London: Pretty in Pork

Her name was Pickles. She was a week-old piglet. A piglet with a problem. Pickles needed to be woolly. A tall order for a small pig.

Pickles poses

Pickles poses

And that was where I came in. The lovely people at Wildside contacted me through S&B London for a little bit of pig-warming help. Wildside are a London-based family-run image licensing company who fill their home with tiny beasts (so the animals feel at home in the photo studio). Their aim to is bring the cute to the camera, and their images are used for cards, calendars, keyrings… You get the idea.

What they wanted from me was a hat, scarf, and woolly jumper combo suitable for a tiny porcine lady. How could I refuse?

Arriving at their Willesden Green home (with my trusty assistant, Dr Stitchlove, many of whose pictures I have stolen here), Pickles and I met for the first time. I was a hulking giant with a tape measure and the giggles, she was less than a foot long. The tiny patter of hooves on hardwood floor isn’t a sound anyone can hear without going a bit gooey.

Pickles was a squirmy wee thing. She was content to snuffle around shoes, and sip at her bowl of milk with a wary eye on the rest of us. She chose her favourite colour yarn, and was vaguely impressed by the sample hat I had thrown together on the tube on the way over.

This one, I think

This one, I think

Tiny tube hat

Tiny tube hat

Bring tape measure to piglet though and you’re asking for trouble. Pickles found it most unladylike to be measured. You can take a pig to a tape measure, but you can’t make it sit still to be measured (as the old saying goes, I’m sure).

Pig measuring

Pig measuring

Not much between the ears

Not much between the ears

Pickles is a Large White pig. The skinny pink runt of her litter, she isn’t really large or even white at all. The thing with pigs is that they like to pig out. So Pickles’ measurements were going to have to be 50% bigger for the finished jumper, scarf, and hat.

the beginnings

Pretty in Pork: the beginnings

It was agreed I’d make:

  1. A jumper that could be adjusted depending on how much Pickles pigged out
    Corset jumper

    Corset jumper

  2. A stripy scarf long enough to keep her cosy.
    Tiny striped cosiness

    Tiny striped cosiness

    Tasselly

    Tasselly

  3. A bobble hat to fit between her tiny ears.
    Bobblish

    Bobblish

Since dog jumper patterns were sadly just not up to scratch for a tiny porker, I ended up creating my very own pattern. Here it is in all it’s glory, the Pretty in Pork corset jumper (thanks to my mum for crocheting the loops on the jumper back), the Pretty in Pork teeny tiny bobble hat, and the Pretty in Pork eversolong striped scarf.

The Pretty in Pork set

The Pretty in Pork set

Wildside promise to pass on some pictures once they’re all done. I didn’t manage to go back for a fitting sadly. But I am hoping Pickles is as pretty in pink as she was meant to be.

I’m just glad I’m not the one who has to get the jumper onto the sassy swine.

Pickles and her fashion designer

Pickles and her fashion designer

Only in London could I fill my post-travelling pre-next-travelling time with knitting for a pig. Will I ever eat a bacon sandwich again? Well, all that knitting did make me hungry…

10 thoughts on “London: Pretty in Pork

  1. Bitter Knitter

    Let me just put this apple in her mouth, see how it looks…
    BTW, the teeny scarf drives me crazy.

  2. MonkeyOne

    This is not what I expected for post-amazing-travel blog, but yes, Pickles is ridiculously cute. Yes, I still love bacon…had some today actually. Now I’ve got a craving for pickles… πŸ™‚

    1. Deadly Knitshade

      Well if I can’t be on the road at least I can keep animals warm.

      As a knitting traveller sometimes the knitting runs in to steal the limelight. I have a feeling travel will rush in again very soon.

      Mmm pickles and bacon… πŸ™‚

  3. Loretta

    Pickles is the cutest little thing! I just want snuggle her! Looking forward to seeing pics of her in her little pink woolyness πŸ™‚ Great job on the set.