2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

CAFCGirl

I adore EVERYTHING about that hat!!!

Laura_Elsewhere

maddiemay said:

Polly I remember that fabric, not my colours so didn't own anything made in it. Great hat.

I'm pretty sure we had duvet covers of it in pink and white, mid-1970s - back when they were called "continental quilts" and were VERY revolutionary - none of our friends had ever heard of them and people generally thought we were very peculiar as a family for getting these new-fangled and clearly deeply-insanitary things!  

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane said:

maddiemay said:

I meant to post earlier, but got diverted 1st June 1941 was the day that clothes rationing started, I gather that it ended March 1949, I wonder what my DM would have been wearing at that time before I was born in June '49, only photo I can remember seeing of mum as a young woman was a head and shoulders shot, she was wearing a plaid headscarf, if we both survive our respective lock-downs and get to see each other when (hopefully) this virus dies down enough I must ask her.

Blimey.  Yes, it was.  I’d forgotten that 1st June 1941 was when rationing started.  Personally, I keep feeling like we’re living through a version of 1941/1942.  The world has been turned upside down again.  We’ve had the worst of the Blitz (in our case, Lockdown), taken shocks to our incomes and employment (for me, Working from Home) and are now settling in for the long term siege with our veggie patches, cooking from scratch, knitting and sewing.

Love the hat, @PollyWollyDoodle.  Like @maddiemay, I remember that fabric.  Very 1970’s.

- Pip (Did I just hear Carol say sleet and snow on the weather bulletin?  !!!!!!?  It’s June!)

I'm re-reading my Mass Observation books and some Home Front Journals for just this reason. It really does feel like I am morphing into my own Gran. 

When people at various times past have compared modern times to the last war, I've always said it isn;t, because they lived with the bombing and the threat of imminent death with no real warning, nothing you could do to prevent a bomb hitting while you were queuing at a shop, for example... 
Suddenly, actually, yes we ARE living with the threat of unavoidable imminent death, albeit of a different kind. 

I keep thinking, over and again, that our society's complete lack of understanding at the start of this year, and for some people still, of the importance of quarantine and isolation and so on really does show what a luxury the last 70ish years have been. We've been able to live in a world where virtually every disease or medical condition is treatable, if not curable, and where having a serious illness doesn't mean dying. It has become normal for people to live with what used to be deadly conditions - until now... the NHS has given us an enormous amount, and now it's busting a gut to keep us alive, and we must strive to keep it AND ITS STAFF alive... I'm *Asking For The NHS* each Thursday, using the online form to contact the Dept of Health and Social Care in the govt, to ask difficult questions, politely and seriously, about conditions, safety, funding, pay, to try to get across to the govt that many of us care deeply and we weren't just clapping for a bit of fun. Please join me if you can, in *Asking For The NHS*... 

*::climbs off soapbox::*

supersaver1000

Polly I love that hat - is it 70s flower power?  For some reason it makes me think of brush nylon sheets and baby doll sets, in baby pink and baby blue, along with the nylon nighties my mum used to make for me  xx

Brambling

I don't usually post on this thread but Polly your hat brought back memories of my childhood as we had lounge curtains in that fabric which were unearthed from the bottom of my mum's blanket box when she died 8 years ago and sent to a charity shop, she kept them just in case 

We also had a similar wallpaper so a bit of a clash 

Laura_Elsewhere

I really must sit down and work out my coupon spending this year - but new spending today: a pair of blue plimsoles, decent quality ones that won't wear out in a short time, so that's 5 points.
And I splurged gloriously on yarn - I just couldn't resist it! And Ewe & Ply are one of my favourite two LYS and they do online ordering so simply... 

50g DK Shropshire Ply in 'quickthorn', a glorious green, and another 50g in 'fox and cubs' which is a lovely russety-fox-reddish colour. Those will make another pair of stranded-colourwork bootsocks for the autumn. 
https://eweandply.co.uk/products/shropshire-ply-2018-double-knitting?variant=12450853879890

And 100g of Splendiferous Sock in 'Bad Penny' which is my beloved rust-and-verdigris colours yet again (as is the Shropshire Ply DK, of course)
https://eweandply.co.uk/products/splendiferous-sock-by-riverknits?variant=3129027756043

So 200g of yarn - 50g is 1 coupon, so 4 coupons for the wool.

Plimsoles - 5 coupons
Wool - 4 coupons

Total spend 9 coupons, plus whatever else I've spent this year. 

PipneyJane

Beautiful colours, Laura.

- Pip (Must resist browsing the yarn shop.....)

keepcalmandcraft

I’ve had a clear out of some of my mother-in-law’s yarn. If anyone would like them, they are free, and will use no coupons!!! There are 3 balls of the cream, 5 of the green and 10 balls of the gold (much more golden than the picture shows). Let me know if you are interested. 

joedenise

Someone will be getting a bargain!  Just wish I knitted but my only crafting is sewing.  Still I'm making face masks ready for when they become compulsory!  Don't think it'll be long with the introduction today of being compulsory on public transport.  Have made half a dozen so far for DH and I but want to make at least another half dozen before I'll be satisfied we've got the absolute minimum needed.

PipneyJane

@keepcalmandcraft, that is very sweet of you.   For those who are tempted, the Patons Diploma Gold is perfect for socks.  Three skeins should be enough for 2 pairs of adult ladies socks.

Yes, I saw the announcement about public transport this evening, @joedenise.  I’m glad they finally did it.  I was on the B00ts website last weekend and saw that they were selling regular surgical masks for £35/box of 50.  (Disposable masks that should last between 3-4 hours.).  I must admit that I was tempted BUT I have no reason to travel on public transport and it feels like profiteering at that price.  Still, that’s the benchmark.  I may yet give in.

- Pip