Wednesday, 17 August 2016



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.




Saturday, 13 August 2016



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.



















Thursday, 11 August 2016

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



Monday, 8 August 2016

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 !!



Saturday, 6 August 2016



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

Tuesday, 2 August 2016

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