2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

So it’s mince pies at your home, @Laura_Elsewhere, after the Much Mending Carol Concert?  I am in awe at the quantity!

I’m knackered this evening.  (It’s “Month End” in my world, so I am brain dead.  I finished work yesterday at 8.30pm). Today was cold.  There was ice on some of the pavements when I went for my morning run.  Our kitchen has felt like a fridge all day, which is unusual since it’s a sun trap.  

- Pip

thriftwizard

Cold here too; I've been making cot/lap quilts (3' x 4' or thereabouts) during lockdown to use up scraps and some of my enormous stash of fabric, but it was too cold in the conservatory to do much on my beloved treadled Jones today, despite DD2 & I having wrapped the entire 24' space in bubble-wrap! It's by far the biggest room in the house, so it's a shame it's only really usable for half of the year. But the plants & the cockatiels don't seem to mind it in winter as long as the bubble-wrap's up & we can use it too on warmer days. I finished the 4th little quilt yesterday - I won't be doing denim again in a hurry; that one was a struggle - and had meant to try to get one more in but now I'm doubting I can do it - 4 days left! But I do have a clear idea in my head...

Looking forward very much to the Carol concert! And the mince pies too... I didn't make any mincemeat this year, as our apple crop was pretty poor after an enormous crop last year - our biggest tree is probably over 100 now and still producing - but I do love HM mincemeat! Shop-bought always tastes so bland...

Cherryfudge

I have been adoring people's knitting and crochet but putting off posting as I have some spending to declare and I'm not sure of the coupons:

My half of a king size cotton duvet cover - 4 coupons?
a pillowcase - 2 coupons?
and my half of a fleecy underblanket (I don't suppose I can get away with saying duvet covers and fleece mattress covers don't count due to not existing in GB in the days of rationing?) - 4 coupons?

Vest top - 3 coupons?
Sports bra - 1.5 coupons?
Leggings for wearing with work uniform tops so I think they could count towards a boiler suit - otherwise 2 coupons.
Tee shirt - 5

There were three other tops but they are going back. I've just noticed that there's no penalty for width which is amazingly generous as it would take a few 36" widths to equal some of my purchases this year but I think it means I am owed 4 coupons because when I bought the door curtain I took square meterage into account.

If my maths is right then I go from 15.5 coupons spent to 35 spent but I'd be grateful if someone could run their eye over the above because I don't want anyone thinking I'm associating with that Private Walker.

Cheers!

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

Cold here too; I've been making cot/lap quilts (3' x 4' or thereabouts) during lockdown to use up scraps and some of my enormous stash of fabric, but it was too cold in the conservatory to do much on my beloved treadled Jones today, despite DD2 & I having wrapped the entire 24' space in bubble-wrap! It's by far the biggest room in the house, so it's a shame it's only really usable for half of the year. But the plants & the cockatiels don't seem to mind it in winter as long as the bubble-wrap's up & we can use it too on warmer days. I finished the 4th little quilt yesterday - I won't be doing denim again in a hurry; that one was a struggle - and had meant to try to get one more in but now I'm doubting I can do it - 4 days left! But I do have a clear idea in my head...

Good luck, @thriftwizard with the fifth quilt.  They are a lot of work.

Looking forward very much to the Carol concert! And the mince pies too... I didn't make any mincemeat this year, as our apple crop was pretty poor after an enormous crop last year - our biggest tree is probably over 100 now and still producing - but I do love HM mincemeat! Shop-bought always tastes so bland...

So am I.  (Looking forward to the Carol Concert.)  Did anyone see the lovely clip of the Huddersfield Choral Society on BBC Breakfast this morning?  They sounded lovely.  I'm both green with envy and full of longing to sing with my choir.  While we're doing Zoom sing-a-longs, it's not the same.    Normally, at Christmas, we do a carol concert to fundraise for a local charity.  This year, one of the members (with film-industry contacts) has spliced together recordings from previous carol concerts, so that we can raise money for a local hospice.  The film will be launched on YouTube at 7pm on Saturday 12th December; consider yourselves invited.  (Hope the link is permissible.)  It will be up until Christmas.

Cherryfudge said:

I have been adoring people's knitting and crochet but putting off posting as I have some spending to declare and I'm not sure of the coupons:

My half of a king size cotton duvet cover - 4 coupons?
a pillowcase - 2 coupons?
and my half of a fleecy underblanket (I don't suppose I can get away with saying duvet covers and fleece mattress covers don't count due to not existing in GB in the days of rationing?) - 4 coupons?

@Cherryfudge - didn't you have bomb damage in the last air raid and have to replace your bed because of that?  You'll have received special coupons for the bedding, so we'll ignore the cost of the duvet, etc, in your personal tally. 

That leaves your clothing spend:

Vest top - 3 coupons?
Sports bra - 1.5 coupons?
Leggings for wearing with work uniform tops so I think they could count towards a boiler suit - otherwise 2 coupons.
Tee shirt - 5

There were three other tops but they are going back. I've just noticed that there's no penalty for width which is amazingly generous as it would take a few 36" widths to equal some of my purchases this year but I think it means I am owed 4 coupons because when I bought the door curtain I took square meterage into account.

If my maths is right then I go from 15.5 coupons spent to 35 spent but I'd be grateful if someone could run their eye over the above because I don't want anyone thinking I'm associating with that Private Walker.

Cheers!

Are the leggings a compulsory part of your uniform?  If so, then you spent 9.5 coupons on the above, which takes your total spend to 25 coupons.  If not, then you'll have spent 11 coupons, taking your spend to 27.

- Pip

Cherryfudge

Thank you @PipneyJane, looking round our room I can certainly see a bomb had a very near miss so am glad of the extra coupons.

I almost never wear leggings apart from at work: we are provided with polo shirts and obviously bare legs might cause a few raised eyebrows! Skirts aren't practical. I could wear jeans or trousers and some of the time I do but the amount of washing makes leggings, which take less maintenance, preferable... so I guess they count as 'compulsory'.

Having thought that through, (thanks ) I will change my signature.

Meanwhile... @Laura_Elsewhere, those wristlets are completely gorgeous: the stiches, the colour combination... I love them. I've also looked up the crocheted ice skates decoration - I think I might just need to make some of those. And 'Onwards! Upwards! Aux darning-needles, citoyennes!' - Where is the old fashioned ROFL when I need it?

@TwibbleDee, Thank you for sharing Thanksgiving with us! A day off the ration is so good for the soul. And sweet potatoes are one of my favourites (did you know they are the staple carbohydrate of the Okinawan people who live to 100?).

Right, I must get back to the Home Front. It needs work.

Laura_Elsewhere

Many thanks for the nice comments re the wrist-warmers but jings, what a DUMB idea it was for me to ask some friends to give me their best reason why they should have them... I was expecting funny, jokey kinds of responses, but three gave really moving reasons... so the original ones have gone to the one who I know has had the most godawful year she never mentioned... and I'm now speed-knitting simple k2-p2 tubes, no thumb-slit or anything, for the other two because I feel so guilty not sending the original ones to all three! One is getting a pair very very soft yarn, for her friend who is disabled and very very sensitive to the cold; the other is getting hers in her beloved 'Ravenclaw' colours from the Harry Potter books, blue and bronze. 
On the plus side, I'm using up yarn I otherwise wasn't using - the soft yarn is an alpaca/milk-protein blend in bulky weight, so I knitted it up on 5.5mm DPNs, just a tube of 28 stitches in 2/2 rib. he other... well, having dug out passable colours (actually, quite good, I think!), one was DK and one was not jsut fingering but light fingering at that, so I'm using the DK held double, and the fingering weight I'm using three strands held together, with the same 5.5mm DPNs and 30 stitches...

So I am using up yarn I had acquired for non-me purposes or been given, but oooh, I've not knitted this much or this quickly in a while!!!

joedenise

Well done @Laura_Elsewhere.  Enjoy the fast knitting!

Baileys_Babe

That is a very loving thing to do @Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere, that is a very kind and loving thing to do.  

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

It's not a loving and kind thing to do, it's a silly thing to do - argh, I hate knitting in rib, it makes my wrists swell up, ow, ow... only half a wrist-warmer to go, though. Nearly done... 

I think I shall not do any more knitting this coming week!!!!!