Learning to Crochet

Hey everyone! I just wanted to show you a bit of learning progress. In my last (and first, eek!) Friday Favourites I said how much I wanted to learn to crochet and make a granny square blankets and cover my house in them. Well I decided to do something about my lack of knowledge in the crochet hook and chose to phone a friend. She brought over her crochet book and herself, we sat down on my bed and slowly started to crochet. I was quite literally all fingers and thumbs for a bit, but once I got the position I was crocheting away. When we're in the same room we both turn into utter chatterboxes, I almost lost where I was several times due to talking about Norwegians.
So the crochet/blob/circle thing on the left was my first attempt, whilst chatting and learning what 3ch 1tr ch ss and mc meant in the crochet world. It is very loose and doesn't look like a square at all, not in the slightest, but I'm pretty proud that it looks like a piece of crochet nonetheless. The one on the right was done at 1am whilst FaceTimeing my delicious boyfriend - he kept laughing at the concentration on my face, I kinda do the whole sticky out tongue thing when I'm making stuff. With my second attempt I used a smaller hook (4mm instead of 4.5mm) and pulled the wool tighter so it wouldn't be so floppy. I also used a reference from ♥elycia's new granny square project (she has posted more, eeee!) to increase the amount of stitches from 2 triple crochet (tr) to 3tr, and 6tr on a corner which gives it better shape. Sheesh I'm talking like I know what all this means, hah. Basically I've added more stitches to make it sturdier and more.. wholesome. A wholesome granny square!
Anyway, I'm really pleased with my progress and hope to get even better, I'm still not sure how to hide all my loose endy bits, any suggestions?
I'm going out today to stock up on wools, as I used up a lot of mine in another project. I need to buy a massive batch of white wool for the surrounding colour on all the granny squares. Eeep, such excite, very craft, many squares.

ily all

A Straight Cut

Back in the day, when I was 14 I used to cut my own hair which, when I look back on it, was pretty terrible. At the time I thought I was da bomb! Many years have passed, a lot of hair has been grown and (professionally) cut and grown again, and I'm currently on a mission to grow my hair crazy long, because I have never gotten further than how long it is now. Normally I give up at this stage, go crazy with hair dye or just chop it off completely (prime example, see photo to the right - also sporting a delicious Crown and Glory headband which I really don't wear enough).
So my hair hasn't been trimmed since November last year, which is naughty I know, split ends and what not, but I'm useless organising appointments - I still need to learn how to adult. So my hair (ahem, life) idol is Zooey Deschanel among other quirky beings and I looove her fringe.

ilu zooey, b my best friend 4 lyf pls.

Mine normal grows out real quick and does the sweepy to the side thing but I figured if I learnt how to cut my own fringe I could keep it in check! Of course I am a YouTube student so I watched a few videos and it's actually really easy.. you just need the balls to take your life hair into your own hands.

TLDR; I cut my fringe like a daredevil and love it. Here are some selfies sorry not sorry.

Oh and I secured the domain name lovetegan.co.uk, which is cool. Initially I wasn't going to get a domain name until I had a bit more content and stuff but with bloglovin' you have to claim a whole 'new blog' if you change the URL and you lose all your followers so I don't want to lose all the people that are supporting me from the start. So there we have in a brand spanking new domain.

lovetegan.co.uk ;)

One Little Word: 2014

You're (most likely) sick to death of new year resolutions and fresh start blog posts by now, I have read my fair share of them across the internet, but here is another one inspired by a particular post from one blog that I am a veteran to and that is The Creative Place. This post, written by blogger Ashley Connelly (who was inspired by Ali Edwards), was about choosing one word to be the word of the year.

I was originally going to chose the word 'commit' for 2014, because I want to delve myself into this blog and develop myself through it. I also want to find the strength and determination to finish my uni course as I'm going to a particularly rough and uninspiring patch, I need to remind myself why I am there and stick at it, as commitment is all about dedicating yourself to something through good, bad and ugly.
However 'commit' didn't really feel right, because I already committed to a lot of things, I have my gorgeous boyfriend who I am completely committed to (4 years strong woo), I am committed to being a great daughter and loving my family in the best way I can, and I am a committed PAL leader at university, helping my peers to be successful at what they do. Anyone can commit, and now I have said that word over 10 times in my head it feels rather passionless compared to the word I have chosen instead. What I really want to work on this year is not just committing to something, but giving it my all. Giving as good as I get, and having some passion about it. I can connect the word 'give' with so many positive things, it has 48 definitions in the dictionary, and I want to learn to give in as many ways as I can; generosity, love, empathy, kindness being just a few.

So, 2014's word is give.

If everyone gave more, in every sense of the word, the world would be nothing short of the best place ever.

If you had to chose a word to live by for a year, what would it be?

Friday Favourites

moon clock / healthy pancakes / fully fringed / granny square blanket

This is my first installment of Friday Favourites, where I share a few things that have caught my eye or I have been thinking about over the last week.

I stumbled upon this brilliant video on YouTube the other day.. it was a mash up of an interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson - an American astrophysicist (thank you spell checker) - and by mash up, I mean the type that auto-tune people talking and add awesome music. My music tastes, like in many other areas of my life, are rather eclectic and I genuinely love the sound of this mash up! When I listen to it, I am filled with hope and a connection to the rest of the world and it's inhabitants. No one can deny how romantic and poetic it is that we are star dust.

"We are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically"

If you have read my 2014 Resolutions you will know that one of them is to lose more weight. I sort of cringe every time I think about this as a resolution as it is so cliché. But it is turning more into a way of life, which is great! Really, it's all about thinking about what you're eating. Well done Tegan, point out the obvious! But honestly, it is so easy to sit there and rack up so many calories without batting an eyelid. Twirls are my currency, so I consider everything to how many Twirls they are worth. Example: a lovely supermarket sandwich will set you back about 13 points, that is 2 and a half Twirls!! My other treat on my new plan is pancakes, I adore them with a teaspoon of chocolate spread (can you tell I am a super sweet tooth?) and they're fairly low in Twirl-currency too.

The full fringe. I love how it frames the face. I am growing my hair longer, it is past my shoulders now but my fringe is so.. meh. When my hair was shorter, at bob length, I would brush it all forward and the hair would sit on my head like a mop, with no actual parting, but I find this a lot harder to style and control when there is more length on the rest of it. A restyle is required, and a fair bit of hair chopping will happen - more to come on this matter!

Oh my, granny square blankets. The one pictured (take by Yvonne Eijkenduijn) is absolutely stunning, the most perfect colours with the white around the edge of each square. I really wish I could crochet, I probably wouldn't stop making these blankets if I could - my house would be covered from roof to foundations in them. I tried to crochet once, and that was the closest I ever got to a granny square blanket. If anyone knows how to crochet and is willing to teach me, my eternal gratefulness would be yours.

What has caught your eye this week? How are you doing with your new year resolutions?
Let's get chatting!

Love from Tegan x

2014 Resolutions

So, initially, this year I had decided not to do any New Year Resolutions and join in with the small movement "The Year of Enough" but it has occurred to me that there are some things that I would like to get done in the coming year and resolutions are a good way for me to remember what they were, come December next year.

Some things I'll do in the first month, some things I'll do throughout the year, some things won't happen at all. But lists are a good place to start.

Image found on thebriarroseblog.com sourced from dahlia.com

1. Utmost, foremost, very important to me, is to create and develop this online space for myself on blogspot, to reflect on things I have created, and actually write about them. I also feel very hopeful about making new friendships and connections here, as I visit many like-minded blogs all the time but I'm of the conversation over at Tumblr. I am taking things slowly, because things don't get done properly when I rush them. As I have said before, web design and blog aesthetics are very important to me, as is appropriate naming, so it will take me a while to come up with a name I am happy with, then I'll have to get to grips with Blogspot's coding system.

2. Wear dresses. I'd like to say wear more dresses, but I only ever wear them to special occasions. So, I need to go on a post-Christmas shopping spree and spend the rest of my student loan before I return at the end of January. I doubt I will be able to elimanate trousers completely as I have a few delightful jumpers which only look right (at the moment, cue awesome fashionista) with thick leggings or trousers.

(Left) Image from HobbyCraft's Pinterest (Right) Image from  bkids.typepad.com

3. Some Christmassy goals that I'd like to remember for next year:

• Get cracking on some homemade, knitted, crocheted, papier mâché, glittery baubles. I already have a few amigurumi (crochet) kings, santa and Christmas pudding, do I blog about them now or keep it Christmas themed post later on this year (ooh get me, 2014 )
• Homemade patterned or potato stamped wrapping paper, for birthdays too!

4. Become trained in first aid. I was put in a situation this month where my dad started choking on food. I felt the squirt of adrenaline into my blood, fight or flight, but felt helpless when I had no idea what to do. Luckily, my mum who is pretty much qualified in everything medical (or at least, it seems that way)  was there and airways were cleared. No casualties. But the look of panic on his face, and my utter helplessness has stayed with me. I want to make sure if a situation like that arises again, I can do something about it.

5. Appreciate the outside world more. I'm sure this is relatable for my generation who have grown up with the internet in their pocket, it is a lot easier to look at photos and read about the outside world than to actually get up and go out there. I'm not saying I'll become a hiker or a twitcher (bird watcher) or anything, just going for strolls on a cold winter morning or something, take it all in.

Image from disney.co.uk

6. Rewatch all the Disney movies, from Peter Pan to Frozen.


7. Stop biting my nails! The battle to kick my nail-biting habit has been life long. Hopefully this year will be the year of beautiful nails.

8. Lose weight. Generic resolution, but I have already started this quest - back in November I joined Weight Watchers and have lost almost a stone (6.35kg for yo Americans) since then. It has been tough over the Christmas period with mince pies flying out of every orifice, but now 2013 is over I can get my head back in the game.

9. Be more creative. Get my hands dirty. Dust off my DSLR and flickr account. Make stuff, paint stuff, do stuff. It ultimately makes me very happy to create, but I have lacked the initial motivation to get started for the last few years. Time to get my hands stuck in some paint.

10. Tying in with the one above, take more photos.. of everything! Take many photos of Joe (boyfriend) so that he will just get used to it and not pull silly faces. I won a photojojo Christmas draw to recieve a free product from their store, I chose their iPhone lens series which would have put me back £72 ($120)! But that is a story for another day.

Happy new year all.

May 2014 be full of good health and happiness.

Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animals!

Like many people, I absolutely love this time of year. The Christmas season is a fantastic excuse to be merry and cheery, and see my extended family a few weekends in a row.

This Christmas whilst out shopping for everyones presents, I slipped into Harvey Nichols Christmas Pop-Up Food Market and purchased some glorious edible glitter. And today I sprinkled it onto my freshly baked gingerbread trees and stars. The glitter is 'silver hologram' by Rainbow Dust and sparkles every colour in the spectrum.

So Christmassy! I'm also very pleased with the gingerbread recipe I used, it has the crunch of a biscuit but still has a lovely soft texture, and it has an extra bit of spice to make it extra Christmassy. Ooooh lovely! Here's the recipe for those who would like their own:

400g of plain flour

2 tsp of baking powder

3 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of mixed spice

100g of golden syrup (You can use treacle instead if you don't want your biscuits to be too sweet)

100g of soft brown sugar

2 tbsp milk (I used skimmed, but it won't matter which you use)

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and spices into a bowl.

2. Make extra sure there aren't any blobs of brown sugar, then add it to the flour mix.

3. Chop the butter into little pieces and rub into the flour mix, until the mixture is like breadcrumbs.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the golden syrup with the milk.

5. Make a well in the breadcrumbs and pour in the golden syrup mixture.

6. Mix in initially with a wooden spoon, then transfer onto a clean solid surface to knead into a dough.

7. Place the dough into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

8. Remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven to 180°c.

9.  Break off a handful of dough and roll it out to 5mm thick

10. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter or knife

11. Place onto baking sheets with a little room for them to spread.

12. Combine the trimmings with another handful and repeat the process.

13. For each baking tray full of gingerbread.. shapes, bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven.

14. Allow to cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe modified (and improved!) from CookIt!

Adorable Floral Washi Tape

Good afternoon! I ordered some of the cutest washi tape from eBay the other night, on a whim because it was gorgeous and cheap! I really wanted some cute tape to jazz up my new recipe book which happens to be a souvenir of last weeks Harry Potter Studio gallivanting.

So here is the washi tape in action, just chilling down the side there to make it a little more exciting. I also spent this morning watercolouring the little pictures with as much care as I could, as this recipe (and a scone one on the next page) is in fact taken from a recipe book my sister was given almost 13 years ago at school. The recipe has been a family favourite for all that time and is a staple in any recipe book I begin to create. Maybe I'll get a photograph of a Microwave Sponge Pudding one day, it would be very hard to obtain as they don't last long in this household - so delicious!
You can buy the washi tape from this eBay seller here (and here if you're US) and the beautiful Hogwarts crest leather notebooks that I alksjdaalksjdk love, you can purchase that with all your galleons at the Harry Potter Studios (because I can't find it online) which I highly recommend you go visit!!!

Love Tegan x

My Return to Blogspot

Hello everyone! 

This is my second go at migrating to blogspot from my little internet corner of tumblr. Last time I got really freaked out and fled back to tumblr vowing never to venture from it's arms again, but I've been admiring the community and friendships that people have made over blogspot and decided to give it another go. My main scare about blogspot is that it's coding style is very different to tumblrs, and the aesthetics of my blog is very important to me, so to make this my humble comfy home I'll need to tweak every bit of code I can and make all the graphics to be happy and content.

Anyway, hi! I am Tegan and this is my newly made project box. I like to think I'm a little quirky, I love anything a little bit odd and have quite an adoration for anything homemade.

This was fun. I should do this again.

Tegan x