WIPs and FOs

This is going to be a FO Friday of a different, non-fibery sort (but don't worry, there will be fiber, too).

So I've been perusing Pinterest lately. Don't know what Pinterest is? I'm sorry, but you're going to have to find out someday. It's as much of a timesuck as Facebook, Ravelry, and my blogger list (of blogs I read). Seriously, it's addictive. It's like a totally different way to organize bookmarks and funny things around the interwebs.

Anyway, I've been perusing Pinterest and I came across a pin that looked like something I'd want to make: flourless four-ingredient peanut butter cookies.

Yes, you read that correctly: FOUR INGREDIENTS.

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical because, really, four ingredients?! But, I thought I'd try it.

Anyway, the basic recipe is that you take a cup of peanut butter, a cup of sugar, an egg, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix it all together. You then plop dollops on a cookie sheet, do the thing with the fork, and bake for 10-12 minutes in a pre-heated 350°F oven.

Simple. To the point.

Anyway, I didn't wind up taking prep pictures of the first batch. But, the above photo is before they went into the oven.

I did a few things to this recipe to make it mine and I kept some things the same...and some things had to be changed or the health department wouldn't like it.

So........what did I do?

I kept the four ingredients...sort of :)

1 c. chunky peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
some almond extract (no, I didn't measure; I just poured some in)

When I was done mixing it, I took small dollops of it in my (clean) hands, rolled it into a ball, plopped it into a bowl of sugar and rolled it around in the sugar, put it on the cookie sheet, and did the fork thing (that's where we're at in the above photo). I then put them in the pre-heated 350°F oven.

No, we haven't gone in the oven yet

Anyway, I left them in there for 11 minutes and checked them out. Nope...still not quite done. I kept them in for another 3-4 minutes and they came out a bit flat but perfect otherwise. So, in translation, they needed to cook for more like 15-18 minutes.

After the first batch, I repeated the process except I used creamy peanut butter instead of chunky. These ones turned out a bit better.

Mmmmmm....peanut butter....

Mmmmmm........sugar

We're melting, melting! Blarg!

Okay, they didn't really melt. But they were done a bit more how I thought they should be...fluffy and fat and kind of look like they melted. I didn't photograph the out-of-oven evidence and I doubt they're going to last much past tomorrow.

Little Man loves them. If there wasn't a raw egg in the batter, I would have just let him eat that.

So, that's my FO of the week :) Non-fibery, tasty goodness.




But I mentioned WIPs, too. And I have WIPs of a different, fibery sort. I've been making love to my yarn for awhile now as evidenced by my FOs and WIPs. Unfortunately, it means that I've neglected Viktor.

Viktor is my Majacraft Pioneer that I've had almost two years now. I haven't had an affair with him since before we moved to California. So.......I've been in a bit of a knitting funk lately and I've been eying Viktor in the other room off and on for about a week and a half now. I decided now was the time. I went into the other room, grabbed him and the nearest bag of fiber (some dyed BFL by The Fairy Yarn Mother that I bought....well, I don't remember offhand but I know the receipt is still in the bag), and sat down and spun. I divided the braid first...I'm not 100% sure it was the exact middle but it looked like it so I went with it.

The colors aren't quite as bright as they're showing up but I took the photo around 11:30pm and it was dark and my only light was a yellow-casting table lamp. So, iPhone camera flash to the "rescue." This is the half I didn't spin.

This was when I was about halfway through the half of the braid that I was spinning. It's mostly a dark purple and medium blue (almost a Tardis blue) but there are some much darker and lighter sections of each.

This is after I spun the first half of the braid. The white string/strap is the bag holding the rest of the fiber.

I'm surprised how well this turned out for not having spun in probably 6 months or more.

The idea is that I'm going to spin the other half on another bobbin and then ply the two together. I'm thinking that I'll have somewhere around a fingering or sport weight when I'm done. If I'm lucky, I'll have at least 250 yds. If it turns out well, I'm thinking of 198 yds. of Heaven, depending on how the color changes look in the yarn. We'll see. I have to spin the other half and find my Lazy Kate before I even think about what I'm going to make with it.

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely Friday and I'll, hopefully, be back on Sunday with a Year of Projects update :)