TAST Week 6: Algerian Eye (plus a bit of a rant)

Just a warning, I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent and have a little rant before I get onto the crafty goodness. If you're not in the mood for me being annoyed just skip ahead.

Anyway, on Monday nights I work until 8pm when work closes, and then I'm on call for the rest of the night. Several times I've had people come in late with their pets for the last consult or just keep talking, so that I'm there until 8.30 - 9pm. Normally that's not too much of a problem because I know that people love their animals (but turning up on time is always helpful, and vets don't generally keep you waiting as long as doctors), but on Monday we got a call at 7.50 about a dog that apparently was having difficulty breathing and it's face had swelled up. The owners of the dog had to collect the dog from where it was and then come to us, so it was going to take them about an hour to get there. It sounded like this could be a pretty serious problem, especially as the dog was a week away from giving birth, so I advised them to go to an emergency center (which was about ten minutes from them) but after speaking to one of my bosses on the phone, he said that if they wanted to come in that would be alright. So I had to wait at work for an hour (on my mum's birthday as well), to see a dog, that ultimately was panting a little because it had a belly full of puppies and had no facial swelling. And unless, I leave work and come back, I don't get paid overtime. Then I started work at 8am Tuesday. And while I'm complaining, we've also got a vet away today, so I have to work extra hours...on my usual day off, for a month. At one point I'll be working 11 days in a row.

Alright, rant finished!

This is the first of February's stitches for the TAST challenge, and it's Algerian Eye.



Unlike some of my favourite craftsters I'm not a huge fan of pink (I think I overdosed on it at about age 5), and while I was making this it seemed very pink, but once I washed out the transfer pen it magically looked better and now it's a completed bookmark I'm really happy with it. Although I think it is still a bookmark to use on chic-lit!

TAST Week 5: Chevron Stitch

I've finished January with Chevron Stitch.


I didn't have a great deal of inspiration for this one and ended up going with a bit of a 'Frankenstein's monster' idea. This time I did tea and coffee dying of the pillowcase, and it's given some subtle colour changes. If anyone reads Discworld books, it's an Igor creation!

TAST Week 4: Cretan Stitch

Week 4 in the TAST challenge is Cretan Stitch. I've been going well so far with catching up! I've been using recycled pillowcases for all my bookmarks, and tried some tea dyeing on this one, and I'm happy with the aged effect it's given me.


I'm calling this one 'Pressed Sample' and I was going for the effect of a dried fern or leaf in an old book.

Crocheted Socks

I've wanted some hand made socks for ages (been drooling over all the gorgeous knitted ones on craftster!) but as my knitting skills are very rudimentary I've been looking for a good crochet pattern for a while. I did start one pair a while ago but I used the wrong yarn/hook size or whatever and after about 10 rows realised I had something with the drape of cardboard and so I gave up.


The pattern for these is from here and I'm proud of myself for making two, because I've abandoned other projects where I've had to make two things previously.
The second sock I did fits better because I made a few modifications, but they're not too bad!

TAST Week 3: Detached Chain Stitch

Here's week 3's TAST bookmark (yes, I'm going with bookmarks at the moment) and it's Detached Chain Stitch.

I did have a bit of an image going on here but it may have turned out a bit abstract. If you can guess what I'm going for then well done! If you can't then you can probably also congratulate yourself on being clean minded.

TAST Week 2: Buttonhole

Here's my week two TAST offering, with Buttonhole stitch


I'm calling it 'Buttonhole ciliates' as I was going for a microscopic organism look. I really need to make myself a light box so I can start taking some better photos.

TAST Week 1: Herringbone Stitch

After being inspired by some of the lovely embroidery around (such as here, and here and other places, but I'm too lazy to post any more links), I decided to start the TAST challenge. I figure starting so late I have no pressure to keep up because I'm already behind!



Here's the first week's stitch, Herringbone stitch made into a sampler bookmark.

12 inch CAL May experienced square

I'll catch up eventually! I really like this one, I quite like Celtic imagery and purple so this is very nice!



The pattern for this one is here.