Margot /  by jen geigley

This is my new friend, Margot. I know it's March and I should be thinking springier thoughts, but truth is that it's still in the 30s. (And, well ... I know this will keep me warm next winter, too.)
Anyway, I put this pattern together for the party at Knitted Together, and today it's available on Ravelry. I used two skeins of Marisol Ushya in platinum gray, double stranded. This pattern is fantastically easy (but has quite a bit of detail) and I finished knitting mine in less than two hours. I like it a lot, and I hope you will, too.

adventures in FNKC /  by jen geigley

This girl had a fun Friday night at Knitted Together's FNKC (Friday Night Knit Club) Ravelry party. We each got our own Ravelry 'my name is' buttons so we could put screen names together with real life knitters. (I've always wanted one of these buttons! Yes, I am that nerdy!)
There were about 30 knitters who came out to work on their projects (and enjoy the delicious appetizers and desserts.) It was fantastic to meet so many fun ladies and I loved chatting with everyone.
Nancy and Megan prepared an awesome overview of the ins and outs of Ravelry, offering lots of really useful tips and advice. They also shared a list of some of their favorite designers.
And I talked for a bit about how I got started knitting, designing, what inspires me, and the whole craft fair thing. (I am terrible at speaking in front of people, so this totally freaked me out but I survived!)
We also had my newest cowl, 'Margot', on display with the pattern and yarn that I used (gorgeous Mirasol Ushya!) so that anyone who liked it could make their own.
And I've said it before, but these guys are pretty great. Tim and Nancy own Knitted Together and have been so fantastically cool to me ever since the first time I shopped there. I've always been fascinated by how talented these people are. Nancy has an impressive background in publishing and was the senior editor of magazines for Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection, where she wrote Knit It and Simply Creative Crochet. She's a true knitting expert and needle artist and can help you through any snag you might encounter. Tim is a designer and architect; he designed the shop himself! He also knows quite a bit about yarn ... and he's recently taken up knitting, too. Megan (in the middle) manages the store's web and marketing stuff. She has a background in fashion design, previously lived and worked in NYC, plus she's a knitter and a mom to two little boys so I just thought she was amazing right off the bat. 

Thank you, Knitted Together ... for your kindness, for providing the tools and materials we all use to create, for always being open when I want to stop by and pet the yarn for an hour or so, and for the space where knitters can come together. (For knitting us all together!)

Friday Night Knit Club /  by jen geigley

 This is my local yarn shop, Knitted Together. I pretty much love hanging out there.
Walls and walls of color and texture in every fiber content a girl could wish for.
And the owners are super great. Nancy and Tim have always been beyond helpful and friendly, and they're the kind of people who always remember your name. Even Lotus feels at home there, hanging out on the couch while I shop around. (Or chasing me around the store, telling me what colors she thinks I should buy.)  :)
And tonight, Knitted Together is hosting a special Friday Night Knit Club Ravelry party. (This is so exciting!) If you haven't heard of Ravelry, it's sort of like Facebook for knitters/crocheters. It's an enormous, fantastic resource for patterns and project ideas, and it's also a great place to connect with knitters from all over the world.
And okay, so here's the sort of embarrassing part. You might remember that last month, I mentioned that my cowl pattern was the 2nd most popular pattern on Ravelry.
If you come to Friday Night Knit Club tonight, you can meet/come hang out with me as I reveal my newest cowl pattern (pictured above) at Knitted Together, before it's released Ravelry. There will be yarn kits available in several different colors so you can knit your very own. So come out and hang with us, if you can! Email webmail [at] knittedtogether [dot] com to rsvp. They'll have Ravelry buttons so we can all meet the people behind the usernames, and there will be a short Ravelry discussion/q&a for anyone who is new to Ravelry and wants to learn more about how it all works. Sounds cool, huh? It's going to be fun.

Hope you have a great weekend!

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!)