By Needle and By Hook!

So Big Griz is trying to steal my scarf, after wrestling him to the ground, I conceded by offering to knit him one.
It's my first proper attempt at knitting, so it will be a very 'special' scarf.
So far the scarf is 4 inches, two colours and very wide.

 I am also attempting to crouchet my sister a shawl for her ever thumping growing bump, Junior. It's my first attempt at a triangle and it's a bit too trianglely. so it'll take a while to be wide enough to go round anything.
I like to crouchet on the bus with my headphones on, it's very relaxing. I try to do one line across for one bus journey.

Ice Hockey Series: The Big Playoff

Couple of my Ice Hockey friends, Ciaran Conliffe and Lee Harvey, asked me to do some cartoons based on their ideas, for them to be published in the Streatham Redskins Fanzine. I hope to do a series but here is the first three, which I am told have been published.

The Streatham Redskins are about to be temporarily moved to a new rink in Brixton.

Streatham shall be leaving their historic rink as a new one gets built.

There is a lovely article about the feelings of one of our Hockey players through this change, check it out here:

http://www.streatham-redskins.co.uk/2011/11/my-rink-ed-koral/

I have mixed feelings on the Brixton Rink, though I am glad Streatham is getting a new one for the area and the team. 

On one hand this has unfortunatley been built on a valuable asset, of the ever shrinking Brixton market. The big concrete car park, which has now gone, leaving a huge empty space.

Without this car-park the market is pretty much gonna disappear. I wish the local council made more of an effort to rebuild the market rather than let it die.

Here's a wonderful film about the market in Brixton, one I grew up around and had a wonderful ever extending 2nd hand market including tons of fruit and veg and fabric.

http://www.stallstories.org.uk/brixton.html

The other side of the coin is, I am super super excited that Brixton is going to have an Ice Rink, I hope to become a regular. My sister lives near by so when she has given birth I shall be educating junior on Ice Hockey so he/she grows up to be a Hockey player. I have made junior a customised babygrow.

Crochet Mushroom Tutorial

1. First pick your colours. I recommend one light and one dark. I picked these green ones because they look fluorescent.

 

2. Next crochet single stitches in a spiral until you have create a circle of the size you like.

3. Next take your other colour and crochet another circle very slightly smaller

4. Now stitch, with the darker thread, the two circles together and stuff a touch of toy filling

5. Using the same dark thread stitch lines of the gills of the mushroom on the lighter circle.

6. Crochet in single stitch a tight tube in the lighter thread, stuff with some toy stuffing, stitch close the ends and attach to the centre of the mushroom.

And your little crochet mushroom is finished, ta da!

Amigurumi Mushroom

 Here's what I made yesterday, I been slightly crochet obsessed (my fingers are super sore) but I figured amigurumi mushrooms would be v.easy and they are!
I shall do a tutorial and post it for you to make your own.

Gosh! It's been over a month since I did a blog post, for shame!
I have some valid excuses. I started an exciting new job 3 weeks ago.
I am now the Animation Coordinator on Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom! Get in!
Pretty much a dream job, pretty full-on chuffed :)
Have to say though I was pretty chocked to leave Chuggington, the team became a bit like family so sorely missed. Chugga-Cho-Cho in the words of Koko, Traintastic Crew.

Before I got the job, I was planning to do a Christmas craft market stall but the stall dream has been postpone. I stopped blogging and started planning and attempting to make mass produce, so I have lots of half made things right now. Which means in a month or two I gonna be spamming my blog with creations.

Since being here I have had the urge to crochet, I think it's the weather change. My pregnant sis requested a crocheted blue shawl for winter so I been working on that. My first ever time I've crocheted a triangle.
That project I like to do on the bus to work, whilst listening to jazz. I witnessed another crocheter on my bus the other day and I chickened out of bringing mine out, next time I see her, I will!


Nice to be back people, I shall keep in touch.

My Memory Walk

When I signed up to do the Memory walk, I mainly did it because I wanted to find out more about the care available to people with Alzheimers.

As you probably seen in my previous posts, my father had a stroke roughly 5-6 years ago this caused a form of Dementia, and although he is a cheerful soul, he needs 24/7 care mainly provided by my mum. So I did the walk for my Mum, Sandy, and my Dad, Lee.

I was pretty nervous before the walk as I have crappy knee. Been strengthening my thighs with swimming and I had brought my walking shoes and insoles from scholl which help hugely with the ol' leg hinges but I was concerned about how they'd cope with 10 miles.

I regularly walk longish distances, do like a good walk, so I know I can easily do 5 miles, but to provide a challenge I went for the 10, outside my comfort zone.

I got to Battersea park earlier than I'd planned, you could register from 9:30am and I'd got there at 9:30am, bit too precisely.

Upon getting off the bus I was looking for people I thought might be on the walk. One lady with a purple rucksack and walking shoes just like me, seemed to be heading the same way.

Once we got the park there weren't any signs pointing the right way, and I saw this lady and another chap were looking for it too, so I said hello, turned out we were all doing the 10 mile.

The lady with purple rucksack and walking shoes, Jane, became my walking buddy, and so we got our t-shirts, our sticker and name tags, I had my face painted and she had her nails done and we had our picture taken in the free booth as evidence and we got balloons.
 The Alzheimers Society photographer took some staged pictures of us putting our signs on each other, our signs said who we were walking for that day, hers said Her Aunty Peggy and mine My Mum and Dad, Sandy & Lee. Must check the website and see if they used them.

Then we had to do this daft warm up, which I secretly enjoyed, and threw in some extra shimmys.

Then to the theme tune to Rocky we were off! Walking on mass.

Jane and I chatted non stop, the whole 10 miles, which totally helped, we discussed Pinterest, Crafts, ramblers, fashion, just stuff and completely forgot our feet might be hurting. We asked each attendant along the route, how far? Needless to say none of them knew but we carried on pushing through. Jane was determined to do at least a 20 min mile and was thrilled we finished with a 17 min mile and we both agreed to do more walks. And my knees didn't hurt at all!! My calves and the bottom of my feet hurt but I had no blisters and my knees hadn't let me down ( I actually did a little jog at the end and my knees felt great??)

We came in at 2hours and 40 mins and burnt 950 calories (minus the 300 calories on a bacon butty)

We got a medal, a certificate, a goodie bag with sweets, a pedometer, shower gel (do I smell?) and loads of info about Alzheimers, fundraising and walking.

I felt elated, joyous and chuffed and I then, stupidly, walked from Battersea Park to Vauxhall (proving to myself the next challenge is the half marathon!)

I managed to raise £521.50 for the Alzheimers Charity, find out more about demetia and what the Alzheimers Society do and how you can help at:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

With Thanks to Amber.H, Claire.S, Fay.C, Jane.H, Nona, Pauline, Patsy.B, Carol, Sarah.P, Karl. L, JW,  Chris, Maria, Veronica, Rosaire, Lucy, Abigail, Ruth, Bill, Eli&Jewels, Robert.A, Emma.H, Simon.D, Fran&Bird, Laraine.C, Tom.B, Helen.W, Jane.C, Andy.G, Nicholas.C, Brian.B, Ciaran.C, Mari-Lou&Family, Katie.A and my Mum&Dad
http://www.justgiving.com/HannahLeeMiller

Craftivists, Fine Cell Work and awholelotta-Wool

 Yesterday I joined the awesome group Crafitivists to help out in sorting wool for another excellent organisation Fine Cell Work.
Fine Cell Work is an organisation that helps rehabiliate prisoners using crafts, mainly embroidery, to earn, save money and rebuild there lives whilst inside prison. Sitting listening to our co-ordinator, Ella, tell us all about the work they do, was thoroughly inspiring.
They needed the Craftivists help, as their wool donations was starting to over load the office, so the tapestry and the crewel wool had to be organised into colour, and the old and wrong wool weeded out.
We all quietly sat picking away at our laps of colours, it was very meditative and relaxing. Loved the Colours!
Ella, our coordinator, wasn't sure how much we could do but we ended up sorting the lot out and clearing the space under the desk in the office.
I was really glad to join the Craftivists for the day, and do something totally worth while. I wasn't sure how activism and crafts went together but I'm liking their thinking and shall be keeping an eye out for other events. I'd also like to do more voluntary work for Fine Cell Work, really important work, I think.

Leafleting My Neighbourhood

A brilliant new event for South London has been born, the South Lambeth Market, consisting of Local people selling there products locally. The first one last weekend on the 17th went down a treat, with a constant flow of visitors. Selling fine foods and wares from fresh baked bread to plants to crafts, all housed on the court and inside hall of a local pub The Cavendish Arms, I am so pleased it will be a regular thing and I look forward to the next on Saturday the 8th October, 10-4pm. 

I am very keen to help any thing that helps to put Stockwell on the map. So the week before I offered my services to help with distributing fliers. I opted to distribute around my mums neighbourhood just a couple of roads.

Boy, I never realised what strange and hard work it is, up and down stairs, sweating buckets on a highly humid morning. It's Spider season so had to navigate huge webs with orb web spiders in the middle covering pathways. I encountered greasy, grimy gates; front gardens overloaded with gorgeous flower; a faded gnome garden; multiple doorbells on large houses and loads of no junk mail stickers “it's not junk, it's an invitation” I thinks to myself. By the time I finished I was grimmy, covered in cobwebs and dripping with sweat but I got to know my neighbourhood a bit better. Just walking through their gate up to their door gave me more of an idea of who lives in my hood, it's not as posh up close.