make do and mend for tougher times

Popperwell

With all the talk about chocolate(lovely)how about this?

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/chocolates-drug-appeal-probed-172502497.html

Mrs C mentioned that depression was being talked about on radio2's Jeremy Vine show earlier in the day.

Radio 5 is talking to Denise Welsh at 23.30 and she's talking about her brush with depression too...

ginnyknit

My OH made readicut rugs for the children when they were babies and even did a big Tutankahmune on which he lent to the primary school every time they did it in their history classes. He has one on the go now which was gifted to me but it makes my hands hurt.

Fuddle I use pillows to stuff things nowadays - much cheaper, you could make lovely comforters to add to the beds for an extra layer. The way they did it on !!!!!! was nice, I was tempted to do one too. I love handsewing and its a good project for winter nights. Im making a patchwork for a friend who had a baby 6 months ago and I told her to pop any of babies clothes in a box that she doesnt pass on to someone so I can use them in the quilt.

Big jenny take care of that foot hunny, I bet it hurt :eek:

Popperwell

That's interesting Ginny K,

So maybe there is an interest in rug making after all...

I'm going to watch Wartime Farm after midnight on the laptop but think it's time I ate something so I will have some toasted teacake and cheese, my last meal was toast and raspberry conserve at Breakfast time...

How about another story that might horrify some but probably as OS'ers we don't do this(even if we might've in the past)regarding the cost of clothes over our lifetime...

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/what-a-lifetime-of-clothes-costs-you.html

valk_scot

Hah, at least I've got a cheap hobby in terms of raw materials. Do you know how much a farmer gets for the average sheep fleece from the Wool Marketing Board? About £1, for a whole fleece that can weigh up to 6kg. Of course fleece can be extremely variable, meat sheep fleece is best used for stuffing cushions and insullation rather than turning it into yarn but even top quality fleece like Shetland from a flock bred for their wool only costs about £10 and you'll easily get enough yarn for a sweater from one Shetland fleece. Of course you've also got to learn what to do with it...and buy a spinning wheel or spindle of course. But I'm surprised more knitters don't learn to spin, the price of wool yarns in the shops is shocking.

I get given or at least offered fleeces a lot, many farmers or smallholders don't know what to do with half a dozen pet sheep fleeces as the Wool Marketing Board (who have a monopoly on most fleece buying in the UK) aren't interested in small amounts like that. So the fleece gets burned usually, if the owner doesn't know what else to do with it. It costs ~£3 to shear a sheep atm, it has to be done of course. So if the owner can sell them on for a few pounds they'll break even. But often it's just a "Can you use...?" I'd be drowning in fleece if I said yes to it all! I do take some though if it's a good breed and the fleece is sound. I've got six Cheviot fleeces in the utility room as I type, about 24+ kg of fleece. Not all for me though!

On the subject of rugs, peg looming is very fast and you can use strips of scrap fabric or in my case, thickly spun yarn from even coarse fleeces. Some folk have even made full width mattress toppers from wool on an extra wide peg loom, that must be so cosy!

ginnyknit

Love the idea of cushion stuffed with fleece, I could use it for making quilts though couldnt I - as stuffing I mean. I must have a google and see if I can buy fleeces maybe in Cheshire. Does it take much work to clean it for use as stuffing Valk?

Popperwell

Morning All,
Been watching TV overnight, well some of the night, couldn't sleep and get comfortable so caught up on some of Gordon Ramsey's latest series, pleasure to watch because "no swearing" andssimply presented.

We always cooked meat(roasts/chops)in the oven but I now realise most meat/fish can be cooked in a frying pan with Olive oil and takes minutes. This explains why those George Foreman grills work. So I've learnt something and that again means I can avoid cooking for ages in a big oven wasting energy...

SmileyT if you are reading, remember the other night when you asked about food burning in your pan? GR says pans with a heavy bottom are less likely to burn food so coud that be another reason?

fuddle

Valk I looked into hand spinning a short while ago. I thought it would have been a money saving way to knit with pure wool but all I could find was bundles that cost just as much and then I needed to buy the dye. I really would like to hand spin though. I think it would be a real stress reliever. Do you use a wheel? My jaw dropped when I saw the cost of the spinning wheels?

GQ Thanks for the step by step method of how to latch hook a rug. Would you be offended if I said I was completely lost lol One of our lovely posters has a canvas somewhere. She's going to hunt it out so I'll hopefully get the chance to try it soon with DD

Popperwell

Good luck with the rug and what a lovely gesture of that poster. I know that kits from the company we mentioned earlier have a printed picture on the canvas and then you have wool of different colours you put through with the hook tool in the corresponding part of the canvas.

I assume if the canvas has no drawing on it the idea you just use one colour or do stripes(wide or narrow)

mardatha

It's totally imposs to explain knitting and crafty stuff in words, try Youtube fuddle?
I think that's so wasteful valk, we should use every scrap of the sheep in some way or other. I was once really interested in trying to cure sheepskins for rugs at home but never got around to it.
Just wondering how much trouble the lack of sun this year (again) will bring this winter- sure to cause lots of illness. Somebody else I know with ME is very poorly, & I heard of a girl with it who went to Oz and is now working fulltime and has a baby - when she was here she was very sickly. So sunshine and warmth has something to do with it maybe.
But lack of summer will affect everybody come Nov-Feb so buy some good multi vits now, and what about reviving Malt? They gave that to kids in wartime so its OS.

rosieben

I remember in the 50's we had daily doses of Cod Liver Oil and Malt, not sure if that was a government thing like the orange juice etc we used to get sometimes, to improve the nation's health? I think Virol was a brand name of similar stuff but the big jars we had were just labelled 'Cod Liver Oil and Malt'. I'm the youngest of a large family and we would all line up for a large spoonful