Pipkin Knits - my new shop!

I have started a Folksy shop to try to use up and sell off some of the massive stash of yarn I have accumulated over the last few years! I will mostly be making toy animals, but I might also have the odd accessory/ pet toy for sale. I'm just going to see how it goes!

The shop is named after my bunny Pipkin, because I was a bit stuck with what to call it. So, without further ado, the link:

Pipkin Knits

I only have two things up for sale at the moment, but I have a few other half completed bits that will hopefully be added soon.

Bye for now!

Job Hunting

Last week I had three job interviews! After getting nothing for ages it was quie a relief. They all went pretty well, and I've been offered a casual post office job that starts in a couple of months. It will be dull but it's better than nothing! Still waiting to hear back from the others. I might end up with two jobs! :D

I had another rescue last week. It was a collared dove this time that had jumped the nest too young and couldn't fly. He seemed healthy otherwise so Tiggy's will look after him until he's old enough to look after himself and then he should be released :) Happy ending!

I've also been knitting this guy for the past week or so. The pattern was really cute and easy to follow. I think I will probably make some more at some point! I gave him a scarf to disguise the fact that I sewed his arms on a bit low giving him a reeeally long neck, lol. 

 

Interview, knitting, and CROCHET!

Had my RVC interview on Wednesday! At the moment I’m thinking I probably haven’t got in, but it depends on how everyone else did I think. Some of the stations were really good and others were really bad :( The RVC are interviewing until the 21^st March, so I won’t hear anything until after then. It seems so loooong to wait! 

Even though the interview wasn’t amazing it was nice looking around the campus. I have been to the Hawkshead campus on an open day but I hadn’t visited Camden campus before. There is a little anatomy museum inside which is really cool; lots of skeletons and pickled animal parts! Some of the skeletons spilled over into the cafe as well. I was sitting in there waiting for my interview next to an elephant skeleton which was pretty cool. 

If I get in I had been planning on travelling in every day since it’s not that far, but now I kind of want to live in halls again, lol. I didn’t really like living in halls at Nottingham but the RVC ones seem really nice and they are just 2 minutes from the uni building which would be nice (instead of being a 2 hour bus journey away).

Moving away from interview-speak: I have knit this!

 

Isn’t it cute? It is a bed bug from this book that I mentioned a few posts ago. I did make him a hat like the example in the book but it didn’t fit him very well :( Think it needs some larger needles.

Two bedbugs together

Ooh, also I tried crochet. I think the yarn I have is a bit thick for my hook size (I only have two hooks at the moment and they’re both quite small) but it didn’t turn out as badly as I expected. At first I wanted to go running back to the knitting needles but after a while I decided it wasn’t so bad. I haven’t attempted an actual pattern yet, I think I will get some better sized hooks first. I look forward to trying some amigurumi patterns though.

This picture isn’t of my very first attempt (which I seem to have lost) but is just some single crochet practice:

 Bye for now!

Lucy

Christmas knits

It has come to my attention that I haven't posted anything knitty in a while! So here are a couple of things I have made recently.
Firstly, a hot water bottle cover, which I finished just two days ago although it was supposed to be a Christmas present. Oops!

 

It's dark blue on one side and light blue on the other but the photos have changed the colour a bit. I'm happy with the cable side but the other one went a but yucky along the edges when I changed from knit to purl :( Oh well, it's functional and that's what counts!

Next is a scarf which I knitted for meeeee. I made a few with the same pattern for Christmas and they knit up really quickly and don't use too much wool which is nice. You can see another one I made for Kerry at her blog. It's in a picture with a little bunny I knitted for her a couple of years ago. I think I have improved since then! Hehe

 

I'm currently knitting a pattern from this book, just for fun.The patterns are all soooo cute! I got the book for my birthday last year but all I've made from it so far is a few nano hamsters. I aim to make all of the patterns at some point, and an army of hamsters! Next blog post I'll hopefully have a finished item to show you.

In other news, I was rejected from Nottingham vet school. Not too surprised because they are a bit biased against graduates but I would have liked at least an interview first! RVC was my first choice anyway, so it just means I have to do super good at my interview next week and hopefully get an offer. Eek! I'm very very scared. I hope I don't mess up.

Oooh, also I had a haircut today! I've been putting it off for ages so it's quite a relief, lol. I won't look quite so scruff at interview now. :D

That's about it for now, bye!

Lucy

Long time no type

Again, it’s been a long time since my last update! Sorry about that.

I don’t think I updated about my stable work experience! I was there for a week and it was slightly disappointing, but at least I have some horse experience now. I spent most of my time forking straw and poo onto the muckheap. Fun! I also groomed a few horses, learned how to tack up and muck out. It was very very tiring although I did get used to it by the end of the week. I think I probably built up some muscles too! :D

Yesterday I started at a smallholding with free-range chickens, turkey, sheep, pigs, ducks and geese. There aren’t that many animals so not an awful lot to do but I learned a lot about the diseases affecting the animals there. One of my favourites was blackhead disease in turkeys . It’s caused by a protozoan (single-celled) parasite called Histomonas meleagridis which is transmitted by a nematode (multi-cellular, worm-like parasite) called Heterakis gallinarum. The parasitology geek in me found this super interesting. The disease affects the liver and caecum and turns the head of a turkey a blue-ish colour. The only drug against the parasite was withdrawn a few years ago so it mostly has to be managed by practising good hygiene.

I also met a hen and her foster babies – two ducklings she had been given to hatch. They were just a couple of days old and only just starting to eat food. They were soooo cute! They love their mum too, she hasn’t worked out they’re not chickens yet!

Got to ear-tag some lambs as well. They have two blood vessels running through their ears so you have to make sure the tag is in between those. It was quite a challenge because lamb ears are small and they don’t appreciate being pinned down and prodded so they were pretty wriggly. Luckily I did it ok and there was no blood explosion!

Ooh, I also have an interview to be a volunteer rescuer/ambulance driver for a wildlife rescue! It sounds really exciting so I hope I get it. I will have to do a few training days in rescuing wildlife which should be fun, and a chance to learn about wild animals which I’m not super knowledgeable about.

In other news, I started knitting a sky scarf! The idea is to knit two rows of the scarf each day using the weather to decide what colours to use. I have a feeling mine is going to have lots and lots of grey in it given the wonderful weather in the UK.

I’ll try not to leave my updates so long this time!

Bye for now!

Lucy

Latest knit!

I finished this yesterday. I haven't finished weaving all the ends in yet and I haven't blocked it so it looks a bit lumpy still. I think it came out ok though! Especially since I had to alter the pattern quite a lot because it was only in extra small. I would have preferred it a bit longer but no way am I starting again now, lol.

(Pattern)

I bought the yarn on a whim cause it was on sale in Hobbycraft. It is Sirdar Balmoral which is 73% wool, 25% alpaca and 3% silk. Don't ask me where that extra percent came from, lol. It wasn't as soft as I expected but still nice to knit with. I think it's probably being discontinued which is why it was on sale.

That's all for now!

Lucy

Oooowls!

I have become a little obsessed with watching these baby owls on webcam the past couple of days. The tawny owl baby is currently sitting in the opening to the nest. Will he jump? Can he fly? Terribly exciting stuff... The barn owl babies are very cute too, though still in the bald jelly bean stage.

Anyway, other than that I haven't been doing an awful lot. I have been reading quite a bit, which is nice because I haven't had a chance to with exams. I have also been knitting this which is a nice pattern. I'm taking a break for now because the stitch I'm on at the moment is a pain. Plus I have a few other knitting projects that have kind of taken over.
Here's how it looks so far:


I have also been going to volunteer at the rescue most mornings. Tomorrow will be the last Sunday I go :( I will hopefully get to go one day during the week as well but then that will be it D: I'm sad I never managed to adopt any of the animals. There are two groups of rats in at the moment who are gooorgeous. I would love some ratties but I don't think my mother would approve. If I'm ever able to take on more animals I think I may have to take the trip up to Notts!

It feels very very strange to be leaving uni. There are lots and lots of people I will probably never see again after next week! D:

The little tawny owl has just had a flap around the nest box and is now facing the wall. I think he wants to sleep <3 He's so fuzzy! ^_^

Bye for now!

Lucy

I am freeee!

I had my last exam today :D My zoology degree is officially OVER now I just have to wait for results to come out. It was close, but after the way the exams went I think I will probably get a 2.1, which is fine by me!

I don't quite know what to do with myself now... I can't wait to go home, but at the same time it will be very strange knowing I'm not coming back to Nottingham. I am hanging around here for a couple more weeks, so hopefully I will manage to do some of the things I have been meaning to, like visit the castle.

Since finishing my exam at 12.00 this afternoon I have done very little. I started work on this again, which was put on hold while I was revising. I'm up to the third band and it's looking ok but as Kirsty pointed out earlier the back looks quite hard. I hadn't looked that far ahead! But we shall see.

That's all for now! Maybe now I have my life back (if I ever had a life in the first place) I will have something interesting to update about next time!

Lucy

Knitted bunnies

Here is the finished rabbit from a couple of posts ago! And his friend, grey bunny.
They will be used in a fundraiser to raise money for a pair of baby continental giants who each had to have an eye removed. :( Unfortunately one of the rabbits didn't make it :'(


And here is a shot from the back to show the liddle hood. It doesn't quite fit over his ears :(



And here is one of grey bunny in her dress. It came out a bit big cause the pattern wanted fingering weight yarn and I didn't have any so it is DK.

Both made from the Fuzzymitten well-dressed bunny pattern :)

That's all for now! The next time I update I may actually have finished uni :|

Lucy

What I have been doing instead of revision...

It's been quite a while since I last updated. Oops! But since Kirsty is the only person who reads this I think I am safe, lol.
Anyway, I haven't updated because I haven't had anything to update about. Most of my time has been taken up with revision for the last ever exams of my zoology degree. Aaah! And the rest of my time has been taken up with procrastination from revision.

Knitting is pretty good for procrastination. A lot of my revision time recently has been taken up with knitting this guy:And look! His friend the white rabbit is in the background :) The rabbit will have some clothes knitted at some point but I left all my coloured wool at home so he will have to wait. He is going to be sold to raise money for a rescue I volunteer at. I have also made a grey bunny with the same pattern but she is in bits at the moment so no pictures, lol.

The pattern I used is from here. It's the same pattern I used to make the bunny in one of my earlier knitting posts. He looked a bit different because he had button eyes. I have since bought some safety eyes and I think they look much better!

I hope that's enough of an update for now! I really should get back to learning about parasites and immunological mechanisms, although I fear it will make my head explode :(

Bye for now!

Some of my knits

Thought I would post a few of the knitted things I have made :)
I started knitting at the end of 2009 so that I could join in with a project at my uni that involved knitting hats and clothes for the premature babies at the medical school. I am still not the best at it but I hope to improve!

Here are a few mini hats I made for the Innocent Smoothie Big Knit project thing. Innocent had an advertising campaign a while ago with talking bunnies which I liked, which is why I decided to make some bunny hats. I sort of made it up as I went along which is why the one on the left has a really fat face and the middle one looks a lot better! I like them and I think I might try to make more of them for the Big Knit this year.

Here is the cardigan that nearly killed me. But it fits so I suppose that is some sort of success. I will never ever make something with this much stockinette ever again. It was soooo boring. I think I am more suited to knitting little toys and things because otherwise I get bored easily. This was quite good for practice though I suppose.

(Pattern)

This is a bunny with a coat and scarf that I sold to raise money for some animal rescues. He has a pompom tail too but you can't see from the picture.

(Pattern)

Another charity bunny. This time a chocolate easter bunny! For the Make Mine Chocolate-ers on a diet ;) He has a little ribbon and a bell as well. I might make some more if I get a chance. I like the pattern!

(Pattern)

Last is a pair of handwarmers although I only have a picture of one hand. It was too hard for me to take a picture of them both while on, lol. Aaaanyway, this was an attempt to keep my hands from freezing while in my draughty un-insulated student house over winter. The knitting kept my hands warm and so did the result so it was win-win!

(Pattern)

Sooo those are most of the things I have photos of at the moment. Not knitting anything at the moment. I shall have to have a browse of Ravelry for some ideas I think!

Bye for now

Lucy

Mak the Penguin!

Hi!
I felt like knitting something the other day and Kirsty suggested a penguin. Since I had the right colour wool (well... close enough) I though I would give it a go. Sooo, I introduce, Mak the penguin:
(Pattern from here)

He is currently called Mak after the pattern but name suggestions are most welcome. As long as it's not Tiki... or Chicken...
The pattern asked for 3.25mm needles and I could only find one 3.25 double pointed needle so I went for 4mm instead which means the stuffing shows through a little bit :( I also didn't have any yellow wool for the feet and beak so I used a beige-y gold-y colour which I had got to make a meerkat for Kirsty last year. Aaaanyway, I think he is quite cute ^_^

Other than that I haven't done too much today. Mostly sorting out the animals. My mum looks after them well while I'm at uni but there are always things to do when I got back. Ruby the rabbit has had rather a fetching haircut since her mane was getting matted. Pipkin obviously isn't fulfilling his grooming duties. Here is a picture of the rabbits just cause they are cute:


Pipkin is the netherland dwarf and Ruby is the lionhead with the rather pathetic mane. It has grown much longer than that this year. I do not know why.

Aaanyway, that's it for today. I am proud I have managed to update two days in a row :D

Bye for now!

Lucy