Diary of a Dick Vet

Wanna see what FOs (finished objects) I’ve knitted recently? Of course you do!

First, there is my biggest project yet:

De blauwe tas

This blue purse was a gift for my sister’s birthday, and is a modification of the Quinn Cabled Bag. Looking back on it, I can’t quite tell why it took so long to make, since it appears deceptively simple. The cabled band at the top actually took less time than the seed stitch bottom! Except for some spots where I dropped the pattern and switched to stockinette stitch, and despite the fact that the yarn I ordered online appeared far more close to black than the yarn I received, I’m happy with it.

My friend Amy sewed the lining for me and did the zipper as well! Team work :)

The blue bag actually inspired the next FO, a blue-ish hat:

De blauwe hoed

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret is a very popular Ravelry pattern, and I had planned on making it after I found a skein of Rowan Pure Wool Aran in a bargain bin at John Lewis. What bumped it up in terms of knitting priorities is due to Dutch grammar and perhaps a bit of pride. My father was born in the Netherlands and I’ve always wanted to learn Dutch, so I’m taking a night class through the University of Edinburgh. Our weekly assignment is to practice the past perfect tense by describing what we’ve done during the weekend. My three sentences are always terribly dull, so I was quite pleased when I learned the verb for ‘to knit,’ and even more pleased when I used the correct adjective with the subject in my homework. Alas, my excitement was abated when my teacher informed me that ‘Ik heb een blauwe tas gebreid’ was technically not correct, as the bag was not finished - a key element for using the past perfect tense. Failed! Because we haven’t learned the Dutch imperfect tense I was forced to only share finished items, so I resolved to knit something easy (and finish it!) before Tuesday. Ik heb een blauwe hoed gebreid!

The only other truly finished craft is a wee hedgehog, made for my friend Amy for her ’51st week in our flat’ party last night (she owns two real hedgehogs herself!). The pattern is by Scottish designer Ysolda Teague, who is my current knitting hero. In addition to publishing wonderful, delicate patterns, she also manages to actually earn a living through her designs, which is pretty incredible! I bought her book, Whimsical Little Knits 2 because I want to make almost everything in it, and the hedgehog, which I’ve named Tronstein, was my first pick:

Ain't he cute?

If you’ve found this blog and you’re a knitter, do please add me on Ravelry.

When I started blogging about vet school, it was a project borne out of excitement. New country, new people, new course…there was a lot to say.

Now I’m in third year, and it feels like the mojo is gone. We spend all day in lecture, with the occasional practical sprinkled throughout. We haven’t seen any real cases, at least nothing to blog about (I don’t assume for one minute that you want to hear about every dog/cat submitted for diarrhea, especially if we don’t get details at this point about treatment.) There are no funny client or animal stories, we don’t get bussed anywhere interesting, and my weekend are dreadfully plain. As an example: I’m taking a beginner’s Dutch class, and our weekly assignment is to practice the past perfect tense by describing what we did this weekend. Every week I rack my brain for something beyond ‘I studied’ and ‘I knit’ and ‘I went to a cafe and drank coffee.’ Meanwhile my classmates talk about trips to Cogenhagen, concerts in Glasgow, dinner parties and museum exhibits. So that what a weekend is like!

I know it’s a good thing, study-wise, that my weekends are so mundane and structured. Still, I can’t say if I study more, or if I’ve just become more of a hermit. Knitting is a nice, soothing way to break from studying, that tucks in nicely throughout my schedule, filling study breaks and wrapping up the day as I enjoy some television in the lounge with a cup of coffee; yet, hoping on a bus or a train, or walking up to Princes St or George IV Bridge to pop into a free museum is clearly more exciting than the meticulous advancement of a project as it builds, knot-by-knot, from the germinal substance of a few balls of yarn, to a fully-fleshed wooly creature. Some days I can look at myself as a student, and see the same laborious progression from the raw materials of mind and will, hopefully someday to transform into a real, certified, vet. And adult and working citizen, who watches movies, and doesn’t knit to avoid another hour looking at a page describing each type of tumor to be found in the lymphoid system, and doesn’t have to blog about how guilty she feels that there is nothing to say.

But, there’s nothing to say. I could show you the dozen or so rows of the pullover vest I’ve started knitting, but why bother? I think it’s more interesting to wait another eighty rows or so, when I reach the sleeves, and what you look at isn’t just a large green rectangle, but the beginning of something useful. And interesting.

So this knitting thing, it is so addictive. I did finish those wrist-warmers:

But I didn’t stop there! I kept on going with a hat, which was distressingly tricky for me. I had to start over about 10 times, and the yarn was quite happy to tear or snag while frogging the project, so I grew increasingly distressed with each failed attempt. Finally, I set my needles down, and just as I was about to fall asleep that night, defeated, I had a moment of clarity, and realized the large, glaring mistake I had made in the pattern. It was easily fixed and finished a few days later:

To be honest, the hat doesn’t fit the way I want, so although I’m proud of finishing the beast, I’m much more excited about the next hat I made:

Back view of the vine lace pattern

Two things:

1. This was made with half of a 50p skein of yarn I found in a charity shop. Score! I’m not sure what to do with the rest of the yarn, but I could easily make a second hat with another, equally intriguing pattern.
2. These pictures are before I ‘blocked’ the object, e.g. shaped it, so the vine lace pattern isn’t terribly apparent. However, I sort of like the gentle waviness of the hat, so I didn’t change it too much.

Between knitting and class and orchestra, I’m quite a busy little vet student. Today, I woke up to an inch of fresh snow on the sidewalks, and the trees and fields were gorgeous out at school. The sun was shining, and inside Easter Bush I was so warm, it was an all-around pleasant feeling. As the days get longer and the classes and tons of information pile up, I hope I still get a chance to enjoy how beautiful winter in Edinburgh can be.