six. /  by jen geigley

Today, my baby girl turns six years old. Six. She's whip-smart and funny like her dad. She can be a quiet little thing, but when she wants to make her voice heard, you'll hear her. She's a ballerina and wants to start a band someday. She lost her first tooth two days ago. 
My good friend, Yana, took these photos of Lo a few months ago and I love how she documented my girl, being herself... being five. Five is a year when a lot happens. Big changes. She's turning into a big kid, whether I like it or not. I am acutely aware of how fast she's growing. In the blink of an eye, her feet and legs are a mile long. Her ballet shoes are too tight. Her grin has a missing tooth. I look at her and I'm painfully aware that she's no longer the size she was last week. She's reading books and solving math problems and making her own breakfast. She challenges me every single day. But I swear, just a moment ago I was holding her on my lap on an icy cold February morning, breathing in that wonderfully sweet baby hair smell and snuggling with her in her tiny pink newborn-sized jammies.

My girl. How did you grow up so fast? Six years ago, you initiated us a parents. And brought the magic. You still do, every day. Happy birthday to my girl.

ISLAND winner! /  by jen geigley

A huge thank you to everyone who visited on the blog tour and entered the Jane Richmond ISLAND giveaway.

The winner of a signed copy of Jane's new book is ... island jen! (how perfect, right?)

Please email me your mailing address and I'll get this sent off to you right away!

If you weren't a winner this time but still want a copy of Jane's book, print copies of ISLAND are available through Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk. The e-book is available through the ISLAND Ravelry shop. 
An be sure to follow along as ISLAND makes it's way across the rest of these blog stops.

J A N U A R Y
   8th - Vancouver Yarn
 10th - KD Quilts
 14th - Canadian Living
 17th - Celtic Cast On
22nd - Canary Knits
 24th - Hey Jen Renee
 29th - The Yarniad
 31st - Knitted Bliss

 F E B R U A R Y
   5th - French Press Knits
   7th - Truly Myrtle
 12th - Noodlehead
 19th - SweetGeorgia
 21st - A Playful Day

Island Blog Tour + Giveaway! /  by jen geigley

My lovely friends Jane Richmond and Shannon Cook recently contacted me to see if I'd be interested in being part of a blog tour for Jane's gorgeous new knitting book, ISLAND. Of course, I jumped at the chance! They sent me the book earlier this month, and let me just say that if you pick up one knitting book this year, ISLAND should be it. These patterns are well-executed, easy to understand, perfect for every knitter ... and once you see them you'll want to knit them all. The photos are breathtaking ... cover to cover. If you're a nerd like me, you'll appreciate the paper quality (the cover is like butter) and the clean graphic design. Here is Jane's collection.





As soon as I had the book in my hands, I cast-on Arbutus in bright yellow Misti Alpaca Tonos Worsted. I love how sculptural this cowl is! It looks so cool when you wear it; I love how the front three tiers lay and move with you as you do your thing. It's one of those pieces that you can throw on and you know it will look good all day long.
The construction is pretty fantastic ... short rows and three tiers that connect in the back. This colorway is called ‘Michelle’s Dress’, named after the First Lady’s Inauguration dress from 2009. It’s a little bit hard to see in my photos, but there are places where the yellow tones turns greenish. So cool.
Next, I knew I had to knit myself a Renfrew. This is quite possibly the best-fitting hat I have ever made. (The pattern has instructions for a regular cap or slouchy hat ... I knitted the slouchy version.)
I used a skein of kelly green Araucania Toconao Solid and I love how it turned out.
 There are subtle color variations in this yarn that look super cool with the reverse stockinette.
This hat flew off the needles in record time, probably because Jane's clever pattern instructs you to knit it inside-out to take advantage of the knit stitch. Slick!
And this awesome band on one side of the hat is made of mock cables. So fantastic to knit. I already have yarn picked out to make a second one.
So, you totally want to get your hands on this book, right? Print copies of ISLAND are available now through Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk. The e-book is available through the ISLAND Ravelry shop. 

OR. Leave a comment on this post telling me which pattern is your favorite. One lucky winner will receive a print copy of ISLAND. The winner will be chosen on Monday, January 28.

ISLAND is a collection of handknits designed by Jane Richmond and inspired by life on Vancouver Island. This book was a special artistic journey to bring Jane's patterns to life with photography by Nicholas Kupiak, modeling by Kylee Shaw, and graphic design/layout & conception by Shannon Cook & Jane Richmond.  

Follow along as ISLAND makes it's way across the rest of these blog stops...

J A N U A R Y
   8th - Vancouver Yarn
 10th - KD Quilts
 14th - Canadian Living
 17th - Celtic Cast On
22nd - Canary Knits
 24th - Hey Jen Renee
 29th - The Yarniad
 31st - Knitted Bliss

 F E B R U A R Y
   5th - French Press Knits
   7th - Truly Myrtle
 12th - Noodlehead
 19th - SweetGeorgia
 21st - A Playful Day

so, what are you working on? /  by jen geigley

I don't know what it is about the new year that does this to me every time, but now that it's January I feel like I want to do everything. All of the things. I want to start a million projects. I want to clean out my closet. I want to knit 9 different sweaters. (Have you seen my Ravelry queue? 252 projects. Not exaggerating.) At least my enthusiasm has been a little bit productive. I'm excited to share some new finished projects in the next couple of days. I've been knitting with some crazy good Wool and the Gang yarn. I'm obsessed with it lately. And I've been working on two patterns from Island, the fantastic new book by Jane Richmond. Oh my. That book is delicious. She so kindly invited me to be a part of her blog tour for this new book, so she sent me a copy and I could not wait to dive in and make something right away. I have already made Arbutus and Refrew. Be sure to check back for a chance to win your own gorgeous copy of Island and to see how my projects turned out this Thursday, January 24th, for my little stop on the blog tour. So excited! (So what are you working on right now?)

knits from friends /  by jen geigley

Sometimes if you're lucky, you accumulate a number of dear friends as you make your way through life. They might live next door to you, or in the same city as you, or across the ocean from you. If you're really lucky, your sweet friends will knit things for your baby and you'll get to dress him up and marvel at how cute he is in his handmade wardrobe. It is fun.
I blogged about some of our hand-knits from friends awhile ago during the newborn days, but here's a new group of things that fit right now. My good friend Amy knit these awesome stripey pants (and I think she made the onesie, too!) Amy is a mom friend, but more. She has three boys close to Lo's age and we have been friends since they were babies. Amy also taught me how to knit! She's a good one.
These pants are perfection, especially now that it's been pretty cold around here.
  And they have a drawstring, so they fit perfectly around the waist.
I know! Adorable. I love them. I want some for myself.
This little blue hoodie is from my fantastically knitty next-door neighbor, Jan. It's one thing to have a good neighbor, but it's even better when that neighbor knits! She is not only really talented, but she sometimes invites me over to see if I want anything out of her yarn stash. And there may have been times when we have compared finished knitting projects outside on our driveway. Ha.
 This sweater is so soft and warm and comfortable and I love that little red button.
I love it – so perfect for everyday. I have to hunt down the photo, but neighbor knitter Jan also made a tiny angora sweater for Lotus that she wore during her first Christmas. Jan is the person who made me want to learn to knit.
Well, hey now ... socks! This awesome fair isle pair came from my lovely and creative friend Kim, all the way from London. Kim and I used to do all kinds of crazy long-distance crafting. (If you want to see the fun things we did, check out Work Your Soul.) I found her through scooter/Vespa forums and we became modern-day pen-pals.
She surprised me with these fantastically cool socks in the mail when Bowie was a tiny newborn. (Now check out those chunky thighs!)
 His feet are small but he's finally growing into these, just in time for our coldest winter days yet.
I think he loves all of his special hand-knits. From our fellow mom-friend, our next-door neighbor friend, and our craft friend overseas. Thank you for taking the time to make something special for this kid.

EOTS /  by jen geigley

 
If you're not totally elfed out this season, here's what our friend has been doing at our house the past couple of weeks. (He's obviously a skater.)
 
He brought us a gingerbread house kit to work on. (He got it at JoAnn's with his 40% off coupon.)
Then, he was nice enough to build the gingerbread house and let it dry overnight so we could skip ahead to the decorating. He also made a tiny flat roof house out of graham crackers. And collected all of the leftover candy that we had hoarded from Easter and 4th of July parades.
 
He loves Vespas.
 He drinks syrup.
He has marshmallow snowball fights with his elfin friends.
He dug out a pile of Christmas books to read under the tree.
And he brought the kids elf pajamas. From Old Navy. I mean ... the North Pole. That I made them wear to the mall when we visited Santa.
 He brought Lo some craft supplies and made a banner.
 And he brought us a Santa spatula and snowflake cookie cutter so we could make cookies.
 And some candy canes!
 He got Lo's skates ready to go on the morning of her Girl Scout ice skating party.
 And he was cold one night, so he wrapped himself in toilet paper.

So that's what he's been doing. I have to admit, I'm a little bit elfed out. But it is fun. Only a few days left! Are you running out of ideas? ;)

Santa 2012 /  by jen geigley

Bowie was like 'Get me outta here.' Lo said that this was the first and last time she would be wearing pajamas to the mall. I'm already fairly certain that these will be my favorite Santa photos of all time.

The Dollyrots /  by jen geigley

I had the pleasure of hanging out with The Dollyrots a couple of months ago at Bombay Bicycle Club, and they're kind of my new favorite. Kelly is super cool and friendly; we talked about music and her dog and our hair. (!)
You might have heard their song 'Because I'm Awesome' on the trailer for the Disney/Pixar movie 'Brave.' And they just recorded a holiday version of that song; listen to it here or download it for free right here. Free Christmas music. And that's awesome.

for the dudes: holiday gift guide /  by jen geigley



I grew up in a small Iowa town where there was a men's store. Not a department store, but a locally-owned shop called Wilson's. (Actually, a lot of people just called it 'The Men's Store.') It was where I would happily tag along with my mom to find my dad's next suit. I remember how it smelled and how I'd feel the sleeves of each of the sport coats ... gray, navy, black and brown. They knew what size my dad wore and if ten-year-old me walked in with a $20 bill in hand, looking for my dad's next birthday gift, they would happily show me wallets, ties, belts and dress shirts that they knew my dad would like. It was a pretty neat place.

The cool thing is ... a place just like that still exists. And that place is Badowers, right here in Des Moines. The fine fellows at Badowers have put together a fantastic holiday gift guide for your favorite fellow. Perfect for your boyfriend, husband, brother ... or your dad. And check out that great video by my talented pal Garrett Cornelison. Great stuff, guys!
Badowers 2012 Holiday Gift Guide

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