Cappucino mousse, anyone?

Hello Friends,
I've been meaning to share this recipe since St. Valentine's Day, but somehow the last couple of weeks seem to have vanished in a time-warp of knitting cats, rhubarb, seed-sowing & meetings. 

I love to collect recipes & experiment with cooking new things, but I'm also a great re-visitor of my more 'vintage' recipes - those dishes I used to make frequently in the past, but have fallen out of my immediate repertoire. For Valentine's Day, the Big Hairy Half of the Relationship, no stranger to the kitchen himself, announced that he was cooking a meal & that all I would need to 'bring' was myself & dessert. This seemed a good time to resurrect my cappucino mousses.....a dessert I clearly hadn't made for at least 17 years, as the BHHOTR rather sniffily informed me that he'd never had the opportunity to try one!

There's a delightful kitschness to these, with their sprinkled snowy-swirled tops & little spoons in the saucers (sorry, I went a bit 'Nigella' there, for a moment.....), as they are served in coffee cups. The original recipe suggested using demi-tasse cups, which is essential if you need to serve 6 people, but if you are serving 4, or feel like making a pig of yourself, then standard cups are fine.

I've seen various mousse recipes over the years which seem to involve more la-di-dah fancypants preparation than I usually want to be bothered with. Not this one. Even people who say they 'can't cook' need not feel threatened, as the culinary skills set is so basic. Can you make a cup of instant coffee? Melt chocolate? Use an electric whisk? There's really no more to it than that.

Cappucino Mousses
175g dark chocolate (I use Waitrose or Co-op own-brand (fairtrade), though the well-known alleged tax-avoiding variety also works well. Avoid the very high-cocoa content premium brands for this, as I sometimes find they don't work as well in old recipes compiled before these brands became common-place)
1 tbsp good quality instant coffee granules
3 tbsp boiling water
2 egg yolks
5 egg whites 
60g caster sugar
5 tbsp double cream
142ml (ish) extra double cream to decorate
1 tsp cocoa powder

Break the chocolate into pieces & put in a heatproof bowl with the sugar. Dissolve the coffee in the 3 tbsp boiling water & add it to the chocolate. Now melt the coffee, chocolate & sugar together in the bowl set over a small pan of simmering water. 
While that's going on, separate the eggs & eat the leftover chocolate. You're doing the work making the dessert aren't you? Chef's anti-oxidants. Put the egg whites in a large bowl & the egg yolks in a mug. Check how the chocolate's getting on. 
When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat, & stir in the egg yolks. The chocolate is unlikely to be hot enough to scramble the yolks, but stir them in well, just in case. Put this mixture aside to cool for 10 mins.
Meanwhile, use an electric whisk to whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. If you can turn the bowl upside down over your head without them moving, they are probably stiff enough. Rinse the beaters & in a small bowl, whisk the 5tbsp of cream until stiff, & fold it into the chocolate mixture. 
Next take as big a blob of the egg whites as you can fit on a tablespoon without being silly about it, & fold it into the chocolate mixture. Now using a spatula, carefully scrape the contents of the chocolate bowl into the big egg white bowl & fold together gently until everything is nicely combined.
Spoon the mixture into 6 demi-tasse or 4 standard size coffee cups & leave to set in the fridge overnight. 

Next day - At some point before you want to eat them, whisk the rest of the cream until stiff, then pipe a swirl on top of each cup. Dust with a titchy bit of cocoa powder before serving. Pop each cup on a saucer with a teaspoon & let your guests think you have spent ages making something complicated.

Two useful things about this recipe - I like things which can be made the day before so I can get ahead. It leaves more time for a glass or two of wine when, with less foresight, you could have been running out of time. Technically, this should set in a few hours, but overnight is the really reliable option. Secondly, if you have any mousses leftover (i.e you have invited hairshirt-wearing dessert phillistines to your house), they will be fine in the fridge for another day. You might have had a really crap day at work by then, or or spent all day trying to avoid self-servative bozos on the telly, so a little treatypoo in the fridge awaiting the arrival of your frazzled self might be just what you need!
So there we have it - a slightly retro, very lovely dessert that I wish I'd re-discovered earlier. 
Did it go down well with the BHHOTR? It really did (until I suggested that I might serve it in our tiny espresso cups next time!)

Well, for Albert Whiskers fans, this has been his level of industry for pretty much all of today. It's been an all-day mixture of rain, sleet & sunshine, so he managed to blag the sunny end of the sofa & inspected the back of his eyelids for a few hours. However, he's now gone off to continue a Very Important Mission - to try & find the robbing gobbler who snuck through his catflap last night when everyone was immersed in watching the finale of 'Shetland' & stole his biscuits! He has taken an extremely dim view of this, has been over every centimetre of the interloper's route in, & I can only imagine what a pasting he (because it was probably Splodgy) or she (because it could just have been Champers) is going to get when he catches up with them! You'd think the smaller cats would avoid our house by now, as we always adopt these older ex-street cats, but they don't seem to learn.
Oh well, it feels like time to light the fire & put the kettle one.
Have a good weekend, everyone,
C x 

'The Quality of Silence' by Rosamund Lupton

Hello Friends,
Hands up who has missed seeing snow this year! Definitely me! Here in Newark, I estimate that we have seen around 17 grains of the stuff since the beginning of Winter. I was quite excited last week when weather forecasters predicted at least a couple of showers passing over our region, but what a big fib that was! Not a single flake. Admittedly, I do have quite strict parameters where snowfall is concerned. I like it to start on Friday night, create an icy weekend world for walks before conveniently thawing overnight on Sunday ready for the week ahead. This winter, when I've even had hardy geraniums in flower in January (how wrong is that?), I'd have settled for any snow, any amount, any time. Crisp bright cold winters are most definitely my thing. 

Amidst all the grey sogginess, I did read a fantastic book which provided a bit of a 'snow fix'. I thought I'd tell you about it, as I know I have many friends who share my love of reading. It's a novel by Rosamund Lupton, called The Quality of Silence, first published in 2015. The paperback edition is new this year, published by Piatkus, ISBN: 978-0-349-40815-6.

Now, you'll want a steaming cafetiere & a fireside if you're planning on tucking yourself up with this one. This is one seriously icy story. It is also a book I found difficult to put down, so I read it in a couple of sittings. I really detest reviews which contain spoilers, so I'm going to do my best to give a flavour, without revealing plot details:

The story begins on November 24th, when Yasmin & her 10-year old daughter, Ruby, fly out from England to Alaska. They are supposed to meet Ruby's father at the airport, but he isn't there. Instead, they are met by a policeman who says, 'Can't tell you anything yet, I'm sorry'. Information is hard to come by, but there has clearly been some disaster, now shrouded in secrecy. Yasmin won't accept the 'official line' & decides to journey into the depths of Alaska to find her wildlife photographer/film maker husband. It is winter time, & his last known whereabouts so close to the Arctic, that there is no daylight. This is a perilous journey that must be made in darkness in treacherous snow & ice, with a storm on its way. Although afraid for her small daughter's life, Yasmin refuses to leave her behind, for Ruby is profoundly deaf & they communicate through signing & a screen to voice computer programme. Much of the story is told through the voice of Ruby, & the relationship between her & her mother is one of the most enduring features of the story.
Another unforgettable feature is the cold. This is a story of endurance across a frozen landscape of eyeball-freezing temperatures. So strong is Rosamund Lupton's prose, I found I was at one point shivering with cold, willing Yasmin & Ruby to improvise some extra layers to keep them alive, while at the same time, having to pull a blanket around my own shoulders. For this IS a story about endurance. It is also a story about a mother/child bond, which has a strong environmental theme. Ruby's deafness is handled sensitively, & she is such a 'real' & positive character, that on finishing the novel, I felt I'd spent actual physical time in her company - the mark of a good writer, I think.
Without resorting to spoilers, I should add that the novel has many hallmarks of a thriller, for while Yasmin pushes herself to the limits of human endurance to find out what has happened to her husband, there is someone who is working just as hard to prevent this from happening. 
I hadn't read any other novels by this author, but will be adding them to my (endless!) reading list.

Don't miss this one! I can guarantee that once you have read it, you won't moan about having to walk to 'Spar' in the snow to fetch a pint of milk ever again! You may also find yourself signing petitions! I am highly recommending this novel. Beautifully written. I borrowed it from the library, read it, then purchased my own copy, as I knew it would be one I'd want to read again.

Sadly, 3 months of Soggy Grey has meant that I have no interestingly icy garden photos to share from this winter. I've had a root through our files, though, & found some old ones.

You can just make out all the cat paw prints in this one. It's from 2008. Our Resident Fur Friend back then was Willow - my beautiful grey tabby - another adult rescue cat with attitude, & still much missed.

 He didn't rate snow, but it had to be endured, as there were boundaries to check, neighbouring cats to monitor, old scores to settle, so he'd take a deep breath & push himself out through the cat flap into the snowy garden.

Not much snow in this picture, so chilly paws only. He was much less keen when greater snowfall meant it came up to his undercarriage, but he would still venture out. Willow was never someone to let his territory be enjoyed by other felines, even in the worst of weather.

Oh well.......the colder months are about done, so I'm unlikely to get any snowy walks now until next winter. We did manage a bit of one at Rufford Park last month, before it quickly melted away. The gardening season is almost upon me (5 aubergine seedlings up today!) so I shall have to concentrate on enjoying Spring.
Yours Snowlessly,
C x

Snowdrops, sweetpeas & Annoying Things

Hello Friends,
An extremely belated Happy New Year to you all. I don't know what's taken me so long with putting pen to paper. I've already bought 3 presents ready for next Christmas, so there's really no excuse!

The garden here at The People & Cats Republic is looking nicely snowdroppy. They were early this year. They're usually at their peak for Valentine's Day, but some are already past their best, & making way for 'Tete-a-tete' & 'February Gold' narcissus, & the many varieties of daffodil that are now heavily in bud. I braved the possibility of hideous arachnid encounters earlier this week & cleared out my half of the shed. I also finally got around to ordering our veggie seeds, & this morning, achieved my first greenhouse session of the new season. Fab couple of hours - warm sun on the panes & I was serenaded by a pair of bouncy robins. Albert Whiskers helped by staying out of the way, as there was an urgent matter behind the compost bins which required his full attention.

I sorted through my October-sown sweet-peas & removed a few mingers, before pinching them out to encourage stronger, bushier plants. I need them to be as strong as possible, as I know they'll come under attack from the Sparrow Mafia as soon as I plant them outside. Also sowed some penstemon seed. If it gets off to an early start, the plants will flower this year, & will still be providing colour as late as November, frosts permitting. You can see I'm using old CD cases as mini cloches. The Big Hairy Half of the Relationship had been having a clear-out & I rescued these from landfill as the completely transparent ones are useful at seed-sowing time.

These are the little strawberry runners I snipped off & potted up before Winter. I wasn't too hopeful about them as some didn't have much root, but with just a sprinkle of water now & again, they've all survived, so that's a dozen free extra plants to add to the strawberry barrel this year. 

More recycling here, as I often like to use big yoghurt pots for seeds, as they can enable a good root system. These are alium christophii, astrantia, sweet cicely & sysinchrium. Apparently they take a long time to germinate, up to 1 year. I don't know if they will bother as the seed is very old. It's so old, & I've failed to sow it for so many years (7, maybe?) that this task made its way onto my official Annoying Things lists.... which are new, motivating & extremely effective at getting rid of longstanding Annoying Things ONCE & FOR ALL!! 
What exactly qualifies as an Annoying Thing? Well, it is the sort of task which if you decided to do it, would probably take you less than half an hour & very probably just a few minutes or EVEN SECONDS!  Despite this, you walk past it several times a day (x days in a week, x weeks in a year, etc) & pretty much every time, you mentally berate yourself for still not actually having bothered to do it. The reason for not doing these tasks is rarely down to logistics, the state of the household economy, or ability to carry it out successfully. No, the reason........& come on, we can all think of tasks we've got at home like this.......is that despite seeing whatever job it is multiple times a day & it annoying me EVERY SINGLE TIME ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT FAIL, I still CBA to do it!! That's the truth of it. 
And so, this January, my Annoying Things lists were born. There are two of them. Annoying Things List 1 consists of all Annoying Things I can solve for free. Yes. Free. Without a single pence needing to be handed over to People with Skills or Purveyors of Goods. Annoying Things List 2 consists of things which involve expenditure of less than £20. Now, in case anyone thinks I'm racing my way through List 2 positively shedding £20 notes with gay abandon, wrong! One of the Annoying Things on this list cost 99p to solve, another cost 50p & one that I'd been putting off for simply ages came in at the dizzying total expenditure of........39p!! 
So, this morning, I was already intending to head down to the greenhouse to sow some penstemons & fanny about with sweetpeas & strawberry plants, so half way down the garden, I made myself turn tail & fetch the 4 packets of ancient seeds for sowing today. Will they even bother germinating after so long? No idea, but plants generally want to grow, so it's only fair to give them a chance. That's another Annoying Thing crossed off. I've already done a total of 25 Annoying Things this year & it really is quite weirdly satisfying! 

Well I shall sign out now, as I can hear some scrabbling around in the hall, which most probably means Albert Whiskers is beating up the doormat again. They get above themselves, those doormats, & need to be taught a regular lesson about who exactly is Boss in the hallway. 
Until next time, when I have a book review for all those who have missed having a 'proper' winter this year......simply the iciest book I've ever read, which on a couple of occasions actually had me reaching for another layer to put on, so great was the psychological effect of excellent writing & Arctic chill.
See you then,
C x

Happy Yuletide 2015

Hello Friends,
Feeling festive? I'm just taking a few minutes between squidging up the chestnut stuffing ingredients & making pastry to wish all our friends a Happy Yuletide. The turkey is defrosting, a scary amount of sprouts have taken up residence in the pantry, everything is ready for guests & I have only macaroon mince pies & star biscuits to bake before applying my backside to a chair with a glass of something & a wodge of Christmas Cake.

Fellow cat-owners will know it's touch & go this time of year whether the tree remains intact for longer than the two hours it took to put it up. So far so good here, but we had a wobble yesterday when Albert Whiskers climbed up behind the tree so as to get a better paw to a large red bauble he's clearly taken against. After several bashings, he got one of his slasher claws stuck in the metal hook at the top of the bauble. His solution to this? Well, it's never the sensible option of retracting their claws back into their feet is it? No, he pulled & pulled, branches swaying about all over the place, then had the genius idea of trying to walk away claw still attached, until the Bigger Hairier Cat Handler in the Relationship somehow managed to get cat & bauble uncoupled. Was he grateful? If he was, he showed it by chomping his rescuer twice on the foot, before ambling over to undo my bootlaces with his teeth! He is refusing to eat the food we got in for him over Christmas. The blackbirds will be pleased, but I have to wonder if it's a ploy to get more turkey. We shall soon see.

Well, I'm going to raise a toast to you all, & send you a 'virtual' piece of Christmas Cake.

Whether you are celebrating the birth of the son of your god, the older Midwinter Feast of Yuletide as we do, or are simply looking forward to some much deserved time off work & routine to spend with family & friends, we'd like send our best wishes for a happy, peaceful time. I know many of our friends will be thinking of the  people who are having a horrible time at the moment - the winter seas are unlikely to stop desperate people risking their lives trying to escape from countries devastated by war, not to mention people in our own communities who have been brought low by one of the most cruelly devisive governments ever, including our UK steelworkers & miners who will be hoping to find work in the new year.
I don't know what 2016 will bring, but we all have a voice & we need to use it, remembering the quotation about evil triumphing because good people do nothing.
Well, friends, if you don't have your sprouts on now, you know they'll not be cooked by tomorrow, don't you? And I have to get that cake cut & the kettle on.
Yuletide Blessings from us here at the Peoples & Cats Republic. 
C , S & AW xxx

Yuletide visit to Hardwick Hall

Hello Festive Friends,
Winter Solstice Blessings to you all! Oh for a crisp twinkly frost overnight to set off the magic. Sadly more amorphous grey & the promise of plenty of rain later for us here at the People & Cats Republic. Despite the lack of winter, Festive Things have been going on, kicking off with seeing Jethro Tull at Lincoln Cathedral last week, & this weekend, we visited Hardwick Hall (Derbyshire) for their festive offering. The Hall looked fabulous. Such a lot of work had obviously gone into the flowers, trees & lights, and we felt 'proper festive' afterwards. 

So I thought I'd share my photos. It's the first year we'd been to see the Christmas trimmings at the Hall, but I think they take place every year, so if you missed it & are within travelling distance from Derbyshire (v close to the M1), then there's always 2016.

.......and not forgetting the servants' quarters......where let's face it, most of my ancestors would have been confined.......actually, that would have been a promotion, mine would have been stone-picking & crow-scaring out in the fields.....scrubbing floors for the aristocracy? Luxury!

These pictures don't really do the displays justice, as they were stunning, particularly the rooms & Tudor stone stairways which were lit only by candlelight. Do visit next year if you didn't get the chance this time.

We stopped off for a family visit on the way home & exchanged gifts. We were given a big bag of chocolates. I had no sooner tipped them out when Albert Whiskers jumped up & started bashing them about. I didn't manage to get a picture of him in action, but this was afterwards, refusing to come down. He doesn't eat chocolate, so I can only assume it's a protest about this particular purveyor's tax status.

He's been pretty well behaved with the Christmas Tree so far, but has been busted for nosing around the presents a bit more enthusiastically than strictly necessary. I, on the other hand, have not yet felt, prodded or poked a single present. Oh, hang on, not quite true, as I did try to have a squint down a gap in some sellotape the other day.

Hope people are starting to feel at least a bit festive, anyway.
Time for a caffiene top-up........but do I need a 2nd cranberry & almond biscotti? Judging by tightness of skirt this morning, perhaps not!!
C x

Yuletide wreaths & naughty cats........

Hello Friends,

Give me strength!!.......All day with Albert Whiskers on 'wet playtime'. I've somehow managed to get most of my job list done, despite Cat Help. I've never yet found the performance of ANY practical task to be improved by the addition of feline assistance & I doubt I ever will. Despite everything (more of today's furred delinquency later), I've managed to make & hang my Christmas Wreath.

I always used to buy one, but having taken one apart to inspect construction, it seemed ridiculous not to have a go myself, as I have a garden full of greenery. I kept the frame from the one I dismantled & it looks like this:

A quick squish around the garden in the rain produced a basket of green........mostly spotted bay laurel, with some sprigs of manky conifer, holly, fir & 'shrub that looks like holly, but isn't'.......(not actually its botanical name!).

My other bits of high end equipment for this? A few foraged fir cones, some shiny red pound shop baubles & a roll of wired red ribbon from the same establishment..........all re-used from last year's supplies........ 

......& a roll of wire we had in the shed. That's it. It's the greenery that's key here. If you don't have much in the garden to use, get your wellies on & go for a bit of a forage. Good for the soul AND the wallet. Most cut evergreen stuff seems to last 2 or 3 weeks outside. I sprinkle mine with water if it looks like it's considering turning its toes up.
OK, so all you do now, is pick your most boring greenery to pad out the wire ring, cutting short lengths of wire to secure it where necessary. I used expiring conifer for that. Then continue to wire in pieces of green Yuley Loveliness, saving your best pieces for last, wiring on fir cones & baubles as you go. Finish with ribbons & hang. Greenery miles = approx.100 feet (though I concede that the pound shop ribbons & baubles were probably made in China). It isn't difficult because if it all looks as though it's going to fall apart, just stick a load more wire on it. Same principle as bras - underpins the action & keeps it all going in vaguely the right direction!

Anyone who saw Albert Whiskers in action today would quite rightly wonder how I managed to get anything picked, let alone knocked into a garland. This has been him today: I rushed upstairs to close bedroom door to prevent picking out of rancid claws on bed to find he was already on there. I swear he head-butted the cat-flap to fool me into thinking he'd gone out. Refused to get off bed. Had to lift him off & deposit him by the door where he reversed back & we had a repeat performance; Licked all the jelly off his breakfast & refused to eat the chunks; Meowed pathetically for my lunch. Was given some. Left it untouched on the sofa. Also meowed for coffee (x 3), a satsuma, crisps, a jammy ryvita & a tea-towel. Kept jumping on the yarn while I was stitching up a hand-knitted jumper (which is for a gift & has already been mended because he clawed it out of my knitting basket to play with). Meowed to go out of the front door (apparently cat-flaps are for wimps). I opened it. He ran upstairs instead. I locked the door back up again & had no sooner put the key away when he re-appeared & meowed to go out again. Opened it again. Ran out. Instantly ran round & sat under the lounge window yowling to be let back in. (Hard luck this time, matey, because I'm not moving!) He then proceeds to jump onto our front wall & meow piteously at all passers-by to let them know how badly he is treated, look its December, it's drizzling & I'm all alone out here because nobody cares & they don't feed me. USE YOUR BLOODY CAT FLAP!! Managed to get jumper finished. Head upstairs to wrap it. Checked I'd definitely re-locked the font door. He hears the handle & is there like a shot - meow, meow, meow, Oh please let me in, hard-hearted cat-hating one. I unlock & open the door. He just sits outside on the door mat & refuses to come in, & I swear he is actually smiling. No interest in coming down the garden with me to pick festive greenery....................until I'm back inside & the door is locked. Then, going in the back garden is suddenly his life's ambition, & no, he can't go through his cat-flap because he isn't a loser. Refuse to open the door. Start to construct wreath. For some reason, he thinks I'm serving up his dinner. Starts winding round my leg. No dinner forthcoming (those chunks are dry because YOU HAVE SUCKED ALL THE JELLY OFF!! I HAVEN'T SUCKED THEM. YOU DID IT!!) The leg-winding is now turning into leg-nibbling. Luckily I'm wearing jeans today, so it isn't as disconcerting as it is when I've got tights & boots on. However, I know from experience that a session of leg-nibbling can soon escalate into a chomp. Offered to play an impromptu game of Mousie to encourage him to burn off a bit of energy. Mousie is also apparently for no-marks today. Straight onto the windowsill instead to size up the cabling behind the TV unit. This is an area thoroughly verboten to cats, so naturally Albert Whiskers thinks it is some sort of magic grotto. He has also thought about going up the chimney. Now he is busy telling the Big Hairy Half of the Relationship who has just arrived home, how that I haven't fed him & he's almost starving away to a stick cat ........but it's consistent 'parenting' in this house today, because I've just heard the BHHOTR telling him that no new food is being opened for naughty jelly-lickers, so he'd better start making some serious inroads into those chunks RIGHT NOW! This is not unusual behaviour. This is Albert Whiskers on pretty much all wet days..........& some dry ones. <Sighs> 
Off to the kitchen to make a quiche now......give it 10 seconds & he'll be rocking up meowing for pastry.......
Hope you're all starting to feel at least slightly festive, anyway.....& that your furries are better behaved than ours.
Till next time,
C x

Sock knitting - thinking of having a go?

Hello Friends,
Well, it's been over a week since I promised a number of people who asked that I'd post some pictures of my latest hand knitted pair of socks, so here we are. 

It's hard to explain self-patterning sock yarn to people who haven't seen it. It's fab stuff. You buy it looking like this.....

.......this one is Regia 4-ply, Design Line by Arne & Carlos.....a Nordic-inspired range....& it knits up into this.......

without you having to do anything other than simply ordinary knitting.  You don't even need to do 'knit a row, purl a row' as socks are knitted in the round so stocking stitch is automatically formed by knitting every row. I've knitted heaps of socks over the years, for gifts, for myself & for sale. I must have made at least 70 or 80 pairs in total, from teeny tiny ones (they make a nice gift for a new baby) up to clod-hopping massive pairs to fit the bigger hairier half of the relationship. I've knitted a few plain pairs, or plain with contrasting ribs, heels & toes, but mostly I've used these self-patterning yarns, such as Regia, Opal & King Cole 'Zig-zag' so as to obtain maximum funkiness of sock for minimum effort. This is one of the most impressive sock yarns I've ever used. It really does look as though I've been slaving away over a fairisle chart for hours, when it really is just knit stitch & the cleverly designed yarn does all the work!

Now I have to admit that my first attempt at knitting socks many years ago was not a success. In fact, it ended in an impressive tantrum on my part! I managed to knit the first sock, but was unable to repeat this for the 2nd one which went hideously wrong. After 3 attempts at frogging & re-knitting, I ripped it off the needles, jumped on it (imagine a BBC bleep-style machine in overdrive & you'll have an idea of the language....), grabbed the first one, stomped to the door, marched out & hurled them both into the bin! Didn't try knitting them again until 2 or 3 years later when my good friend Hel bought me a ball of self-patterning yarn, a set of double-pointed needles & a sock pattern! This time, success! The trick is to start with a straightforward pattern to allow you to concentrate on learning the structure of the sock. Once you've mastered this, then it's time to try some lacy, textured, frilled or more arty pairs.

 If you've never knitted socks before, you don't need much gear - just 100g of 4-ply sock yarn (usually 75% wool & 25% polyamide) a set of 4 double-pointed needles (DPNs) in size 2.5, a row-marker (a little, usually beaded charm which sits on the needle so you can see where each new round begins or you can use a safety pin slipped onto the needle in the same way) & a darning needle. These socks are seamless, so the only sewing is to darn in the tail of yarn at the beginning & end. 

While socks look complicated, it really is just a case of not over-thinking it & following a pattern. To knit a simple pair of socks like the ones pictured, you need to know how to do the following:

 Cast on & off, knit, purl, decrease, count & measure (!). Every part of sock knitting uses just these or  simple variants of these skills.

100g of 4-ply sock yarn is sufficient to knit a pair of adult-sized socks. Even if I knit the biggest size, which is 10 -12, I still have sufficient yarn left to knit a pair of baby socks too. They make nice gifts because they're warm in winter, but the high natural fibre content allows the feet to breathe so I know many of the people to whom I've gifted hand knitted socks wear them all year round.

So find a pattern, have a look at all the lovely self-patterning sock yarns available & cast on a pair of warm lovelies for winter.

I should just add that if you've got one of these........

.........then do first make sure it is otherwise engaged. 

Sorry it took me longer than promised to get these pics on. I don't know where the last couple of weeks have gone. Off to make macaroon mince pies now. 

Till next time,

C x