our Advent calendar /  by jen geigley


For the past few years, I've been trying to find the perfect Advent calendar. I was going to make one. And then that never happened. I was going to buy one, but it had to be just right. I wanted to be able to put almost anything inside each compartment – tiny toys, notes, treats, whatever. I wanted something that wasn't too small. I didn't want it to be massive. I didn't want it to be fragile. And then, for my birthday last year my sister-in-law surprised me with the perfect Advent calendar. 

 

I'm not sure if this exact style is still available, but she gave me this gray linen pocket calendar (from Land of Nod) that hangs from our metal fireplace mantel with four magnets. It's perfection.


I filled it with some small surprises (mostly from the Target dollar spot, mixed with other things I already had around the house.) We've always used Candy Cane Hershey kisses in our Advent calendars past. (Lo started calling them 'mintys' when she was three years old. So they're a keeper.) And Lo dances in The Nutcracker each year, so I always get her an ornament with the name of her part + the year written in Sharpie on the back. 


For the rest of the days, I made little activity cards. (I think I found the perfect use for Project Life grid cards ... these worked so well.) I'm not doing an activity every day of the month ... I'm only human, after all. But I made a bunch to choose from and will stick them in pockets when I can, depending on what we have time to do each day/evening. A lot of these activities will depend on the weather. I made one for a snow day in case we have a snow day. Ice skating, snowman/snowcat making and sledding, too. Making the memories is way more fun than the tiny toys, in my opinion. Although Lo is a big fan of Silly Putty.


Now I just have to make sure the kids don't peek. Bowie hasn't even tried to pull this down yet, surprisingly. I love our family traditions and celebrating each day of the holiday season by trying to make it a tiny bit extra special. Whether it's making cookies together or reading a Christmas book at bedtime, it's time spent together and that's the best part of all.

upcoming events! /  by jen geigley


For this knitter, the holiday season means ... craft fairs! If you've been reading here for awhile, you know that I have mad love for craft fairs and have been selling my handmade goods for quite a few years. This holiday season, I'll be selling hand knits at two craft fairs: Market Day Black Friday here in lovely Des Moines and What a Load of Craft in Iowa City. Here are all of the details.


Market Day's 5th Annual Black Friday sale will be happening at the Kirkwood Hotel & Gramercy Tap, 400 Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA from 9am - 5pm on November 29th. Market Day is Des Moines' biggest/best/brightest craft fair, and this is the 5th annual Black Friday sale. The mega sale. There will be 70 crafters and artists from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, and Illinois. Market Day offers thoughtful shopping for thoughtful gifts and you won't want to miss this. Visit 70 booths of arts, crafts, and vintage goods. Bring the whole family! Enjoy mimosas at the Gramercy Tap and we'll kick off the holiday season with rock and roll Christmas music, pretty packages, friends, and giveaways. Come to our Market Day Black Friday and invite your friends!  


In December, I'll be packing up my knitted goods and heading to Iowa City for the tenth annual What a Load of Craft fair. Ten years, people! What a Load of Craft (WALOC) is Iowa's premier punk rock craft fair, celebrating the power of DIY arts, crafts and music. What A Load Of Craft 10 will be held Saturday December 14, 2013 at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Iowa City from 11 am - 6 pm. Swing by to find a huge variety of unique handmade, local and vintage gifts for everyone on your holiday list. There will be over 50 vendors, food, record swap, raffle, photo booth, gift wrapping and more. Head on over to the Facebook event page to rsvp and hope to see you at one or both of these fine local events. (Until then, I'll be knitting my tush off.)

Do It Yourself magazine /  by jen geigley

(Photos by Jacob Fox from Do It Yourself Magazine)

A few months ago, I was invited to teach a large group of people from Team DIY (of Do It Yourself Magazine) at Meredith Corporation here in Des Moines. It was pretty much the coolest teaching experience ever. And if you open up the Winter issue of DIY magazine, you'll see photos from our knitting Crafternoon on the editor's letter page!


DIY is a Better Homes and Gardens special interest publication that is the can-do destination for the home enthusiast who seeks DIY inspiration, step-by-step instructions, and creative, affordable projects to transform home and garden spaces. And if you haven't picked up a copy before, you should definitely check it out.

(Photos by Jacob Fox from Do It Yourself Magazine)
 
This was a pretty big crew to teach, so I brought along my very good friends Amy and Sarah to help me out.

 
(Photos by Jacob Fox from Do It Yourself Magazine)

Amy and Sarah taught me how to knit several years ago, so they were the perfect knitters for the job. The three of us had so much fun hanging out with this lovely group!

(Photos by Jacob Fox from Do It Yourself Magazine)

My pals at Hill Vintage & Knits supplied lots of super bulky Malabrigo Rasta yarn for our new knitters to practice with.

(Photos by Jacob Fox from Do It Yourself Magazine)


Definitely grab yourself a copy of the winter issue of Do It Yourself magazine and check out all of the diy home and holiday projects you'll find inside. I'm especially fond of the forest fauna placecard holders on page 12, the succulent place settings on page 14 and the awesomely huge collection of handmade gifts ideas/kits on page 18. But there's a lot more in this issue so check it out for yourself.

Eucalan winner! /  by jen geigley


Last week, I finished and soaked and blocked my 30 Day Sweater in some lovely eucalyptus Eucalan. And Eucalan was kind enough to offer up a Gift Pack of their products as a giveaway, so it's time to announce the winner!


This set includes one 3.3 fl oz bottle of each of the four original scents – Eucalyptus, Lavender, Grapefruit and Natural/Unscented. These little bottles are about to upgrade someone's soaking and blocking routine forever. In the best way.


I drew a name on Monday night (sorry for the wait) and the lucky winner is Island Jen! I happen to know that she's a pretty talented knitter so I hope she enjoys this gift pack. (I'll be contacting you to get your mailing address, Jen.) Thanks so much to everyone who entered and happy knitting!

knitXmidwest! /  by jen geigley


We've been talking and planning for months, and our big weekend finally came! I spent Saturday and Sunday co-hosting Des Moines' own knitting retreat, knitXmidwest with my fantastic friends Erica and Jessica of Hill Vintage & Knits. It was crazy fun and for our first time putting together a knitting retreat, I think everything went pretty great. (Let me tell you all about it.)


Our crew of die-hard knitters took over this lovely lodge in Walnut Woods, just outside of Des Moines. The trees were gorgeous, the weather was fantastic and it proved to be the perfect place to cozy up with friends for two days of knitting.


Knitting friends traveled from Denver, Chicago, Omaha and surrounding Iowa cities to hang out with us. We had a wonderful group of fun people and it was pretty incredible.
 

 We covered the tables with vintage tablecloths, spray painted pumpkin gourds and ceramic cats.

We met new friends and hung out with old friends.


 We had show and tell.


And ate delicious food catered by Tacopocalypse. 


My sweet friend Robyn from She Makes Hats talked with us about her goal to knit and give away 10,000 hats in her lifetime. And I'm pretty sure everyone fell in love with her.


I made cupcakes that looked like balls of yarn with golf tee 'knitting needles' sticking out of them.


We did 'knitting' yoga to stretch out our backs, shoulders, arms, hands and fingers.


Maggie Howe from Girl With a Sword talked to us about handspun yarn and fiber creations.


And our friend Diane Muse brought tons of fantastic yarn and craft-related designs that had been screenprinted on kitchen towels, t-shirts, aprons and tote bags.


But mostly, we did what knitters/crocheters do best. We hung out and made things. We admired projects that others were working on. We laughed. We thoroughly enjoyed the girl time.


And we had a photo booth.


 It was so much fun that we think we'll do it again. Hope to see you next year!

30 day sweater /  by jen geigley


So, here it is! Last month I took the 30 Day Sweater challenge, which means I started knitting this colorblocked raglan sweater for Bowie on October 1st and finished it on October 30th. I took the challenge along with 5,000 other knitters, and one of them was my friend Heather from Ewe Ewe yarns. (You can check out her sweater progress here.) I knitted this sweater using Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn, which is a merino superwash yarn and it turned out to be incredibly soft and comfy. I'm pretty sure that this will be my go-to worsted weight yarn from now on, and it comes in the best colors.


Here's what the sweater looks like when it's laid flat. This was super fun to knit. I was so happy to have found these orange buttons to match my raglan button band, although it took some hunting to track them down. This sweater fits Bowie really well and I made it a tiny bit bigger than his current size so he can hopefully wear it for awhile before outgrowing it.


Here are the in-progress photos I took while making my 30 Day Sweater. It's kind of cool to look back and see things come together, day by day and week by week.


And there you have it. The 30 Day Sweater online course has definitely changed my outlook on knitting sweaters. It has made me more confident in understanding shaping and sizing, and I think I'll approach sweater knitting completely differently now. Which is exciting. That and I want to knit all of the sweaters now. Which could be dangerous but lots of fun. I'll be drawing a winner for the Eucalan gift pack (see this post to enter) tonight at midnight CST. Thanks so much for following along!

Rowan Ambassadors Amore online collection /  by jen geigley


A few months ago, Rowan challenged the Rowan Ambassadors to come up with a design that would use one skein of two new yarns launched this fall: Rowan Kidsilk Amore and Kidsilk Amore Shimmer. They have published our patterns online as part of the Rowan Ambassadors Amore Online Collection, and two of my designs are featured. First off is Twist Scarflet, which Lo is wearing in the photo above. 

Knitted using a twisted knit stitch in Kidsilk Amore Shimmer, this children’s accessory scarflet has a keyhole perfect for keeping loose ends secure.


 Next up is Stella, a slouchy open-knit adult-sized hat using Kidsilk Amore.


It's the perfect cozy hat to keep your ears warm and will go with just about anything. It was fun to see how this yarn almost 'striped' as I knit this up. You can download all of the Rowan Ambassador's designs (for free) right here! Go check them out.

finish and soak and block /  by jen geigley


So, I finished knitting my little sweater for Bowie for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge (more pics soon), which means I've reached that exciting time that every knitter looks forward to. Soaking and blocking!


You don't skip this part, right? (Right?) Because you owe it to yourself to finish out these last steps properly on that amazing handmade garment that you spent so much time knitting. A good soak in a basin/sink filled with lukewarm water and rinseless wool wash will do wonders for how your hand-knits look and feel.


I soaked Bowie's sweater in a large mixing bowl with a teaspoon of Eucalan's eucalyptus wool wash. Which smells wonderful and has a ton of benefits. Not only does it have natural moth and flea inhibiting properties, but the lanolin and essential oils act as natural fabric softeners that made this sweater extra soft, also allowing the fibers/stitches to lay really nicely. Wool wash will clean and soften your hand-knits with amazing results and no rinsing. 

  
Here's the soaking and blocking process I used, adapted from the 30 Day Sweater course.
  • Soak finished garment in lukewarm water with one teaspoon of Eucalan per gallon for 15-30 minutes, gently squeezing out all air bubbles.
  • Remove the garment and squeeze out excess water, being careful not to twist or wring fabric.
  • Lift garment, supporting it from the bottom so it does not stretch and lay it on a clean, dry towel.
  • Roll the sweater in the towel burrito-style and push down (hard) on the towel from end-to-end. Remove sweater.
  • Fabric should feel damp but not saturated.
  • Lay out your sweater in your desired finished shape, making sure to smooth all wrinkles. Pin down if needed. (I didn't this time, but for some hand-knits, I do.)
  • Let dry completely, away from direct heat or sun. (I usually lay mine out on a second clean, dry towel.)

 

The absolute hardest part of soaking and blocking is waiting for your garment to dry. But usually (depending on your climate/humidity) it will be totally dry in one or two days.


Would you like to soak your next finished project in Eucalan? I know you would. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win your own Eucalan gift pack. This set includes one 3.3 fl oz bottle of each of the four original scents – Eucalyptus, Lavender, Grapefruit and Natural/Unscented. Winner will be drawn on Monday, November 4th at 12:00 am CST. Thanks for following along on my 30 Day Sweater progress and good luck!

knitXmidwest! /  by jen geigley


Hey hey! I'm teaming up with my girls at Hill Vintage & Knits to host our first annual knitting retreat right here in Des Moines, knitXmidwest! And it's only two weeks away. So if you want to be there, you should sign up now. So I know how many cupcakes we'll need.

But really! There are a zillion reasons why you won't want to miss this.  For $25/day, you will enjoy:
  • Devastatingly good lunch catered by Tacopocalypse.
  • Lots of uninterrupted time to knit + crochet, perfect for finishing up that big project you've been wanting to work on.
  • Relaxed, laid-back atmosphere. Wear your hand-knits and your sweatpants. We don't care.
  • We'll be knitting and crocheting in the beautiful Walnut Woods Lodge. Have you seen the leaves changing colors this week? It's gonna be gorgeous out there.
  • T-shirts!
  • Photobooth. There will be a photobooth, people! (Or ...  Jess and I with cameras and a backdrop, but same difference.)
  • Fun times with friends.
  • Knitting and crochet show and tell. Show off the coolest things you've ever made! Bring your stuff. We want to see it.
  • Knit + crochet doctor. In case you need help with something.
  • Meet our speaker (and my friend) Robyn from SheMakesHats. She's writing a book about her mission to knit and give away 10,000 hats to 10,000 people in her lifetime.
  • Stashbust. Calling all hoarders: bring yarn that you want to trade/get ride of. Anything left over will be donated!
  • Yoga. Which will be easy (and optional.)
  • Mimosas! And cupcakes.
  • After-hours shopping and wine + dessert at Hill Vintage & Knits in the East Village.
  • Fantastically cool door prizes. 

You seriously won't want to miss this. Sign up here, right now. You can register for one day or the whole weekend. It's up to you.

I really hope to see you there!

nyc twenty thirteen /  by jen geigley


Over the weekend, I met up with these two in Brooklyn once again. Jamaica. And Kristi. And like we've done before, we hit the streets of nyc incredibly hard. Urban warriors are we. But we also made sure to carve out enough time to relax and catch up and talk a lot. When we meet up for these weekends full of girl time and wandering, the time goes fast. We intend to make the most of it.


Every time we meet up, it's just what we all needed. I'm back home now and feeling grateful for my friends. We know each other well despite the physical distance that separates California from Iowa from New York. When we're together we talk about everything; each of our personalities collide into one magnificent entity and it's oh-so-good, each and every time.