new pattern: super bulky newborn hat /  by jen geigley

You may remember a set of four tiny little newborn hats I knitted for Bowie last winter, right after he was born. I used super-bulky yarn leftovers and they were so easy and quick to make. Not to mention tiny and cute. It took me a few months, but I finally wrote out the pattern. You can check it out on Ravelry, right here.
If you're looking for a super basic newborn hat pattern to knit up for someone tiny and new in your life, this is it. I'm pretty sure that each of these took me about 15 minutes to knit. Included are instructions for the top-knot, but you can also leave your hat plain or add a pom-pom. These are perfect baby shower or new baby gifts, and they'd also be great for newborn portrait sessions. Make one ... or make a bunch!

the bento drawer /  by jen geigley

After the recent remodel of our kitchen, I decided that I wanted to designate an entire drawer to the bento stash. Because the bento stash had grown a little out of control. But I wanted to use this stuff more. I needed to keep it all in one place to keep all of the tiny pieces together. Easy access. I wasn't about to store all of this stuff in random plastic containers high up in my cupboards, where they had been stashed before. I'm sure there's nothing more entertaining than watching me teeter on a chair, reaching to the top shelf just to have an avalanche of six plastic Glad-lock containers bounce off my head. But yeah.
Everything is in a messy, unorganized state at the moment but this has been so nice. Even when it's messy, it's so much more convenient. It's become the kid catch-all drawer. To break it down, in case you're interested, here are my most-used must-have bento supplies.

1. Rabbit hard-boiled egg shaper and rice shapers. Small silicone cups and containers. Silicone baran (food separators.)

2. Another hard-boiled egg shaper (bear) and tiny sauce containers, which are great for ketchup or soy sauce or what-have-you. Food picks. I love food picks and use them a ton.

3. Baby spoons for Bowie. Two enclosed lunchbox utensil sets that hold a fork and spoon. And the rounded oval things are hotdog shapers. They are crazy. You can find them here.

4. More baran sheets and a small nautical deco cutter set.

5. Spoons. A plastic dog. A weird straw. But it's supposed to be just spoons.

6. Forks. Usually, just forks. I think someone helped me unload the dishwasher and the spoons and forks got all mixed together.  :)

7. Silicone pancake molds. Three small sandwich shapers. And a couple of bread imprint stamp things. (That yellow one says 'smile!')

8. Metal cookie/food cutters.

I love seeing other people's bento collections and how they organize everything. How do you do it?

hey hey, Market Day! /  by jen geigley

If you live in Des Moines, you have most likely heard about a little craft fair called Market Day. It's anything but little, really. And if you've never been, it's one of those things that you really need to see for yourself. There's handmade and vintage of all kinds, always changing and evolving. I've been taking a little break from working the craft fair circuit this year, but Market Day will be the one exception to my 'little break.' Fall is coming and I'm getting all of my yarn lined up to knit some new nifty things to sell in September and October.
I was looking through some old photos (like the one above) and realized that this fall will mark the fourth year I've been selling goods at Market Day. Four years! I know this because I signed up to vend at the very first show. And excuse the cheese, but what a ride it's been. I started out with a tiny 36" card table full of brightly colored hand-knit baby shoes. From there, I sold other knitted things. Some paintings. T-shirts. And I'm not even sure what else. (Photo cred: Anna Jones.)
It was the first time I had ever vended solo, without sharing a booth with my friend Erin. We had each grown. (And we needed our own booths!) It was experimental and fun. It helped me find my 'thing.' And gain enough confidence to do Renegade in Chicago. I've made so many crafty friends and shared many a Saturday morning and afternoon chatting with Market Day makers and shoppers. It's a very cool thing to be a part of. So if you haven't been ... you should go. You're going to like what you see. The next event will be held on Saturday, August 4th, from 8am-1pm at 400 Walnut Street in downtown Des Moines. Check out all the info here.

pinned it + made it: teacher gift /  by jen geigley

Wow, it feels so nice to finish up a quick project! If anything is going to get done around here, it has to be quick. And I found some cute tiny succulents on sale at Walgreens of all places. Perfect.
Neon-dipped succulent pots. See the complete how-to at Armelle. (Although we skipped the masking tape step and just free-handed it.) This little guy is going to be a first-day-of-school gift for Lo's kindergarten teacher. Quick! Dip yourself some clay pots. So simple and your kids can help.

kid made modern: tape + book project /  by jen geigley

I just about flipped when I first saw all of the Kid Made Modern kits and art supplies at Target. (Did you, too?) I'm a big Todd Oldham fan. Also a huge fan of this book. And I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of this stuff.
Lo was super excited about the Diary Kit in particular, and I was stoked about the colorful paper tape. Amongst other things.
The diary kit is fantastic, by the way. It includes these great stamps and stamp pad, sticker sheets, markers, classic diary-style multi-colored pen, and of course, the diary itself. (That pen. I totally had one in junior high. Wrote all of my most important notes with it!) The solid tape set comes with 9 different colors. And we decided to cover the diary with the tape! This was tons of fun. Kids love tape. (Umm, I love tape.)
Word. It turned out so cool. This was such a great activity for us to work on when we were stuck indoors during the endless heat advisory we experienced last week. And I definitely want to do more crafts like this during our last days of summer vacation. Go pick up some of these great sets at Target! We're already working on something new with the Charlie Harper wooden bird set. So. Cool.

kid made modern: tape + book project /  by jen geigley

I just about flipped when I first saw all of the Kid Made Modern kits and art supplies at Target. (Did you, too?) I'm a big Todd Oldham fan. Also a huge fan of this book. And I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of this stuff.

Lo was super excited about the Diary Kit in particular, and I was stoked about the colorful paper tape. Amongst other things.
The diary kit is fantastic, by the way. It includes these great stamps and stamp pad, sticker sheets, markers, classic diary-style multi-colored pen, and of course, the diary itself. (That pen. I totally had one in junior high. Wrote all of my most important notes with it!) The solid tape set comes with 9 different colors. And we decided to cover the diary with the tape! This was tons of fun. Kids love tape. (Umm, I love tape.)
Word. It turned out so cool. This was such a great activity for us to work on when we were stuck indoors during the endless heat advisory we experienced last week. And I definitely want to do more crafts like this during our last days of summer vacation. Go pick up some of these great sets at Target! We're already working on something new with the Charlie Harper wooden bird set. So. Cool.

kindergarten: the lunch /  by jen geigley

Is anyone else out there sending a Kindergartener out into the world this fall? I've been spending this summer trying to prepare Lo as best I can for her first year of elementary, and our biggest focus has been on independence. I admit it: she's my first kid, and I may be guilty of babying her a tiny bit. Opening containers for her, cleaning up after her ... I'm always there to help. And so I do. Probably too much. I'm trying to learn to step back and let her do her thing.

And then it hits me. OMG. She has to survive an entire school day without me.

Academically and socially, Lo is ready. But there were a few things I decided we might need to practice before she went off to school to ease any first-day stress.
One of those things is lunch. Yes, we're practicing how to do lunch. And that might sound silly, but stick with me here because we learned some good stuff. I'm super guilty of the whole 'let me help you with that' thing. And I plan on using a bunch of different plastic bento boxes to pack her lunches. I had no idea if she could open all of the lids without assistance, so this was our chance to practice. (Good thing we did, because I discovered that the containers in this awesome Skip Hop bento mealtime set are super hard to open. Even for me! Bummer.)
I made it into a game, because I figured she'd be down with playing 'school.' I prepare a lunch and water bottle for her, pack up her lunchbox and put everything inside her backpack. Then I pretend to be her teacher and ask her to find her lunch in her cubby and bring it to the table in our 'lunchroom.' And then, I'm totally hands-off. She has to unzip and open every container by herself, and when she's finished, I ask her to (neatly) pack up whatever is left over into her lunchbox and zip it into her backpack. I also set a timer for 30 minutes. My kid is a painfully slow eater, and at home we let her graze. It's time to learn about time management!  :)
This little lunch game also gives me a chance to check my portions. She ate everything today and said she was full. This is good. I plan to send her Klean Kanteen bottle with water every day this year. Occasionally, we'll do juice or milk, but water is great. I will fill the bottle with ice cubes in the morning so it will stay cold until lunch time.
This is also great lunch-prep practice for me. I learned my bento-packing skills from my friend Wendy. I've read her blog for years and have taken lots of mental notes. For instance, I know that you can fit quite a bit of food in a pretty small container, and it's good to pack it nice and full and use extra bits of food to fill in the spaces so food doesn't shift during transport.
My favorite boxes to use are the smallish ones that are sandwich-shaped, and sometimes I'll add in another smaller container of fruit or carrot sticks or cheese/crackers. I also really like the small-sized bento boxes with two hinged side clips, like this one. They're easy for kids to open and food doesn't spill or leak all over the place. And my new favorite ice pack is this Thermos ice cube mat. They're inexpensive, flexible, and contain only purified water – none of the blue goo.
So yeah, I'm getting pretty stoked about Kindergarten. So is Lo. This lunch thing is fun. If you're a rookie like me, check out this super comprehensive list of lunch-box ideas over at Wendolonia. (It's printable!)