music for your friday /  by jen geigley

A few weeks ago, I made a mix for my friend Laura's mixtape exchange. I never got one back from the person who was supposed to send me one, but I don't mind because making your own is quite fun.
Anyway, thought I'd share ... in case you needed some music to get your brain going today. Hope your Friday is pretty great!

music for your friday /  by jen geigley

A few weeks ago, I made a mix for my friend Laura's mixtape exchange. I never got one back from the person who was supposed to send me one, but I don't mind because making your own is quite fun.
Anyway, thought I'd share ... in case you needed some music to get your brain going today. Hope your Friday is pretty great!

welcome to the dungeon /  by jen geigley

New Dare is up! This week, we posted pics of our individual work spaces. The places where we make stuff.
It's kind of fascinating (I think) to see where your friends hang out and work on things, espesh when your friends live far, far away. My little work room is in our basement and it's home to my yarn stash, a super ancient Mac, paints, sewing machine, magazines, books, fabric, paper ... everything. I trash it and then clean it up. Over and over again. It's my hideout where I can stay up late and work without disturbing the rest of the household with my music and/or crafty noise-making. It's also a crazy conglomeration of the weirdest reject furniture from the rest of our house ... college dorm style.

Where do you hang out to work ... or play? (I showed you mine, now show me yours.)

crochet a rainbow /  by jen geigley

You may remember me talking about Sarah London's Crochet a Rainbow project last month after the devastating floods in Australia. Sarah is collecting granny squares from crocheters all over the world and joining them to make blankets for families affected by the floods as they begin to rebuild their lives. (And I know, I know ... I'm a knitter. But I do know how to crochet grannies. They're a great way to get my color fix.)
So I finally got around to making some grannies and sent them off to Sarah last week. I decided to use Stitch Nation's Full O'Sheep yarn, which is 100% wool and comes in several awesomely bright colors.
And then, I made a couple more squares. Because I discovered that they would make awesome 'afghans' for the beds in Lo's doll house.
(I mean ... this is kind of brilliant, right?) Anyway, there's still plenty of time to participate in Crochet a Rainbow. Find all of the information right here.

all you need is love ... /  by jen geigley

This is kind of how V-day looked around our house. My mother-in-law found us this awesome mid-century tiered serving tray. (Such a cool Valentine for Bo and I!)
And my friend Beth made us these amazing cookies. She's seriously talented. Look at the teeny-tiny heart cookies! (If you're local, let me know if you ever need some rad cookies for a party or what-have-you. I can hook you up with her info.)
 There were all kinds of hand-made Valentines from the kid.
 Pretty roses for us girls.
 High-flying adventures into Lo's new Sumo that we got her for her birthday.
(Our whole family is getting quite a bit of use out of this thing.)
Colorful puzzles from grandma.
And we even squeezed in a much-needed date night for us. Keeping it real. And simple. And showing the love to each other every day, as best we can.

andy knows best /  by jen geigley

Hey hey! My friend Stephanie from livingroomfloor has some pretty rad new art prints in her shop. And it's your lucky day – just leave a comment here for a chance to win your very own print of this Warhol quote. Printed in mustard yellow with reverse white text on 100# matte stock. (I'll be picking a winner on Friday, Feb. 18th. Good luck!)

for the love of Malabrigo /  by jen geigley

 You know how it goes. You get a couple of insanely cool hand-dyed super soft hanks of Malabrigo that look something like this.
 Wind them into a ball like this.
And then you have to pick out and knit the most perfect cowl pattern, like this. 
Which is the Honey Cowl by Ann Maria for Madelinetosh. Which you probably already have figured out by now, as it's quite popular. I used two skeins of Malabrigo worsted merino in Mariposa. I hung onto this colorway for a million years because I loved it so much.
I made the longer version (using two skeins) that can be worn long or doubled up and wrapped around your neck twice. I kind of love it.
And then, I had to make something out of the other skein I had been holding onto for far too long; this cowl was made out of Malabrigo chunky in this crazy Brillante colorway that I just drooled over when I first saw it. I am a huge sucker for the weird colors!
So I knitted up this quick and easy Delores Park cowl by Parikha Mehta while we watched 'Inception' last night and wow, I just might keep going. Spring is almost here and I need to bust out a few more projects before, you know, it's July and I'll be hanging poolside or something. (Oooh, that sounds nice!) So, what's on your needles right now?

Valentimes /  by jen geigley

We've been hard at work making 'Valentimes' this past week for this kid's preschool pals. I was surprised at how particular she was about the colors she picked for girls vs. boys in her class. I tried to tell her that it didn't really matter, but she had some pretty strong opinions about her color choices. Especially when it came to a special boy (or three) in her class. Which brought back all sorts of fun memories from simpler times (okay, the 80s) when I was in elementary school.
You know, when handfuls of unwrapped candy conversation hearts could be thrown in a Valentine envelope with wild abandon. Although you'd make sure to read them first if you were giving them to a boy because it would be embarrassing if they got one that said something like 'my cutie' or 'luv you.' (Ewww, boys.) So you'd pick out the more neutral ones to give them so they wouldn't think you liked them. Even if you really did. The 80s equivalent of today's 'LOL' or 'email me.' Ahhhh, young love. (Apparently it can start in preschool.) Happy hearts day.  <3

ORK des moines /  by jen geigley

Today, you can get your very own Des Moines neighborhood Ork poster as Raygun brings Ork to D.M. on a Legendary Tour of Iowa. (You know that Bo and I are both graphic designers. And maps + typography = heaven, right? So you know we're all over this.)

 (Ummm, this is awesome.)
So, Lo and I stopped by today to snag a Des Moines print (and a t-shirt, too. Because why not.) Our adorable pal Lucy was at Raygun today, which made our shopping experience even more lovely. Lucy is the best.
And I even got to hang out for a bit with Jenny from Ork, who was super cool to talk with. I had no idea she was an Iowa native. (She grew up in Bettendorf!)
Raygun is printing Des Moines shirts while you wait today, so stop in and pick your color, like I did. They also have lots of other city neighborhood posters to pick from, along with Ork's awesome heart print. (Perfect for V-day.)
Ork will be at Raygun until 7:00 p.m. tonight so make sure you don't miss this! Word is that some of the prints available there will be for sale online after the event, if you can't make it. (But if you can stop by, you most definitely should!)

Happy Friday.  :)