Party Prep

Hi Knitters,
Last week was a whirlwind of fun. We celebrated another milestone as a family. TC is now a teenager. Thirteen years old. We had to celebrate in style for such a monumental occasion. With the ever-trusty Peachy by my side we went out gift hunting for our beloved TC.

The first stop was our go-to local floral shop and fairy garden specialists, Jkinney Florist (click here). When we see this sign outside on the sidewalk in front of the shop, we know we are in the right place. This shop always has the best tiny items for TC's fairy gardens and we wanted to add to her collection. We picked out a couple of new furniture items for her, a stone bench and table set. It's so adorable.

J. Kinney Florist has so many unique and cool items including bags, jewelry (Peachy likes the LOVE necklace), home goods, garden goods, textiles, accessories, just any type of gift-y item you could think of, not just flowers. It is a gift store with a lot of style and we love going there.

Here is one of the shop's fairy garden displays. You can see the stone table and bench in the mix. Peachy really picked it out for TC, I was having a difficult time deciding. It is all so sweet it is hard to choose.

We love going to Monroe Street (in Madison) in general. J. Kinney is right across from a Trader Joe's, there are little local restaurants and shops of all sorts, it is a stretch of community that I think is completely representative of Madison. The UW football stadium is just a couple blocks down from the fairy garden florist, there is also a public library, a knit shop, custard, coffee, tea, children's and women's clothes shops, an art gallery or two, more restaurants, etc. It is a fun stretch to visit if you are in town.

Later that day I snuck off with the birthday girl to get her ears pierced. She has been waiting and waiting for this day to arrive. The woman asked if she wanted her to count down before the piercing and TC said, "No, just do it." She didn't even flinch. For her first earrings she selected a tiny daisy made out of sparkly clear stones, to appear like diamonds, I guess. They are super cute and suit her perfectly, twinkly and sweet.

TC tied the leftover graduation balloons around her waist. I thought that was funny to see her wearing those balloons around for her birthday. The balloons were from last weekend's huge graduation party  we threw with a few friends for over 200 people at a nearby park. The party-planning seems never-ending this spring and summer. Up next, my brother is coming for a visit (family dinner at my house), the Fourth of July (at my sister's house), and Peachy's birthday...... it's not over yet.

TC is holding a cupcake pinata Peachy and I picked up for her birthday party at Target. I know I'll get asked if I don't add that in.

I'll share more of the party up next. It was a lovely and fun family-filled night.

Thanks for all of the Opal Sock Yarn Bunny and Hat love. The bunny reached #10 on the Ravelry Top 20 Hot Right Now pattern list yesterday. That was exciting. I put the the hat and bunny up on Ravlery as project pages if you are interested and for your convenience (see the links below).

I received a lot of inquiries about the bunny pattern since I posted. The patterns will eventually be available as downloadable pdfs and will also be available in yarn shops as hard copies. I had so many questions and requests from all over the world, literally. No need to worry, the pattern will be available to all at some point soon in the near future. I will let you know when that happens. I also had some questions about the safety eyes. I purchased them at Jo Ann's and they are the 6mm size. It is the first time I have used safety eyes.

Click here for the Ravelry project page for the Opal Sock Yarn Bunny.

Click here for the Ravelry project page for the Opal Sock Yarn Bunny Hat.

Have a super Sunday.
best, susie