you can help, too /  by jen geigley


I know you have seen the tragic, heart-wrenching footage on tv after the earthquake in Haiti. And lots of you have already made a donation. But if you haven't yet and have been wondering where to send your money, I encourage you to donate to Hands and Feet Project. Hands and Feet is a childrens' village in Jacmel, Haiti that cares for abandoned and orphaned children and was started by the band Audio Adrenaline in 2004. (I know one of the founders of the organization and these are truly amazing people doing everything they can to help babies and children.) The children and organizers at the orphanage have been sleeping outside since their building is damaged, as you can see from the photo above. But these kids are alive and being cared for.

From their Facebook updates ... "the mayor of Jacmel visited the orphanage today and told them of several children who are in the town just sitting on the streets, crying. Their parents were killed, and the mayor is hoping that they can take them in at Hands and Feet. We need to prepare for these new children to join the Hands and Feet family."

They are taking in newly orphaned children this week, and any donation you can make will help these kids. 100% of the funds will go directly to the relief efforts there. You can make a one-time donation here.

life looks like this. /  by jen geigley


Biggest change/upgrade for 2010 for Bo and I? New phones. I know ... this is so not a big deal, but we have joined the 20th Century and now have text messaging. This is major for me since I'm not a huge phone-talker. And Pandora on my phone? Awesome. Texts from Yana and Erin and Vee? Triple awesome.

This guy is looking pretty cool hanging out in my craft room. (2010 Letterpress Calendar by 1Canoe2.)

Just busted out this kit (finally!) from The Dozens. There are so many rad things inside and I can't wait to have a couple of hours to mess around with it.

Washi tape, direct from Tokyo! These are the prettiest colors, I swear. My favorites. (from Origamisan and UGUiSU.)

Best packaging in the universe = Moosejaw.

This week, I tried to make a t-shirt scarf/necklace thing.

Not completely sure how I feel about it yet ... ;)

New project on the needles = Oatmeal Pullover by Jane Richmond. Mine is going to be in the Lion Brand snapdragon/moss color, my fave shade of green.

Best artwork of 2010, by little Lo. She draws and paints faces on every piece of paper I give her, and I want to keep them all.

Cold winter days = adventures in mom's closet.

Watch out, Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Tonight, I'm off to start another sesh of my beginners' knitting class at Ephemera in the East Village. (Just a couple of photos from my last class, taken by the lovely Karen.)

It has been so much fun – serious fun – sending out new knitters into the cold, wintry night. Our last group of girls was such a blast; there was a lot of joking and storytelling going on along with the dropped stitches and first few rows of knitted success. I wouldn't consider myself a teacher at all, but this is more like conversation (with a little bit of instruction) anyway. It's good, and being able to share this hobby is golden.

oh word? /  by jen geigley


Behold ... the beard hat.

I had promised to knit this hat for Bo awhile ago, and I finished it over the weekend.

If you want to make one too, I used this pattern (but be warned ... you may need to improvise and/or read between the lines a little.) My end result isn't bad for a first try, but I had to do a lot of guesswork and I'm going to change things up if I make one of these again. (You can see my notes on Ravelry if you want right here.)

But I think the yarn color is perfect. (I used Lion Brand Wool Ease chunky in walnut.)

And I'm happy to have finished it in time for the annual Brrrr Ride in Febraury. (That's a local bike ride in the snow/ice, if you were wondering. Don't worry ... it usually involves alcohol.)

Quite handsome, in a Nordic awesome kind of way.

the december daily journal your Christmas whateveryoucallit /  by jen geigley


So, really, I've gotta admit ... December was 100% hectic around our house.

I was knitting like a crazy person and hitting up the craft shows nearly every weekend in November and December.

And in my free time, I wanted to do the fun holiday things with my fam that I always like to do ... cookie baking, gingerbread house making, eating, shopping, consuming apple cider and lovely holiday-flavored coffee drinks.

So I kind of almost gave up on doing a Christmas mini book this year ... until I uploaded all the photos that I took (just in case I had time to make one after all.) And found a fast easy way to tackle this project before Christmas memories of '09 became a thing of the past.

So I did it. I grouped my fave photos together in iPhoto. I grabbed a few 8.5x11 sheets of photo paper, and printed out contact sheets (which automatically makes one copy of each photo in a smaller size, so you can fit 12-ish photos per page.) I used scraps of paper that I already had lying around and the cover is a greenroom eco folder I found at Target awhile ago, cut in half.

And in two evenings, I finished my little Christmas book.

While it may sound like I'm bragging here (look at me, I finished my book in two nights and I'm awesome!) I'm really just telling you this so that if you're still wondering if you have time (or the energy) to make your Christmas re-cap book, you can totally do it.

A lot of my pages are just slam bam thank you m'am – found papers + tiny photo with a little bit of writing or a simple caption. It's smaller and more condensed than the books I'd made the two years prior.

But my husband just looked through it with a smile on his face and confirmed that I had nailed the details, recorded the most memorable parts of our Christmas (the five cousin pile up, part deux) and the documented the cutest and most awesome things Lo did and said.

Because I already know that those little things are going to be forgotten someday if I don't write them down now. You know how it goes.

So now that it's January and things have (possibly) calmed down for you too, here's your little nudge. (It's not too late.)

just a start /  by jen geigley


I'm just starting my Journal Your Christmas/December Daily little book now, and this is just the result of a quick throw-together a few nights ago. I don't stress about getting the holidays recorded and I don't freak out if a page turns out looking a little bit lame.

This is all about documentation and while part of me is totally over the holidays, I know that I don't want to let it all go unrecorded (and I know that if I don't tackle it now, I never will!) Ten years from now, I know I'm going to be glad that I wrote about the Zhu-Zhu Pets craze, Lo's Starbucks barista crush, and how she calls her pink recorder a 'flu.' (Yeah, not a flute ... a flu.)