Pensive Frog

Just to mix it up a little, I’m interspersing my Spring Break adventure with knitting content. It’s amazing how much beauty exists just a few hours outside of Seattle, I hope I can remember to get out and enjoy it! This is my favorite time of the year, before it gets hot, but [...]

As the last delicious moments of Spring Break swirl down the drain, I’ve been trying to cram the maximum amount of craftyness into the time I have left. I made a batch of buttermilk bread, from my Secrets of a Jewish Baker cookbook. I dyed a batch of Knitpicks merino sock yarn with [...]

Day two of our Skagit Valley adventure took us to Deception Pass, which features a freaky, freaky bridge. Views from the bridge are incredible, overlooking the San Juan Islands on one side, and something else pretty on the other side (I know, I’m terrible not to look these things up). I could only [...]

I know someone was here last week looking for such a craft, and I’ve just happened to stumble across a pattern for adorable chicken-shaped knitted Cadbury Creme egg cozies. I guess all you do is squeeze the chicks at the top to make them lay their eggs… Eww.

Pensive Frog is being updated, to try to better deal with some technical difficulties with comments and such. New knitting updates soon, and a new cute format, I promise!

I’ve just returned from a simply lovely jaunt in the Skagit Valley! April 1 marks the beginning of the tulip festival, when tens of thousands of cityfolk descend on the peaceful fields surrounding the towns of La Conner and Mt. Vernon. We came a few weeks early, and were treated to empty fields, [...]

If you know the answer to that question, you know a pretty saucy joke. Pensive Frog is on the road!

Right when I was learning how to knit, I spied a pattern in Interweave Knits for a DNA scarf! I thought, how cool, but I’ll never be advanced enough to try that… Just now I found a free DNA scarf pattern, that was designed by a biology grad student at Rutgers. Since I’m [...]

Here’s my fuzzy felted frog! He needs some facial features, doesn’t he?

Since last night was St. Patrick’s Day, we had our traditional feast: corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, soda bread, Guinness, and a new addition for this year, tarte tatin:

This is a pre-inversion pic. It was quite yummy, and the recipe was easy. [...]

Remember when knitting scarves was supposedly EASY? I just got my copy of Pam Allen’s Scarf Style, and there are so many fun projects in there I’m itching to start on.
NO! THE STASH MUST BE DEPLETED!
Huh? That was weird… well, I can’t wait to get down to Village Yarn & Tea and [...]

Oh, just chillin’ on my lilypad…

Here’s my variation on Schmeebot’s Felted Bunny. Since she doesn’t give specific instructions, I had to wing it. Turns out bunny ears are different than frog ears, in that frogs don’t have ears. At first, my frog looked like a hammerhead shark (something to file away for [...]

If anyone has tried to comment recently, but couldn’t, that’s because comments were broken for a while. Oops! They’re functional again, so comment away!
This morning I was at the dentist, and I saw the coolest innovation in the Real Simple I was paging through. It looks like Crisco vegetable oil has applied [...]

I really get a kick out of some of the search terms that lead people to this page. My recent favorite is “Free Knitted Long Underpants”. People, it’s winter, but I don’t think it’s EVER that cold. Unless there are some imprisoned long johns out there that I am unaware of. [...]

This is my latest UFO - a variation on the Fluffy Cuffs Mittens from Stitch n’ Bitch. The cuffs are leftover Manos del Uruguay. The main part is Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky. I was working on these at the LFP Knitting meetup last week, and boy, did I improvise! I missed [...]

For a short time every spring, I think the UW turns into the most beautiful college campus in the world! At least this part. I didn’t take pictures of the dozens of ugly construction zones. Those of you that live in Seattle, get thee to the quad before the rain comes again, [...]

Last night’s LFP Knitting Meetup Group was an uber-success! It’s so nice to have people show up. And not just show up, but bring an exciting array of projects and tips on local (and not-so-local) yarn shops. So cool, I’m glad that’s working. Just before the meeting, I stopped by Rite-Aid [...]

Here is my in-progress umbrella scarf, as worn by a giraffe. Why is it called an umbrella scarf? You know the old saying about ‘if you take an umbrella, it won’t rain’? I’m hoping that by knitting a scarf, the weather will turn warm for good. The pattern is from Last-Minute [...]

So much attention is given to those who are actually good at using Photoshop. What about people like me, who use Photoshop for evil, instead of good? I present to you, the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch n’ Bitch, as worn by a chihuahua.

Do you like what I did with the swirly stars?

I found a great recipe for quick, tasty chocolate cookies yesterday! The recipe only uses one bowl (not the typical use of separate bowls for wet and dry ingredients), and only 2 T of butter for the whole batch. The consistency is somewhat like amaretti cookies, crunchy on the edges, and porous and [...]

I’m so proud that Pensive Frog is the number one site returned for a Google search on “Jeff Probst Choker Photo”. Boy, they must have been disappointed. I hope they meant choker as a noun, not as an adjective. Well, everyone who is here looking for Jeff Probst, here you go.
It’s actually [...]