2019 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Crafty_Lisa_Hampshire

Nearly the end of the first month and I think I have done okay. I got a pair of walking boots repaired, I bought 3 long sleeve tops from charity shops and I am in the process of making a waistcoat the material of which I "shopped' from my fabric stash. That means I have used 4 coupons for the fabric only. I have also repaired a few items of clothes that were piling up (a bit early for Fix It February) and gone through my wardrobe to check where the gaps are. I did a declutter before Christmas so I didn't need to worry about that. I feel as if I am on a roll.

Laura_Elsewhere

Crafty_Lisa_Hampshire wrote: »

making a waistcoat the material of which I "shopped' from my fabric stash. That means I have used 4 coupons for the fabric only. .

No coupons needed if it's fabric you already owned!

You are doing well - congrats!

thriftwizard

I had a great auction "win" last month; a box which contained an "a part-knitted throw and four cushions". There were lots of boxes of yarns in the sale, but mostly very cheap & cheerful "eyelash" & acrylic yarns, with what I felt was a high guide price (i.e. £50-£60 for 50-odd balls) but this box had a guide price of £10-£20. The "part-knitted" throw was in fact completely knitted, but the original maker hadn't finished the crochet edging; this was just as well, as she was no crocheter! Underneath the afghan were 4 complete skeins of the yarn, Cascade 220, 3 in lovely blue/green heather shades, one cream, plus quite a few part-balls. The cushions went straight off to a charity shop, I frogged the crochet edging & re-did it to my own taste, so now I have a lovely 6' afghan to give as a house-warming present to DS2 and his young lady next month, and 4 skeins (880 yds) and a lot of part-balls of lovely pure Peruvian wool to play with! Coupon-free, if I'm correct? Though I'll cough up for those if need be, I don't think I need much in the way of clothing.

So I'm looking for a striped/wave crochet cardi pattern that takes > 1000 yds of worsted in a med/lg size; anyone got any ideas?

PipneyJane

thriftwizard wrote: »

I had a great auction "win" last month; a box which contained an "a part-knitted throw and four cushions". There were lots of boxes of yarns in the sale, but mostly very cheap & cheerful "eyelash" & acrylic yarns, with what I felt was a high guide price (i.e. £50-£60 for 50-odd balls) but this box had a guide price of £10-£20. The "part-knitted" throw was in fact completely knitted, but the original maker hadn't finished the crochet edging; this was just as well, as she was no crocheter! Underneath the afghan were 4 complete skeins of the yarn, Cascade 220, 3 in lovely blue/green heather shades, one cream, plus quite a few part-balls. The cushions went straight off to a charity shop, I frogged the crochet edging & re-did it to my own taste, so now I have a lovely 6' afghan to give as a house-warming present to DS2 and his young lady next month, and 4 skeins (880 yds) and a lot of part-balls of lovely pure Peruvian wool to play with! Coupon-free, if I'm correct? Though I'll cough up for those if need be, I don't think I need much in the way of clothing.

So I'm looking for a striped/wave crochet cardi pattern that takes > 1000 yds of worsted in a med/lg size; anyone got any ideas?

Sounds lovely. Cascade 220 is a good workhorse woollen yarn, I believe. (I’ve never seen it.). The yarn is secondhand, so free.

I don’t know if this helps,but a quick search on Ravelry revealed 15 striped crochet cardigan patterns designed for worsted wool and 4 in DK that you could probably fudge to make worsted.

I was hoping to find you a link to a crochet version of the Knitters Handy Book of Sweaters (which has basic patterns in multiple yarn weights and sizes), but it doesn’t appear that InterweaveCrochet have done one. (I must have dreamt it.)

- Pip

thriftwizard

I don’t know if this helps,but a quick search on Ravelry revealed 15 striped crochet cardigan patterns designed for worsted wool and 4 in DK that you could probably fudge to make worsted.

Thanks, PipneyJane - your search has turned up several that didn't appear in mine! Promising... I do have the Rowan book with "Colleen" in it somewhere in my stock shed; as the yarn quantities listed are somewhat confusing I'll dig that out (when my hands work!) & see whether that one's do-able.

vintagegal

Hello everyone


Hope you've had a nice weekend!


I can't find the pattern I was looking for so am going to get it printed again. I'm going to get to the bottom of the ironing basket (s) in the spare room as I am convinced there is fabric in there. I also found two jumpers at the weekend that I had forgotten I had. I'm going to clear out the dross and wear the other things!


Yesterday I cleared out my daughters wardrobe with her (she is 11) and we have two bin bags of clothes for the charity shop. I've tried to think of someone we could pass it on to, in the spirit of make do and mend, but I can't.


Have not bought any more clothes but I have quite a wish list that I am having to try and ignore! Had to buy two new tyres on friday so that expense is helping :rotfl:

Laura_Elsewhere

I was mugged.

My wonderful dentist moved from our urban town to a picturesque historic rural market town, so today I trekked out by bus for my appointment.

I didn't realise there was a really good wool shop in Much Wenlock - no chance to prepare defences! I escaped with two skeins of sock yarn...

Also, one of the vests (ie thin cotton long-sleeved t-shirt) that I bought last week turned out to be not only surprisingly good quality cotton but also slashneck, ie not plungingly-low scoop neck, so I went back deliberately today to see if they had another. Obviously, they didn't, but I decided the cotton is good enough quality that I bought two in size "Extra-Small" which i am not, because I intend to make some new knickers from it, and possibly dismantle an old tatty bra and remake that. I'd been wistfully eyeing cotton undies in M&S, and am NOT buying expensive matching undies that I don't need. But a few coupons on two tops to cut up and use as fabric, that's worth it.

So, I was on 53.5 coupons left... two more 3-coupon vests, and 1 coupon for each 50g skein of sock-wool, that makes 8... 53.5 - 8 = 45.5

I suspect I shall be resentfully eyeing the velvet bralet thing I impulse-bought last week, and the other two thin tops, by the end of the year... the sock-yarn and the good cotton tops/undies-fabric I am happy to have bought but I think I'm already aware that I'm not making good decisions all the time.

At least I'm aware of it!

vintagegal

I will be the same Laura_Elsewhere.. I feel like I should keep a list of what exactly I've bought because I won't remember by Christmas. Although at the rate I am going, I must think I have 666 coupons not 66

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere wrote: »

I was mugged.

My wonderful dentist moved from our urban town to a picturesque historic rural market town, so today I trekked out by bus for my appointment.

I didn't realise there was a really good wool shop in Much Wenlock - no chance to prepare defences! I escaped with two skeins of sock yarn...

Ambushed! You can at least justify the yarn by arguing that you're keeping a decent yarn shop in business. (That's how I justify it.) What did you get?

I will try to finish another jumper this week. This one, which has been sitting, waiting for the neckline to be picked up and knitted - one row, if I recall correctly - since January 2015! It'll take half an hour.

VintageGal, I keep a list in a sidebar on my (rather neglected) blog. I'm impressed that you're tracking your spend in your signature - I'm just not organised enough to keep track of it that way.

- Pip

Sayschezza

Been heavy handed at the on-line sales again. Will admit the damage when I know which bits I am keeping.