and I know it well ... /  by jen geigley


So this is California.


This is Jen + Jamaica.

And these were the first two faces I saw when I got there. I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down when I actually met Jamaica. But I tend to do that. And her lovely friend Casey was so sweet to let me crash at her fab place in Laguna my first night there.

This was our delicious breakfast (of champions) and those are my Swedish pancakes with tons of berries on top.

This is my most excellent 'welcome to California' kit from sweet J.

This is 'the crane.'

And this was taken at The Lab.

Which brings us to the beginning of our adventures in downtown L.A.

And our stay at The Standard.

Which meant picking up Vee. (I jumped up and down when I first saw her, too.) Turning our duo into a group of three.

The rooftop view at The Standard was nothing short of spectacular.





As was the bathroom downstairs, by the photo booth.

(Oh yes! Our hotel had a photo booth.) We spent a lot of time there. But this is what we do.

The lounge/bar downstairs was full of these rad purple couches.

And an organ.


And this amazing yellow 24/7 restaurant.

Jamaica ate Ritz crackers, through the best of times and worst of times.

I danced and/or jumped a lot.

And Vee and I had our first official meal at In-N-Out. (It was really good.) I learned that Jamaica likes her fries extra crispy, and that they use something called 'spread' on their burgers.

The Dares girls (well, half of us) rolled up on CHA. And met the super sweet Elizabeth Kartchner. This is also where we get to hang out with Tina for a whole day.

We talked, we laughed ... we touched paper.

And we even spent a few minutes making something crafty at the Hambly booth with Allison.

But by the end of the day, we were spent. And so over the group photo thing.

So we ended the day with an iChat with Kristi.

Looking at these pics, I can't help but get all mushy and sentimental. These girls are something very special. I knew this trip would be good. And I knew that we'd totally mesh.

But I didn't know how much we would bond. And laugh. Get real. And just talk. We have this common thing of course, through the Dares. Which is a very cool thing. I wake up on Friday mornings (okay, now Wednesdays) and look forward to see how we've each spun the topic du jour; to smile and think about the long-distance craftiness, done separately but together. Hanging out with them in real life for a whole weekend was pretty much the best thing ever. Bordering on sisterhood. And I miss each one of these girls already.


I'm typing this while listening to Skinny Love and Blood Bank. Because the first time I ever heard Bon Iver was in Jamaica's car on the way to LAX on my way home. And that's just one of those things that sticks with you; I knew it would be the permanent soundtrack for this trip. To go right along with mental snapshots of these faces in the car.

double down /  by jen geigley


New Dare is up today!
"I'm addicted to my _________."
Go check out what Jamaica and Gen came up with. (We all coordinate this week!)

And here's my take on the challenge at The Creative Type. We went with neutrals for this one. (And neutrals do not have to be boring.)

Speaking of neutrals, I found some really cool gray yarn in my stash this week and decided to knit a super long cowl for a friend.

I'm calling it the double down cowl. It's long enough to wrap around your head twice. But it's lightweight and not super thick like most of my other cowls.

Then, I found two skeins of this alpaca yarn in pretty raspberry color. If I remember correctly, this was the first 'nice' yarn I ever bought after I learned how to knit. So I made a cute little cabled hat for Lo using the Gingerbread Hat pattern by Angela Whisnant.

I stayed up late a couple of nights working on it, but it was worth it. I think I have enough left over for a cute little matching scarf.

I've been obsessed with crafty books lately (I go in phases with this) and there seems to be so many good ones out there that I want. I picked up the two on the right with a gift card I got for x-mas, and the other is from the library.

But the one I really have been obsessing over ever since Rachel blogged about it is Kid Made Modern by Todd Oldham. I could not remember the title or what the cover looked like for the life of me when I was at the book store last time (and I was a tad distracted by my two-year-old) but next time I head out, I must pick it up.

(It even has a Isamu Noguchi section in there ... !) Thanks, Rachel. :)

Last but not least, I'm participating in Craft Hope's Project 6. They've teamed up with The Orphan Foundation of America’s Red Scarf Project and I'm knitting two red scarves to send to foster care teens through this project. The Orphan Foundation serves thousands of foster teens throughout the U.S. They provide college scholarships, connect them with mentors and internships, send them care packages, and testify for them before Congress. Each year 25,000 students ‘age out’ of the foster care system and the Orphan Foundation is committed to helping them become tomorrow’s successful citizens. They launched the Red Scarf program in 2005 to send red scarves to warm the hearts (and necks) of college bound youth. The scarves can be knitted or crocheted and there is a pattern from Vickie Howell (photo above of her scarf) on the Craft Hope website to help you get started. If you'd like to participate, you can find all of the guidelines, etc. here. The deadline is Valentine's Day, February 14th 2010!

"may every stitch you knit bring you a little closer to that calm, clear space in the center of your soul" /  by jen geigley

...
Some super rad pics with my first knitting class at Ephemera, taken by the most excellent Karen.



Just look at how much they accomplished! (What a super fun group.) Right now, we're mid-session with group number two.

Be sure to check back at Ephemera for their new schedule of upcoming crafty classes. It's absolutely a dream space to be in while you create and work and giggle and learn!

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.)