I heart you /  by jen geigley







I loved letting this kid loose with the red paint. Thumbprint + foam heart valentines. (A little fun break from our winter routine of watercolors and play-doh. And making pancakes.)

folded notes + love notes, junior-high style /  by jen geigley


So, I took this pic for the love notes series on Smile and Wave. Remember folding notes like this in 7th grade? I know you all had (or have!) a shoebox of these in your closet. Do you remember how to fold them? Can't quite get it? Never fear – here's a little V-day love note pictorial tutorial to jog your memory.

Version 1:




Version 2:




Hide a special note for someone you're crushing on today, or pack one of these in your kids' lunch box. Try it now ... just for fun. :)

a little bit of sweetness /  by jen geigley


New Dare is up today, and it's a sweet one. We're doing an ode to first crushes ... that first boy who held your hand or called you on the phone or wrote you a note in class. (Awwww.) My page is dedicated to my first big crush in 7th grade. We used to fight for first chair in band (we both played the clarinet) and I liked him because he wore a Jane's Addiction t-shirt and knew the words to "Unbelievable" by E.M.F. (What a heartbreaker.) ;) You can read the whole story here on Rachel's blog, where she's featuring several guest bloggers and their love notes in honor of V-Day. (Thanks, Rach!)

Another sweet thing ... this scarf. I worked on this guy on the plane home from L.A., and I'm super excited to send it off to The Orphan Foundation of America’s Red Scarf Project.

I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick (in cranberry) to knit up this super easy pattern – Super Fast, Ultra Cozy Scarf by Jen Reilly. There's still a little bit of time left if you want to participate in Craft Hope’s Project 6: scarves for foster care teens. The deadline is February 14th!

the big three /  by jen geigley



Baby girl turns three today. She was just laying on my lap last night while drinking her apple juice, staring up into my eyes. Just like she did when she was drinking milk when she was a newborn. Checking me out. (Yup, still here. Still your number one fan.)

I honestly feel like I had a baby one day, and then turned around to find a three year old who can hold a conversation and help me fold the laundry.

Just for the record ...

Favorite songs to sing in the car: the alphabet, Robo Dancing (Money Mark), Nice 'N Clean (Chromeo), Lotus (Cage the Elephant), Fireflies (Owl City), Just Because it's Different Doesn't Mean it's Scary (I'm from Barcelona), Friends in All the Right Places (Manchester), It's Okay, Try Again (The Shins)

Favorite snacks: pretzels + peanut butter, yogurt, cheese

Favorite thing to wear: a dress over jeans, yellow Chucks with a surfboarding cat on them, new Vans slip-ons

Playtime: dress up, dollhouse, playing outside, drawing/coloring/painting with watercolors, play-doh

Favorite tv shows: Ni Hao Kai Lan, Charlie and Lola, Yo Gabba Gabba. (I could add Caillou, but I'm trying to phase the little whiner out of our lineup.)

Beverage of choice: apple juice

Funniest thing said in recent days: "No no no – I'm not emo, mommy. I'm sad."

Potty training: negatory (but making progress)

Naps: optional

Cuteness: on a scale from 1 to 10, she's an 11

the things I saw (or California recap, part 2) /  by jen geigley


CHA in Anaheim looked a lot like this.

We admired all hard work that went into the booths and displays. (I think this was 7Gypsies.)

This cool chandelier caught my eye.

We spotted a lot of globes.

And globes plus paper airplanes.

There was some petting of the Thickers at American Crafts.

We all drooled collectively over the Dear Lizzy line and display.

And talked Instax for a bit.

And we of course love the Hambly.

And Allison!

And the peacock overlays. (This was a fave for all of us.)

And the gorgeous papers. (Don't you wish you could have them all?)

This yellow + gray fabric trim by Pink Paislee had me swooning.

We loved the new lines by Crate Paper.

The colors were just fantastic (and the textures, too.)

But Studio Calico really won my heart.

April was super sweet and friendly and their displays were simple but cool.

(Check out all the rad ways they showed off the great colors and patterns and alphabets.)

And it doesn't hurt that they have downright awesome design/color concepts.

How can you not love everything they do?

But a really exciting moment for me was spotting all of the yarn displays. (o m g)

First up was Bernat.

Check these wicked cool sweaters.

And wraps, shawls, hats, cowls, armwarmers and legwarmers.

And next was the Lion Brand area – if you've seen these photos around the internets, you already know how insane this was!



Everything here was hand-knit. So incredibly cool that these photos really don't do it justice.

I got to see all of their incredible yarns in person, which was so nice, since quite a few of their products are only available online. Like their cashmere and the new gorgeous Amazing yarn (think Noro.) The colors were really impressive in person. Although I still really love my Noro. :)

And last but not least was the brand new Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller line.

(This would be the part where Tina nicknamed me 'Yarn Girl.')

Ummm, wow.

If you aren't familiar with the name Debbie Stoller, you should know that she's the author of the Stitch and Bitch books. A beginning knitters' must-have resource, and the book that really helped make knitting cool again amongst a new generation.

I got to see, squish and pet her three new lines – Full o' Sheep, Bamboo Ewe and Alpaca Love. The colors are divine. (Seriously, especially the colors for the 100% Peruvian wool single ply Full o' Sheep.) And the price can't be beat – each skein is only $4.99.

And that was our CHA experience in a nutshell. It was such a blast to spend the day with equally crafty girls (who totally understood my need to take pictures of yarn and didn't mind me stopping to chat for five minutes with the washi tape guy.) It was a long day for sure, but we loved it.

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!