Vote the Art That Will Inspire the Yarn!

We work with a fabulous shop in Massachusetts called Colorful Stitches. Mary and Bonnie are always coming up with great new ideas. We lucky enough to be part of their latest scheme. I'll let them tell you about it. This is from their Ravelry page. 

We're teaming up with Lorna's Laces to create three exclusive colorways in their Shepherd Sock and Shepherd Worsted yarns. We’re looking to our original illustrations by graphic designer Jim Carroll for the inspiration for these exclusive colorways. Jim Carroll’s illustrations for Colorful Stitches have appeared for the past twelve years in Vogue Knitting Magazine’s fall issue.

First, we’ll need you to vote for three out of five proposed illustrations you see here that will be ones used to inspire new colorways. Voting is from now until Saturday, Sept. 28. 

Once you have voted the winning three, they’ll be sent to Lorna’s Laces where Lorna’s dyers will work their magic creating three prototype colorways per illustration. Then we’ll turn the decision back to you to vote on which colorway best captures the illustration that inspired it. Lastly, we’ll need your help to name each of the three new colors.

There’s a prize to be won (3 prizes in fact) at the end of this voting and naming. The three participants who suggest the winning names will each receive skeins of the new colorways in both Shepherd Sock and Shepherd Worsted - 6 skeins per prize.

We’ll remind you in upcoming Colorful Stitches e-newsletters (not a subscriber, then click here to become one) when to vote and on what, plus announce voting results. You can jump into the voting at any phase you wish. You do not have to be a member of our Ravelry Group to participate or to win.

Have 10 seconds? then watch Jim Carroll’s animation of your choices here.

So, there are a couple of ways to vote. You can go to the Ravelry page or you can do it on Facebook too. 

I just voted, but I'm not telling which ones I picked. I honestly think they're all pretty fab. 

Orange Cookies

Over Fourth of July weekend, I spent a couple of days visiting my brother in South Carolina. Our visit got cut a little short because there was bad weather in Atlanta, but we made it down there safe and sound.

One of the reasons I like to visit them so much is that they always have lots of goodies in the house. He has a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe and he's never left wanting. While we were there his wife made a batch of his favorite childhood cookies. Orange Cookies. I'd forgotten all about them. They were a favorite of mine too. I'd be embarrassed to admit how many of them I wolfed down with a big ol' glass of milk. 

She printed a copy of the recipe for me and I dropped in my bag and promptly forgot all about them again. Then over Labor Day weekend, I decided that I needed to clean things up in there. Lo and behold, the Orange Cookie recipe. We were heading to a friend's house for a BBQ so I offered to bring dessert. 

These are actually more like little cakes than cookies. You mix them like cake batter and they have that kind of texture. I think that's why I like them so much, they're a little different.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 c butter

1/2 c lard (This is a WWII recipe and there was rationing. I use all butter.)

1-1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1 c. buttermilk (You can make this by adding a T of vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk)

3-1/2 c flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

grated rind of 1 orange and juice to make 1/2 c.

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and lard with the sugar. Add eggs one at a time and blend until fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the egg/fat/sugar mixture. Blend well. Add 1/2 of the wet ingredients. Blend well. Continue to alternate the wet and dry until they are all incorporated. Chill batter. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Icing

Mix together 1 T cream and 2 T orange juice and rind. Add powdered sugar until it's thick enough to spread. 

I think this recipe lies when it comes to frosting. I'd make a recipe and a half or even double it.

Pour a big glass of milk and enjoy.