Stained Glass Cookies

This is a recipe for the most magical and mysterious holiday cookies that you can make. This old family recipe is a little time consuming, but the results make such an impression that they are talked about every year.

I decided that I'd make them for the first time since getting rid of all our cookie cutters. these instructions include a downloadable template and instructions for fun shapes  which do not require nesting cookie cutters.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon double strength vanilla extract

2 bags of life savers
1 bag  jolly ranchers (for blue)

Simple Gifts Scarf

It is gift season and if you are a knitter, you are probably looking for some easy , fast last minute ideas.

Consider this simple brioche stitch scarf.

Fingerscarves Finally

Did you ever wonder what would happen if a pair of gloves and a scarf had a child? What would happen if you just reached into your scarf every time your fingers were cold?
Well this is the answer to those questions that you never actually asked.

It took only 2 years to put aside time to actually edit and publish this pattern, does anyone even remember it?

How could you forget a scarf that has fingers.

Carroll for Clotheshorse Magazine

I'm really excited to say that my first pattern made for a magazine is out. Clotheshorse magazine has published this color blocked sweater with set in sleeves and slimming side panels in a contrasting color.

Find it on Clotheshorse Mag

It's a style that is everywhere often seen on dresses, the color blocking creates the illusion of a slimmer waist. You can also see it in my prototype of the sweater, the dark sides definitely create an optical illusion.

I also did the trim in a different color and added a few short rows in the bust because I'm not a standard XS in the bust area. You can see the side stripe on the extra small is thinner, it's proportional to the size.

Double mustard reversible cabled scarf

I found this basic single ply wool at the craft store in bright mustard yellow and could imagine how a long cabled scarf would look - perfect for windy days. Cabled scarves are really nice to have in winter because they are thick and warm and really keep out the cold.

The only problem with my dream of the perfect cabled scarf is that I really dislike things that curl or look bad on one side. The solution is to make the cables reversible, its a little tricky to figure out upon first glance, but they are much easier to knit than they are to imagine.