A Bluestocking Knits

We had Laura’s birthday party last week.  Laura picked out a star-shaped piñata, and I went a little crazy at Cost Plus World Market, and got a ton of wrapped sweets like Toblerone, Lindt truffles, and pretty little Japanese things called "Flower’s Kiss" — as well as little wooden tops, funky bumpy rubber balls, mini-Slinkies (the good kind, metal not plastic!) — and we also put in half-sized gel pens, some Hot Wheels cars I got for a dollar for five, and jumbo packs of stamps from Michael’s.

The kids had a good time.  I set up a craft table so that the kids could decorate their treat bags with stickers and markers, then we went outside for the piñata, which was a great success.

I made a butter cake with one of my favorite recipes from Susan Purdy’s The Perfect Cake, with chocolate buttercream — I had wanted a dark chocolate frosting, to contrast a bit better with the M&M decorations, but things didn’t quite work the way I’d planned!  It tasted good anyway.

And Laura’s grandma knitted her a shrug for ballet class —

This is Pam Allen’s Ribbed Shrug from Interweave Knits, modified a bit to fit a six-year-old.  The sleeves usually ruffle a bit more than would appear from this photograph, for some reason.  It’s a pretty pale lilac, and just the thing to keep her shoulders warm during lessons.