The #sixtymilliontrebles blogger

This is the number of trebles to date - a fantastic milestone, and with over 1,350 hookers and clickers from all over the world beavering away this number will now start to grow exponentially.

A very big THANK YOU  and congratulations to all concerned.

 

 

 

 

Just some of the world flags that will make up the centerpiece

of our record beating blanket 

 

 The love and care that is going into the the making

of the individual blankets is astounding, as shown here

Thought For The Day

The British government has undertaken to take in  20,000 refugees by 2020.

There are 60 cities in the UK.

This equates to approximately 85 refugees per city per year

There are about 2000 towns in the UK.

This equates to 10 refugees per town in the next four years

Are we really doing enough!

The House Husband

Having been away in Devon for a few days, and having done my chores  - as demanded by "She who must be obeyed" - we came home to a clean house. I grudgingly admit this was rather nice!

Had loads of time to concentrate on other lovely things, such as mowing the lawns, doing the dirty washing and trying to get the ironing up to date. 

I tried to delegate the ironing to "Her Indoors" but two shirts in she complained that the ironing board had broken. Some people will do anything to get out of proper work.

I collected the dog from a neighbor who had kindly offered to provide him with free board and lodging while we were away. 

The home stay did not appear to be too successful, and he tells me he won't have our sweet little boy ever again. I really don't understand this as you could not wish to find a sweeter more loving dog anywhere. There is nothing he likes more than a cuddle on your lap and loads of love.

If we go away again we will be looking for someone to look after our little treasure for us, and so any offers of help would be really appreciated.

Our boy loves to lie on his bed gnawing on  a bone - preferably still attached to someones leg!!

The #sixtymilliontreblesblogger

Rami Anis, Yiech Pur Biel,  James Nyang Chiengjiek, , Yonas Kinde, Anjelina Nada Lohalith , Rose Nathike Lokonyen, Paulo Amotun Lokoro Yolande Bukasa Mabika Yusra Mardini, Popole Misenga.

 

The above are ten people you have probably never heard of, but all of them are flying the flag for the sixty million refugees world wide. All of the above make up the Olympic refugee team in Rio 2016.

 

I applaud the International Olympic Committee for making $2,000,000 available to provide training facilities, support and  equipment for these 10 talented people. All had the courage grit and dedication to qualify for this years Olympics.

 

Thomas Bach IOC President said

"This will be a symbol of hope for all the refugees in our world, and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis. It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society."

The team also now has its own Olympic Flag, they are not allowed to wear in in the arenas but they are being distributed all over Rio to raise awareness of the refugee crisis.

 

The flag is a banner of bright orange crossed by a single black band—colors that evoke the life jackets so many refugees have worn on their journeys to safety. “If you’ve worn a life-jacket as a refugee, you will feel something when you see this flag,” says Amsterdam-based Syrian refugee Yara Said, who designed the flag. “It’s a powerful memory.”

If you can crochet or knit and would like to help in our quest to continue raising awareness for the #sixtymillionrefugees then find out more and:-

Join us on www.facebook.com/groups/1012887892161823/

#onestitchonelife

The House Husband

On Thursday morning we have to drive down south to see the out-laws, just for two nights - a round trip of some 640 miles. Now I don't mind visiting the aged relatives, but I have been given my orders.

I have already decided to cut the lawns before we go - to save coming back to a jungle, but my orders  seem to me to be a little OTT. I must clean the house from top to bottom and change the sheets before we go!

If we go out for the day we just lock the doors, jump in the car and away we go, so

can someone please explain to me why, if we spend a night or two away from home the whole cleaning rigmarole has to be adhered to. I am told that it's nice to come home to a clean house - but surely the same applies if we go out for the day - there is a twisted logic here!

Is this just the whim of "she who must be obeyed" or is this "normal" practice?

Help !!!

Having got that off my chest I have to admit that after two weeks of house husbanding things are getting a bit on top of me - the kitchen in particular is a bit untidy. I am thinking Tesco's own brand paper towels to save money - or maybe Thirst Pockets which I am told are very good, they should solve my kitchen problem shown below.

The #sixtymilliontreblesblogger

What an absolutely fantastic week it has been for #sixtymilliontrebles. At the last count we had approximately 940 people  helping ( and that's just on facebook) with many more in our "hidden army" that don't show in our numbers.

We also have approximately 26 countries involved with the latest addition this morning of Sri Lanka

I say approximately, as Ellen's ipad has been pinging non-stop today and is virtually welded to her hands!

Some of the ongoing projects are shown on the left -  the photo on the top left is from a young man in India who is a member of the Indian youth congress








 This marvelous project has a heart lovingly stitched in the centre

Not only a beautiful balnket - but beautifully framed and photographed

Join us on www.facebook.com/groups/1012887892161823/

#onestitchonelife

The House Husband

Many thanks to all of you who supported my fish finger chips and beans blog. You saved the day and no Brownie points have been deducted to date - however I fear it's just a matter of time!

The week-end is upon us, it's been a really busy week, and so I felt we were both due for a Friday night treat. What could be better than a night in with a nice bottle of wine and a DVD. (Actually two bottles of wine as I prefer red and Ellen likes white.)

I popped into the local wine merchants and found a lovely bottle of 1984 Grand Cru Margaux - not cheap you are thinking, but as with everything else, you get what you pay for. Now I know Ellen loves nostalgia, and I also know my wallet had just taken a bit of a battering, so I found the perfect wine-  a fantastic bottle of Blue Nun Liebfraumilch.

Oh the ingratitude  - you try to do something nice .........

It appears that we are not talking at the moment - and Brownie points once again hang in the balance.

The #sixtymilliontreblesblogger

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has got involved with our project so far.

What an absolutely fabulous response.

As I write we have 840 people worldwide crocheting and knitting to produce our world record winning blanket.To celebrate this worldwide camaraderie, we have decided to make the centrepiece of the blanket resemble the artists impression above - this will hopefully  contain 196 flags - one for every country in the world. (Although heaven help the poor souls who volunteer for the more tricky flags to crochet - such as the United Nations flag and the Welsh flag!)

We have people from 26 different countries as far afield as Australia, Mexico, Pakistan, USA, Hong Kong, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, India, United Arab Emirates, Sweden and many more European countries.  People are joining up at the rate of 50 + every day (100 in the last 24 hours!)

We would love to have  a  blanket made by a national of every country in the world to represent the worldwide concern for these 60,000,000 refugees  so  if you know of anyone from a foreign country living anywhere in the world - then please rope them in !!

We have an  lady who is at home crocheting her blanket who said Quote " I am mindful that every stitch is a life" Yesterday a lady from Mumbai messaged "What can I do to help" The compassion and love felt by you all for these refugees is almost tangible.

Join us on www.facebook.com/groups/1012887892161823/

#onestitchonelife

The House Husband

I need help from you loyal blog followers. I cooked dinner again last night, and She who must be obeyed, AKA the fussiest eater in the whole wide world was, to say the least, not impressed.

My hard earned brownie points (and consequently my prize for 5points awarded) are now at risk. Two points are to be deducted for lack of effort.

Let me tell you the story of my day:-

Got up at 6.30am.

Made Tea

Showered

Made the bed

Walked the dog

Came home & made breakfast

Washed up breakfast dishes

Went to Tesco

Made morning coffee

Washed up again

Cleaned the bathroom

Mowed the back lawn

Made Lunch

Washed up lunch dishes

Mowed the front lawns

Cut down neighbours overhanging privet hedge

Cleared away cuttings

Walked the dog again

Planned out, prepared and cooked dinner

In my view, my meal was :-

Well balanced,

Nutritious, with carbohydrates, protein, fibre and Omega3

Original - we have never had this for dinner before

Economical

Well presented

Well cooked

Tasty.

In Ellen's view my meal was

Unoriginal

Greasy

Tasteless

Lazy

What do you think ? If I get more comments in my favour than in Ellen's I keep my Brownie points

The #sixtymilliontreblesblogger

Every year millions of us of leave our homes to travel, most of us have a choice of how we will travel and what we will do when we arrive at our destination.

Every day thousands of people leave their homes for enforced travel, they have no choice of how they will travel.

Thousands will never arrive.

 

If you can crochet or knit and would like to help our project for the sixty million refugees worldwide, then see my blog of 6th. August. 

The House Husband

Cooked for the first time in ages last night - sticky pork with egg fried rice. I cheated with the egg fried rice (Tesco finest)

The result is below - I think it looks pretty good, Ellen  said "very nice dear" and ate just half of it!

Anyway I earned two Brownie points for my last blog, and two more for cooking what was obviously a fairly inedible meal! "She who must be obeyed" tells me I get a nice surprise when I earn 5 Brownie points - can't wait!

Had a bash at ironing yesterday - not too bad - but can someone please tell me how to fold the fitted bottom sheet !!

We are all familiar with the above photograph, the photograph that first brought worldwide awareness to the terrible plight of sixty million refugees the world over - it does no harm to re-publish this image to focus our minds on why we have started our #sixtymilliontrebles  project.

Sixty million refugees fleeing war persecution and poverty - governments say the right words, but deep down they fear  that  by admitting too many refugees their economic stability will be upset.

The aim of this project is to try, in some small way, to change the attitudes of governments world wide and impress on them that this crisis is not about money -  it is about the lives, hopes and aspirations of sixty million fellow human beings.

The project is simple but massive - we are going to make the largest blanket the world has ever seen.
This blanket will be made up of thousands (8050 to be precise) of  smaller 3ft. square blankets all stitched together. The sixty million trebles denotes the number of crochet stitches estimated to be needed to complete this project. each treble of course representing the lives  of the worlds sixty million refugees.This blanket should qualify for the Guinness Book of Records - and in doing so will create a great deal of publicity and public awareness to their plight.  

You can help us - if you can crochet or knit, (three knit stitches equals one treble) then start today on your own 3ft square blanket, and join in the fun along with the hundreds of people already signed up both in the UK, Europe and Worldwide
After the event, the blanket will be taken apart and half the blankets will be donated to the refugees and the other half to UK charities 
Along side this project we are hoping to raise just 1p a stitch - a small fortune that will surely make a difference to many lives.

Join us on FB - Thank you.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1012887892161823/

                                                      #onestitchonelife

Well, here we are at Saturday again and we have over 600 members of our facebook page, word is getting out so thank you all who have taken the time to share and tell people about us.

We have some great blankets being made and here is just a few of some of them.

First up is Shirley Rust

Judy Payne's square

Angela's knitted square

As you can see, you can knit or crochet your square, make it up as you go along, whatever you fancy, as long as the finished blanket is 36 inches square with a plain border that's it.

get in touch via email : sixtymilliontrebles@hotmail.com

or visit us on twitter , instagram and facebook, just search sixtymilliontrebles

have a great weekend

J x

Good morning,  this is a message from Claire


"We need your help for a publication in a crochet magazine (how exciting!!) ...
Please can you take pictures of your finished squares. The photos must be high resolution and very good quality. To achieve this you can use a white sheet or paper as a background. Maybe add a prop, such as a ball of wool and a hook; a cup of tea and a slice of cake, a single flower, etc. Sunny days, generally, don't create the best of pictures, so wait for the right lighting. Please make sure you include your message tag in the picture. Do not zoom in as this will distort the image.
I need a big selection of pictures so get hooking (or clacking those needles) and get clicking!! Please!
Thanks everyone... you are doing great!! We are all really proud of every single one of you!"

So if you are hooking or clicking get your photos in please.

Secondly we have some great blankets underway here are a few of them.

By Debbie Cooke

By Andrea May

knitted squares

take care 

Jx

Well its Sunday and we made the 300+ members on our Facebook page yesterday so thank you all very much. I'm not really sure how to check how many followers we have on the blog, I do wonder, perhaps I am just rambling on to myself, nothing new there then my kids would say!

Some great blankets now underway from our small army of clickers and hookers.

This one is Claire's blanket in an aran weight yarn.

This is the start of Alina's blanket

You can also get in touch via email on : sixtymilliontrebles@hotmail.com

Send us your photos and please tell your friends. It doesn't matter if you can't knit or crochet, we need people to help sew the blankets together ( and unpick them), we need people to help store the blankets over the year, we need people to spread the word, distribute posters, collect yarn and redistribute, there will be a role for you if you want to get involved.

Also Ellen is now taking suggestions for where the blankets and money raised goes, half will go to a UK based charity and half to an refugee charity, please email in or leave a comment if you would like to put forward a charity.

Have a lovely Sunday

Jx

How fab was this post and picture we received?

"Yesterday and today I've been knitting with two of my own boys and my neighbours children. My two can crochet so we'll do this as a summer project and see how many we can send you by September!— in Poole, Dorset."

What a great story !

Let us have your photos and stories so we can share

Hello fellow clickers and hookers well we are almost a week old on facebook and have 286 members and counting. It would be great to get more so if you are on facebook ( commonly known as faceache in my house) please do consider joining us.

Ellen posted that she had finished her first blanket this morning and what a stunner it is.




As you can see she has added a simple tag to hers, what a great idea.

Although the main reason of this project is to raise awareness, we have lots of people joining us who are learning new skills to help and that is great.

We desperately more knitters and crocheters for this to succeed, so please please tell your friends, local knitting groups, WI , in fact anyone who will listen ! Ellen has been busy writing to yarn companies and publications. What would help would be a celebrity endorsement, so if you are well connected with anyone please do get in touch.

We also need people to share this blog so we can reach more people so any help there would also be appreciated.

Well that's it for now I'll pop back this evening.

take care

Jx

Good Evening, a bit late checking in this evening ,its been one of 'those' days here at crochet HQ 

This is a photo of Jack , he is Ellen's rescue dog and has now become our mascot

We also have some great knitting going on as well as crocheting

this is the start of Bridget's blanket 

post pictures of your blankets in the comments and we will do our best to share some of them.

good night

J x

Morning :)

this is our link to facebook group

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1012887892161823/?fref=nf

this is our ravelry link

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/sixty-million-trebles

if you are a twitter person please use the #‎sixtymilliontrebles‬

These are some of the squares that are under way by some of our group.

We are still looking for people to act as collection points , if you think you could help please do get in touch. Hope you all have a lovely day.

One of our lovely helpers posted this today "Half way through. The group inspired me to learn C2C method, it's going well I'm pleased to say. 😊 what a wonderful idea, thanks for your hard work I'm really happy to be involved."

Good morning to you all today. Ellen just posted this on our Facebook group and I thought I'd share it with you all this morning.

"Hubby asked me last night "how many of the 8,050" blankets do,you intend making. Told him I would equal what I made for my Syria boxes last year which was this lot.he has been married to me for 30 years but he is still telling everyone he is married to a crazy lady. If you don't think big you don't get anywhere"

Good Morning to you all, our little group on Facebook is growing and gaining momentum and now its my task to get this blog going to keep you all informed about whats happening, please be gentle with me as I have never done anything like this before.

I will try to go through things one at a time so as not to give myself a headache :)

So the most important bit .. we need 36 inch square blankets, they need to be this size so we can sew them altogether easily and then up pick them at the end. We don't mind what pattern you use or if you want to make smaller squares and sew them together to make a 36" blanket , its totally up to you.

We have lots of people who have come forward to act as collection points ,

Ellen: Workington Cumbria

Janet Wilde :Cockermouth & Keswick

Jayne James :Isle of Wight

Angela Muflahi Kingswinford :West Midlands

Jeanne Smith. Bristol South West

Ellens Dad. Exeter.

Ellens Sister :Paignton

Sian Rolfe West Sussex

Fatima Harif. West Yorkshire

Christine Brooks Northumberland

So that's it for this morning , I'll pop back later with more updates :)