. You can check out that publication here.

Here is a ” target=”_blank”>link to Susan’s books:

Itty-Bitty Hats
Itty-Bitty Nursery
Itty-Bitty Toys
Spud & Chloe at the Farm
Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys
Kids’ Knitting Workshop

And here are a links to the previous podcasts I’ve recorded with her:

CraftSanity Episode 46
CraftSanity Episode 64
CraftSanity Episode 108

And if you’re looking for something fun to knit while you listen to the show, check out Susan’s free “Little Hearts” pattern here.

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