Hand knitted socks

When I told a friend that I started hand knitting socks, they said 'how pointless when you can buy 5 pairs for a pound'. I think that they were missing the point. There is little more luxurious than slipping on a pair of soft, lovingly hand knitted socks. The ones I have made have mostly been quite chunky bed / slipper socks. This makes them a bit more different from bought socks, and also means they are quicker and less fiddly to knit!

I have gifted two pairs to friends so far, perhaps they were just being kind but they seemed chuffed...

Chunky hand knitted bed socks

For your first pair, I would recommend using a 'super chunky' double knit yarn. I used a soft blend of acrylic and wool, so that they would feel luxurious but be machine washable. You'll need about 150g, depending on the size. I have UK women's size 7 feet but the pattern is easily adjusted.

You'll need:

• 150g double knit yarn
• Four double pointed needles: the biggest  could get were 6mm, this worked fine
• Yarn needle

Instructions

This project needs a few more techniques than was covered in previous blog posts, with knitting in the round and heel and toe shaping. I was quite worried about this but managed to complete  my first pair (above) without any help from my aunt or grandmother so it wasn't that hard!

Step 1

Step 3 - first stitch in the round

1. Cast on 20 stitches across 3 of the 4 double pointed needles (dpn). This is probably the most difficult part and take care than stitches don't slip off one needle which you're working on the next. Split stitched roughly evenly between the needles 1, 2 and 3. 
2. Make sure the 'bobbley' bit of the stitches are face up, and that the yarn isn't twisted between the needles. 
3. Continue to knit in the round. This means use the fourth needle to continue your knitting by transferring stitches from needle one onto it, through knitting. When you finish the row this will liberate needle one, which you can then use to continue knitting the next row on needle two and so on. The first row is quite tricky, but this is by far the hardest part. You don't need to alternate between purl and knit when you are knitting in the round, which means that once you get going it is quite relaxing! 



Step 3 - after first two rows in the round

4. When you have knitted about 4 inches of circular knit, increase by two stitches. Do this by starting to knit the stitch as you would usually, but once you have wrapped the yarn and put the needle to the front, before you slip the stitch off the needle, reinsert the needle into the back of the stitch and wrap the yarn again. This will create two stitches out of one and is called 'knitting into the front and back of the stitch'. Do this twice, 10 stitches apart. 
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Step 4 - knitting into back of stitch (1) 

   
   

   

   Final stage of step 4

   

   Step 4 - knitting into back of stitch (2)
5. Now it's time to turn the heel. You now have 22 stitches, transfer 11 so they are on one needle. Knit across 10 stitches, one before the end of the row. 

   

   Step 5

   
   

   

   Step 6 (a)

   
   

   

   Step 6 (b)

   
   

   

   Step 6 (c)

6. Bring yarn forward between needles, slip last stitch to right needle (a), bring yarn to rear of work (b), slip titch back to left needle (c). There is now a wrap around the base of the stitch. 
7. Turn the work and purl in the other direction until there is one stitch remaining. Take yarn backwards between needles, slip last stitch to right needle, bring yarn to front, slip stitch back to left needle. Turn work. 
8. Knit until one stitch before the 'wrapped' stitch. Repeat step 6. Continue until you have three wrapped stitches on each end. 

   

   Step 9 (a)

   
   
   
   

   

   Step 9 (b)

   
   

   

   Step 9 (c)

9. Now you need to re-knit your wrapped stitches. Knit to the first wrapped stitch (a) and slip that stitch onto the right needle, using the left needle, pick up the wrap (b) and place the slipped stitch back to the left needle. Knit the stitch and the wrapped stitch together, through the back loop (c). Bring yarn forward, slip last stitch to right needle, bring yarn back to rear of work, slip stitch back to left needle. Turn work. Repeat on the purl side.
10. Repeat step 9, transferring two wraps when there are two wrapped stitches until all wraps have been knitted together. 

    

    The heel is finished

11. Continue knitting the sock in the round until the sock measures 4cm less than the length of the foot.
12. Knit the toe in the same way as the heel, making sure that your 11 stitches are on the upper side of the sock so the seam is less visible when you finish. 
13. When the toe is finished, slip stitches from the other two needles onto one so there are 11 on each. Knit together with kitchener stitch.

You may have some little holes around joins but just sew them up with your yarn. Now, repeat the whole pattern for the other sock!

Variations

You can use this basic pattern to make different socks. For the cream pair I used very chunky wool so only cast on 18 stitches. The rest of the pattern was the same. 

For the grey pair, I used 3mm dp needles as the yarn was finer. I cast on 32 stitches and increased by 6 instead of two for the foot. I also did some ribbing at the top. This is achieved by alternating two purl stitches with two knit stitches and looks nice as well as creating stretch around the ankle. 

 Good luck! Next I'm going to try cable knit socks and jumpers!

Helen x

The ultimate homemade luxury: homemade florentines

In my view these jewelled beauties are the ultimate homemade luxuries. They are really quite simple to make but look impressive and are delicious with coffee or as an after dinner treat. I made a box this year for my grandparents.

Fruit and nut mixture for the florentines

Ingredients

Chopped blanched almonds and glace cherries

I don't usually like baking things which have lots of ingredients, but most of these things you will already have in the cupboard, and for the fruit and nuts you can mix and match with what you already have. Particularly around Christmas, you will probably find that you have lots of these things already. 

50g butter

125ml double cream

125g sugar

150g candied fruit (a mix of glace cherries and citrus peel is nice, but I threw in some dried cranberries into this mix as I had some in the cupboard. If you like ginger you could add some finely chopped stem ginger)

200g toasted nuts (this could be just flaked almonds, but you can use chopped blanched almonds, pecans, hazlenuts)

50g plain flour

250g chocolate (I usually use about 50% cocoa solids, but see below)

Toasted flaked almonds and hazlenuts

Method

1. First prepare your fruit and nuts. If you are using whole hazlenuts or almonds that still have their skins on, you will first need to remove the skins. For the almonds, blanch them in boiling water, leave them in their for 5 minutes and then they should pop out of their skins. For the hazlenuts, roast them and then rub them vigorously  in a tea towel to remove the skins.

2. If you are using glace cherries, wash off the syrup with hot water and then cut them into quarters. Chop any other fruit or nuts into equivalent size pieces but don't worry too much about this - it creates a nice texture if the bits are different shapes and sizes. 

3. Next heat the butter, sugar and cream until it is homogenous and liquid. 

Step 4

 4. Then stir in the flour and fruit and nuts.

 5. Spoon a full teaspoon of the mixture onto a baking sheet covered with greeseproof paper and press it down slightly into a circle

 6. Fill the sheet with these circles, leaving a good space between them

Step 4

Step 6

 7. Bake the biscuits at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes until they start to turn golden. This will happen quite quickly so keep an eye on them!

Step 7 - baked florentines

 8. Take the baking paper off the trays and lie it flat so that the biscuits set flat. They will be quite flexible still at this stage so be careful.

Step 9

9. Melt the chocolate in a glass or ceramic bowl over a pan of water, or microwave it carefully. You can use one type of chocolate or use a mixture of dark, milk and white chocolate if you want a selection of florentines. I tend to mix dark and milk chocolate together to make one sort of florentine that is slightly bitter but not too dark.

10. When they are cool (about an hour later) turn the biscuits the other way up on a tray or plate and cover them in chocolate.

Step 10

 Package your florentines in a box lined with aluminium foil with a layer of foil in between layers if you are doubling up. Tie the box with a pretty ribbon if you are giving the florentines away.

Finished box of 18 florentines, with 10 left over for eating!

Blackberry bounty

How to make the most of a delicious blackberry crop

I love this time of year. Breezy and warm, you can start wearing light knits and dig out your knee high boots... It's also perfect for one of my favourite activities - blackberrying. I heard somewhere that this was a good year for blackberries, and was very pleasantly surprised to find a glut growing along the canal even in my city location. As a country girl by heart, this was very pleasing! I picked nearly a kilogram of them and then set about making some goodies....

Blackberry and Apple Gin

I have infused vodka and gin with fruit in previous years with very good results but haven't tried this particular combination before. After a quick google though I saw that it had good reviews so I thought I would give it a go. I'll update you with some photos and taste reviews in November when it is ready!

Early stages of gin infusion

 For this blackberry and apple gin I used:

225g cooking apple, peeled and cored
225g blackberries (give them a good wash first and let them dry - you don't want to dilute the gin)
150g sugar
600ml gin (decent quality but don't use mega expensive stuff)

I put all the ingredients in a big (1.5l) jar so that it would be easy to shake up over the coming weeks to dissolve the sugar. In a couple of months I'll strain the mixture through muslin and put it in a pretty bottle.

This cost about £10 to make but you could do it cheaper with cheaper gin. I just made a small batch as it was my first try but if it is a success I will be making more next year as they make fab presents and improve with a couple of years' storage.


Two months later....

I passed the gin through a sieve which was enough to remove the bits of fruit and give a lovely coloured clear gin. If there are bits still in there though, strain it through some muslin.

I used some brown card luggage labels and MY NEW STAMP(!!) to label this bottle. This was a present from a good friend who obviously knows me very well. After trying out this stamp I went a bit 'stamp mad' and ordered quite a few things so expect to see more crafts with stamps in my next post!

Blackberry and Apple Jam

Blackberry and apple are a winning flavour combination and this is a great jam to make as apples are high in pectin so you don't need to add any and it sets easily.

Make this jam as for strawberry and rhubarb with half sugar and half fruit. I used half and half apple and blackberry but if you have loads of blackberries you could go up to 70% berries it might just take a bit longer to set.

Ingredients (for 2 large jars)

300g blackberries
300g cooking apples, peeled and cored
half teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)
600g sugar

Method

Stew the apple for a little first with a small quantity of water if needed as it takes a little while to break down, if it needs help when it get a bit soft use a potato masher to break it up. Add the blackberries and sugar and bring to the boil. It will go a fabulous colour!

Jam near setting point

Test the set often (see strawberry and rhubarb jam post) as it will not take long at all once the sugar is added (mine was 15 minutes) and a loose set is preferable to a very firm one. Pour into sterilised jars, cover with a wax disc and seal. Have with toast or crumpets when you need cheering up or give some to a friend!

Jam jar ready to give away - great colour!

And what to do with the rest....

Blackberry and apple compote with yogurt

My Granny has an apple tree in her garden and every year there is a big harvest which she makes into compote and freezes to use the whole year for a simple pudding with yogurt or in pies or crumbles. This is quite a labour of love with apples but is worth it I promise! If you managed to harvest lots of backberries then you can freeze them directly to use in smoothies etc or this year I made some into a blackberry and apple compote with cinnamon. The ratio of blackberry: apple doesn't matter here at all, just stew it up in a pan, add brown sugar to taste and a half teaspoon of cinnamon per 500g fruit. 

Try it with yogurt for a virtuous breakfast (yummy with homemade granola!) or pop it in the freezer for use in a crumble later on. 

Apple and blackberry compote for freezing

Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam

Finished jam 

This is my absolute favourite jam. Even if you don't like rhubarb you will like this, as the flavour is very subtle and somehow seems to bring out the strawberry-ness of the strawberries.

Ingredients

500g strawberries (not too ripe)

600g rhubarb

1.1kg sugar

1 packet pectin

Juice of one lemon

The pectin and lemon are used here as strawberries and rhubarb are both low in pectin and acid which are needed to let the jam set. You could also substitute the sugar for jam sugar and leave out the pectin but jam sugar is quite a bit more expensive. I have got a good set before using only lemon juice but I would try with pectin first unless you don't mind your jam being a bit runny.

This recipe made me 5 jars of jam but one was a large kilner jar.

I got my fruit from a market so spent £2.50 on it overall. The best thing of course would be for you to use homegrown fruit! I would encourage you not to use supermarket strawberries and they can be very expensive and sometimes a bit tasteless. If you have kids you might want to go to a pick your own strawberry farm. I did this last year and made the jam on the day which gave it an amazing fresh flavour. If you have lots of rhubarb available but not many strawberries (which may well be the case if you grow your own rhubarb which is very prolific!) then you can reduce the ration to 1:2 strawberries to rhubarb. This still has a great strawberry flavour if you use nice strawberries. 

Method

• Chop the rhubarb into approx one inch chunks although don't bother being precise as the rhubarb will break down in cooking. Wash it. 

• Place the rhubarb and sugar in the pan which you will use to boil the jam. Don't try and use a small pan for this as it will take ages and be difficult to stir! Leave the rhubarb in the pan with the sugar while you sterilise the jars (see previous post on plum chutney if you don't know how) and chop the strawberries so it's starts releasing it's juice.

•  Chop the strawberries into quarters (these will mostly stay whole through cooking) and add to the pan.  Add the pectin and lemon juice. 

•  Turn the hob up to high and stir to stop the sugar burning. In a few minutes the sugar will melt and the jam start to bubble. Bring it to the boil and stir occasionally 

• After about 20 minutes test the set of your jam but spooning a small amount onto a cold plate. Let the jam cool and then run your finger through the circle of syrup. If the jam wrinkles when you push it it is set. This is the only difficult bit of making jam but it is worth being patient and testing a few times or your jam will be very runny (I have to admit mine was a bit runny on this go as I was inpatient but it is still delicious). 
• Once setting point is reached take your jam off the heat and leave to cool until the jam is about 90 degrees (this is hard to do exactly without a thermometer but use your best guess). 
• Spoon the jam into sterillised jars which are still warm. The jam being hot will help keep it sterilised so don't leave it too long. Put waxed discs on to of the jam and seal the jars. This time I used a kilner jar for me as I use lots of this jam and wanted to have a big jar for the summer! Kilner jars are quite expensive but if you want to give a special present you might want to use one. I got mine from a charity shop for £1 and intend to reuse it but to buy new they cost about £3. 
• As for the chutney, get creative with your labeling if you want your jars to look pretty. I think that extra 10 minutes at the end is well worth it to package your beautiful homemade preserves.

•  Try this jam simply on toast, stirred into rice pudding, on porridge, with granola and yogurt....

Variations

Of course if you are a purist strawberry jam lover you could make this with just strawberries. 

The addition of vanilla is also a nice touch but remember to use natural vanilla essence or a vanilla pod (which you should take out before spooning the jam into jars). 

Cost

This batch of jam cost me about £4 to make (for 5 jars) but depends a lot on how much you spend on fruit!