spring, etc. - green!

On my way to work I get to walk through the Boston Public Garden. It was looking especially lush today, so I snapped this picture. I love how green the grass and trees are. Maybe I am prejudice, because green has always been one of my favorite colors, but I feel like green is a color trend for the season. I especially love it paired with black...

Here is one of my favorite new J. Crew patterns of the season: punk floral.

And for another burst of green + black, how about a Grasshopper Sundae? I'm in!

crochet, etc. - crochet camera purse

How cute is this crochet camera purse available on Etsy?

It is by Meemanan. 

Want to make your own? Check out this pattern by Sky Magenta on Ravelry for a similar crochet camera purse. 

anna knits - chunky scarf update 3

So I know winter is officially over, but I wanted to share my finished chunky scarf:

 

Here's how I did it:

I used 1 and 1/2 skeins of Rowan Big Wool in black with size US15 needles. I cast on 22 and started a Knit 2 Purl 2 ribbing pattern, which I continued until the scarf was about six feet long. I then added five bunches (made up of three strands each of Rowan Big Wool) of fringe to either side of the scarf. 

See my progress here and here, and see the matching braided headband here.

I won't be wearing this piece everyday for a while, but I am heading to Iceland at the end of the month, so it may get some wear there!

anna crochets - boston love blanket

I read about the Boston Love Blanket on the blog One Sheepish Girl, and knew I had to send in a square! The squares are going to be sewn together to create a blanket for relatives of one of the victims of the Boston bombing.

As some of you know, I've been working on my own flower blanket, so I decided to use some of the flowers I had already made for it in my 8x8 square.

There are so many beautiful flowers out in Boston this week. I snapped a pic of some tulips in the Public Garden that reminded me of my crochet squares:

Happy spring!

anna cooks - french onion soup

Last week I made french onion soup. It was a delicious and easy weeknight meal, so I thought I'd share what I did...



I basically followed Tyler Florence's recipe, but only used one large onion and a third of the rest of the ingredients to yield 2 servings. I was also sure to use a day-old roll (which I had gotten at the amazing Cambridge bakery, Hi Rise).

The other change I made was instead of putting the soup ( + roll and gruyere sprinkled on top) in the broiler, I just put it in a 450F oven for 10 minutes. I have an old oven, which doesn't do well on broil, and this method, which I read about in the french cookbook I Know How to Cook, worked perfectly well.

~ Enjoy ~

anna crochets - cotton perle update 3

After finishing my first crochet garland, I quickly started on another using the same cotton perle. (Read about my materials for this project here.)

This time I tried a new pattern (originally by Yvonne Eijkenduijn of one of my favorite blogs, Yvestown) for the crochet flowers, but modified it so that the flowers have six pedals. I also made a few crochet circles, using this basic pattern. 

I am getting faster, and hope to have a few more elements done for this garland soon!

anna crochets - flower garland

Sorry about the delay in posts! It has been a crazy week here in Boston.

I did get a chance to finish my first flower garland!

Here is a pic of me assembling the garland strand:

I used size 8 DMC cotton perle for the garland, and size 5 DMC cotton perle for the flowers. It is based on a pattern my Emma Lamb published in an issue 24 of Mollie Makes. See my progress here and here.