A Delight: Turkish Bed Socks

I just finished knitting the Turkish Bed Socks. They were a fun knit and are very comfortable to wear. I think they would be a great gift. The yarn I used is Louet MerLin, because I thought the linen in the yarn would make them sturdier, since I had planned to wear them as slippers around the house.

Changes I made:

(I am sorry, apparently I am not good at following instructions and make changes to almost every pattern I knit.)

Instead of casting off the stitches I ignored them and worked the heel on the middle stitches only as instructed. Later I used those live stitches and knit them together with the heel stitches. This way I avoided any seaming.

The other change I made is the toe. I don’t know what it is called, but it is very similar to decreasing for a hat. I used it because last month I talked socks with my MIL. She said that the toe I used to make is sturdier, because the band of decreases in a traditional toe tends to have gaps and get holes quickly. The funny thing is that I could not remember making the decreases that way.  An old pair of socks that I had knit for my husband proved me wrong. This is how I made it:

Divide the stitches evenly onto 4 needles.

Decrease round: *knit every stitch until you have 3 stitches left, k2tog, knit 1* , repeat 3 times

1. 1 Decrease round, knit 3 rounds even
2. *1 Decrease round, knit 2 rounds even* repeat twice
3. *1 Decrease round, knit 1 round even* repeat three times
4. Decrease every round until there are 8 – 12 sts left
5. Close the opening with kitchener stitch

I like the Turkish Bed Socks very much. They are cozy, cute and quick to knit. Next time I would like to make the instep a bit higher for even a better fit. I can also imagine playing with different colours or adding a stitch pattern to the top of the foot.

But the best thing about these socks is that froggyster gifted the pattern to me. Thank you, that was so very kind of you!

From Sketch to Cake

My kids know that for their birthdays I make whatever cake they want (even if it does not involve any baking (shudder)).

Two weeks ago my youngest turned 11 and she is the one who will challenge me to make a cake I have never made and don’t have a recipe for. Last year it was the Chocolate Mint Cake, this year she showed me this sketch using Cake Doodle:

I had recently made a Red Current Cake with a meringue topping and she wanted something similar, but with more layers and a chocolate base. When her birthday came around there were no more currents left, so I sent her into the woods with her brother to pick some Huckleberries. My husband was glad they came home safely, because we all know what happened to   Haensel and Gretel ; )

I found a recipe for a layered meringue cake and made some changes to it. Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Meringue Cake with Huckleberries

Batter

150g butter
150g sugar
20g Vanilla Sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract ( add 20g of sugar if using vanilla extract)
3 eggs
120g flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Line two 10 inch (25cm) cake pans with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking powder and cocoa in a bowl. Mix well. In a separate bowl beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, add eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture and beat until well combined.

Divide batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 15 minutes.

Meringue

4 egg whites
150g sugar

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form,  add sugar very slowly and beat for several minutes more until a slice with a knife remains visible.

Spread the meringue on top of the pre-baked  cake in the two cake pans and bake another 10 to 15 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely.

Filling

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar
1 pck Dr. Oetker Whip It
1 1/2 cups huckleberries ( or currents, sour cherries etc.)

Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form, add the sugar and the Whip It. Continue beating until quite firm. Fold berries gently into the cream.

Assemble cake like a sandwich: one cake on the bottom, one on top and the whipped cream in the middle. Top the cake with a few chocolate sprinkles.

The cake is best eaten fresh.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the actual cake, but it looked like this ( I have been a bad blogger, I know):