anna knits - smurf hat

Last August I received two skeins of beautiful Sky Blue Lace fingering yarn from Block Island's North Light Fibers for my birthday. It is a super soft alpaca/bamboo yarn that isn't scratchy for people who are sensitive to wool. Well, almost a year went by and I still had not used this gorgeous yarn. So when I went to Block Island for a few days this June, I brought it along and decided to knit up a quick hat.

Instead of slaving away over a super detailed project, I decided to put two strands of the fingerling yarn together and knit using size US8 needles. I was in the mood to knit a hat, so I found an easy pattern from Purl Soho, and cast on. The result is a super comfy slouch hat that, due to its blue hue, has become dubbed the smurf hat.

Are you knitting this summer, or has the heat kept you from casting on?

anna knits - octopus tea cosy

At the beginning of the summer I was asked to make an ocean inspired tea cosy. Well, it took me the entire summer, but I've finally finished! Enter the octopus tea cosy; modeled after a design on Ravelry by the user Cephalopot. It fits a large, six-cup tea pot.

For the octopus, I used this pattern by Hansi Singh via Ravelry. While the pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, I opted for Kambgarn sport / 5 ply yarn in Rosebloom and Glacier Green, which I had bought in Iceland (read about my trip here!) with size US2 double pointed needles. This of course made the octopus smaller and more delicate, which I liked. You can see more pictures of the octopus, including execution pictures, here.

For the tea cosy itself, I used this pattern by the blog Cast On Cast Off. It is a modified ribbed pattern, which I thought kind of mimicked an ocean rock. I knit it with Cascade 220 Heathers in Dark Charcoal, color no. 4002, which has a nice color variation going on, making it look more earthy, or rock-like in this case.

I then embellished the tea cosy with a seaweed design made using tambour crochet. You can learn how to tambour crochet here. I used a left over green yarn that I had gotten second-hand, so I don't know its specs.

While this project took me a while, it was a lot of fun to knit. I like knitting amigurumi (see my pug, bulldog, tea cup), and the tea cosy itself was quick and easy. Tea cosies are great because you are encouraged to be creative. I'm currently brainstorming ideas for my next tea cosy, so let me know if you have a fun idea!

nails etc. - summertime blue

Bouncer, it's me! by Essie (neons 2013):

While I always think of August as the height of the summer, it is really the time when summer winds down. Recently it has been a bit cooler here in Boston than the past few weeks, and with the cool breeze I've come to embrace a color palate full of blues and grays. I am particularly loving this royal blue nail polish, Bouncer, it's me! by Essie. It is a deep blue, but it has a brightness to it that keeps it summery. I'm excited to try some of the other polishes from Essie's neon 2013 collection. (The green reminds me of this post I wrote about color early in the summer!)

anna lusts - summer cakes

It is officially my birthday month, which has me thinking about cake. Last year I was in a baking mood, and so I made my own cake - a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. It was delicious. I'm planning to go out on my birthday this year, but that hasn't stopped me from lusting over a few summery cakes. Here are three of my favorites:

Martha Stewart's Coconut Cloud Cake

Food52's Icebox Cake:

Blackjack Bakehouse's Lemony Cream Butter Cake:

You can follow my "Cake" board on Pinterest here!

anna knits - amigurumi sneak peek

Sneak peek of my latest amigurumi:

I just have to assemble all the pieces, and then I have a special surprise for this guy. Stay tuned!

Learn about the Icelandic yarn I used for the project here. 

hair, etc. - heatwave strategy

Boston is in the midst of a heatwave, and with temperatures expected to be in the 90s all week, I've been looking for inspiration for how to keep my hair off my shoulders and out of my face. Here are some of my favorite finds:

Hair clips: When you're dripping with sweat, there is no better way to catch those pesky flyaways.

Side braids: I love this twist on one of the season's biggest trends.

Braids with a hair clip: In this heat, two hair wrangling strategies are better than one.

High pony: Does the job. 

anna bakes - 4th of july pie

For the fouth of July this year, I decided to bake a red, white, and blue American flag pie. Check out my inspiration via Woman's Day magazine here. 

Here's my pie:

And here's how I did it:

Step 1: Make your pie dough. Refrigerate. 

I used Ina Garten's Perfect Pie Crust recipe with a 9in pie plate, which left enough extra dough to make a crostata the next day.

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.

Step 2: Assemble your fruit, keeping the blue fruit separate (this will make up the stars part of your pie flag).

I used 4 peaches (white), 1 carton of raspberries and 1 carton of strawberries (red), and 1 carton of blueberries (blue). I also used the zest of one orange to flavor the fruit. 

Step 3: Wash, cut, and combine your fruit with granulated white sugar, lemon juice, and orange zest. 

I used 1/4 cup sugar for the blueberries, which were on the sour side, and 1/2 cup sugar for the rest of the fruit. Set aside. 

Step 4: Roll out one half of your dough until it is pretty thin (you will almost be able to see through it).

Step 5: Arrange the dough in the 9in pie plate. Refrigerate.

Step 6: Roll out the other half of the dough and cut into stars and stripes. 

Step 7: Assemble the pie. 

Step 8: Bake at 400F for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350F and cook for another 40 minutes. 

Step 9: Enjoy!

anna's nails - summer purple

I am so excited to head to Block Island next week for a little vacation. In preparation, I decided to paint my nails a fun summer color. I went with Essie's Full Steam Ahead, part of its summer 2013 collection.

It reminds me of this beautiful picture of pastel tulips I saw on the tumblr In the City with Crystalin:

I usually go darker with my nails (see me here in red and green with sparkles), but I'm digging this lighter hue. Now I just need a summer tan to compliment my new nails!

flowers, etc. - rose garden

On Friday I visited Boston's James P Kelleher Rose Garden during my lunch break. The garden is in full bloom, and there are so many different types of roses to see. While there is a full range of color - purple, yellow, and a really cool pink/yellow/white variety called the Chihuly - I particularly liked all the pink roses. Here are some of my favorites:

Inspired to crochet a rose? It is easier than you think! Learn how here.

knitting, etc. - summer knitting

The temperature has been steadily rising in Boston, which is finally making it fell like summer -- just in time for the official first day of summer, which happens to be today!

Do you knit in the summer? Check out these adorable seashell stitch makers from the shop Lavender Hill Knits on Etsy:

I can find it hard to knit in the summer, but with cotton yarns and perles it shouldn't be! I still have some wool projects I am working on (check out my fair isle cowl here), but I'm hoping to finish them up soon. Happy Friday!  

flowers, etc. - effortless arranging

I love this floral arrangement featured on the blog {frolic!}. It is organic without looking messy, and the colors go great together.

This particular composition is actually from an online floral arranging class taught by Chelsea Fuss. I think floral arranging is a great skill to have, as flowers bring life to any setting. Maybe I'll find the time to take a class on it one of these days!

cooking, etc. - basil

My friend Susan gave me a kit to grow basil a few months ago. I had never really grown a plant from seeds before, so I was amazed when my basil actually sprouted -- and then continued to grow!

It is getting pretty big now, and I am starting to think of dishes to make with the basil. Like this recipe for Ricotta with Lemon, Basil, and Honey Bruschetta from Martha Stewart that I first saw on Pinterest. I will have to try it soon. I've been meaning to buy some Narragansett Creamery ricotta, which I think would be great on for this dish.

I also love this idea for Basil Infused Olive Oil from Two Loves Studio:

What's your favorite basil dish?

anna crochets - cotton perle

With the weather warming up, I decided to start a spring project in cotton perle 5, rather than wool. I got the cotton perle at Michaels, which had a great color selection. It is just one size bigger than the embroidery floss I used to make friendship bracelets out of.

I'm using a tiny size 1.5mm crochet hook - much smaller than anything I have ever crocheted with before. At first it was hard to grab the loops without letting them slip, but soon my hand adjusted to the size of the needle and it felt more natural.

I'm planning to use the flowers I make in a garland, much like the Emilia Flower Garland
by Emma Lamb.

anna cooks - clams al forno w pasta

I went to Block Island this weekend with some friends. The weather was beautiful, and it was even warm enough to go swimming in the ocean.

On Saturday night, we made Clams Al Forno with pasta. The recipe comes from the restaurant Al Forno in Providence, RI. They serve it as an appetizer, but we decided to make it into an entree by pairing the clams with spaghetti - a twist on Spaghetti alle Vongole dish.

All we did was clean 35 littlenecks (this is enough for 4 ppl), place them in a baking dish with cut up onion, jalapeno peper (seeded), cut up tomatoes in puree, minced garlic, white wine, water, and a stick of butter, and bake for 20 minutes at 500F. Meanwhile we made a lb of spaghetti.

Garnish with thinly sliced scallions and lemon wedges.

Photo credit: Susan M.

We put some marinara sauce on our pasta along with the clams, but the butter/wine/tomato/lemon sauce from the clams would have been tasty alone on the spaghetti. 

For an end-of-summer dinner, seafood dinner, this was very simple and very delicious!

baking, etc. - anniversary pie

Yesterday was my parents' 29th wedding anniversary. My mom made a pie to celebrate. She is a master pie maker. Photo credit goes to Dad Devine.

As I mentioned in my last post, it is almost September but there is still lots of summer food I need to make! I have been meaning to bake a pie since I got this light blue bird pie funnel from Sur La Table for christmas.

Perhaps this peach and raspberry pie recipe from Saveur Magazine is in my future...

Do you have any favorite summer pie recipes?

cooking, etc. - summer pickling

I was in Newport, RI for the weekend, enjoying some beach time with friends. Being at the beach in August got me thinking about all the summer things I want to do before it starts to get chilly. One such thing is at-home pickling.

I saw this article on small batch summer pickling a few weeks ago on the blog food52. (I am a huge fan of food52, which operates on an interesting concept you can read about here.) They always have great posts from food bloggers and chefs.

The recipe comes from Ashley Rodriguez of the blog Not Without Salt, which has some amazing food photography.

I am particular interested to try pickled fennel. Maybe I'll get it together to pickle some things this weekend. First though I need to find the right jar!

crochet, etc. - food covers

With summer in full swing, I have been making an effort to eat outside as much as possible. There is something about dining al fresco that feels so right - or maybe it is just the Italian in me. Outdoor eating does pose its own set of problems, though, which is why I was excited to find this free pattern for crochet food covers on the blog Lululoves.

I love the way the tassels fall over the sides of the bowl! I am going to have some extra cotton yarn when I finally finish my union jack tea cosy that I think will be perfect for this project.

swim, etc. - albertine

I am on Block Island this weekend, which has gotten me thinking about swim suits. I am currently obsessed with this photograph bikini from the french label Albertine.

I originally heard about Albertine on the blog Greedy Girl, which I follow on bloglovin.

This suit in particular reminds me of the work of photographer Richard Misrach. A few years ago he had a show at the National Gallery called On the Beach, which consisted of large scale photographs of beach goers in Hawaii, taken from above via a high rise hotel room. You can see a slideshow of On the Beach here.

Richard Misrach 

Untitled 19-03, 2003

chromogenic print

Collection of the Artist. 

Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco; Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York 

and Marc Selwyn Fine Arts, Los Angeles.

Richard Misrach 

Untitled 1132-04 [Flippers], 2004

chromogenic print

Collection of the Artist. 

Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco; Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York 

and Marc Selwyn Fine Arts, Los Angeles.

beach, etc. - block island 07.12

I spent the weekend on Block Island. I swam in the ocean, read on the beach, and ate a lot of good food - what more could you ask for? Can you spot the BI ferry in the picture below?

When I wasn't in a bathing suit, I got to wear one of my favorite summer looks - beach chic. Here's one of my outfits:

- maxi dress: urban outfitters (last summer)
- hoop earrings: j. crew outlet
- fun scarf: The Glass Onion, Block Island (see it here too!)
- beachy cuff: The Glass Onion, Block Island

I like to keep the accessories simple and summery.

I am especially excited about this fish cuff I bought while on the island. It is from the Block Island store The Glass Onion.

I paired this outfit with my favorite Reef sandals - still a little dusty from the beach!

biking, etc.

I spent the weekend on Block Island, which meant a lot of biking. Ok, so I didn't  actually do any biking myself, but I witnessed a lot of biking. Recently, I have seen a lot of bike inspired knitwear. It may even get me to start to do some biking myself. Here are some of my favorite examples:

I snapped a photo of this amazing yarn bombed bike parked across from the White House at the Renwick Gallery last summer.

I am obsessed with this crochet skirt guard by Just-Do, which was featured on an Etsy Finds email sent out today.

I originally saw this knit-cked out bike on the blog one sheepish girl. I love the colors - it makes sense that the blog it is from is called Greedy for Colour!

This bike bow from the Etsy store Mischief Managed Knits is super cute!

~ Bike / knit on! ~