2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

@tgroom57 - of course you can join! The simplest way is probably to start with half the annual coupons as it's half the year, so from July 1st it's 33 coupons, and the list of how many you need for different things is on Page 1. 

Welcome, everyone!  

@maddiemay - yes, the search for trousers that fit the different bits of me is why I wear skirts mostly! I have a bit of a 'swayback', ie my lower back is a bit more bendy than is ideal, and combined with my overall size, it gives me pretty much the shape of Winnie-the-Pooh if I wear jeans!  
A skirt that flares out from the hips, or a 3/4-circle, or even a full circular skirt, knee-length or longer - that works on me! 

joedenise

@maddiemay I have exactly the same problem - no bum but a big tummy.  It's very difficult to find anything that feel remotely comfortable that aren't too baggy round the bum!  I find the best fitting ones are those that have a waistband but a little elastic at each side so they are flatter at the back and the waistband sort of holds the tummy area a big more snugly!

tgroom57

Thank you ! I have used 2 coupons for the purse.  Also bought black cotton thread yesterday, no coupons for that. 2 used, 31 left.

[Deleted User]

My knitting plans have halted. I get dyshidrotic eczema but usually it just becomes a nuisance on the tip of one my toes. It's decided to give me itchy red blister right by where my knit pro zing needle sits on my left hand. This is the third time I've had it there since lockdown and I'm thinking that the stress of the virus and the metal (possibly nickel within the aluminium) are agitating it. I have built my interchangeable needle collection up and feel quite frustrated at this happening. I believe my connecting wires will fit into knit pro's wooden needles but I'm wondering how the wooden needles fare. Does anyone have any experience knitting on wooden needles?

So my coupon spend is halted in terms of wool purchase. I need to get rid of the itchy lump first and that usually take a good two weeks to drop back. Then I have to work out which needle I invest first according to most used. I was wanting to knit a cabled aran weight hat but I won't use the needle size often. I might be better off doing the fingering weight sweater because that needle size I will use much more regularly. I will have to have a strategic think. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@Noaidi - my full sympathy - I live with psoriasis, so I can empathise... 

I mostly use steel needles because I knit very rapidly with the RH needle anchored, so it's tough on the DPNs and can snap a wooden or bamboo needle! I have a few and always have to use them veeeery carefully! 
But I have three sets of Knit Pro laminated wood DPNs in the 5-6mm range which have survived very well and I find them very good to knit with - I have two lots of red-orange coloured ones and a set of green ones. Initially I had three sets of red-orange ones but a year or two back one of the 5.5mm ones splintered a bit at one tip after a decade of really hard use by a needle-killer knitter. I sent a photo to KnitPro to let them know, just thinking it might be useful for their product research to see how the laminating splintered eventually after a decade or more of heavy bashing, and to my astonishment they insisted on sending me a new set, which were the greeny ones... 

So I'm a bit of a fan, as you can imagine - needles that are very good to use, AND last for years and years even though it's needle-killer me using them, AND they send new ones when nobody in their right mind would think they owed me a thing! 

So I definitely recommend their colourful laminated wooden ones I should think a company with ethics that sound would have the same quality across their DPNs and tips, and different sizes, so I would go ahead and try them. 

I have one other set of wooden needles - I have four 12"/30cm DPNs in 6mm size, but I made those by sawing up a length of 6mm hardwood dowel from Wickes and sharpening each end and sanding them to a rounded tip! Then I beeswax them every time I use them and they are becoming beautifully smooth... it's as if the wood is getting denser on the tips, maybe from repeated minor contacts as I knit?

[Deleted User]

My latest purchase has been a pair of Hotter winter shoes from and e bay charity shop at slightly less than half the price new and in new condition and very comfy.  I've not been near a shop since March so my wardrobe is likely to remain same old same old for quite some time to come.

PipneyJane

Welcome @tgroom57.  Pull up a (socially distant) chair and I’ll pour you a cuppa.  The cake today is Ginger.  It’s just cooling.  Would you like a slice?  @Laura_Elsewhere has explained the basics.  If there’s anything that is unclear, please feel free to ask.

To the ladies in the “bottom challenged” department, oddly enough I think that’s where stretch jeans come into their own.  I’ve never seen a pair sag over a small bottom and they have enough give to accommodate a big one. I caught 20 seconds of You Are What You Wear on BBC1 the other night, just as the fashion expert was talking about how stretch jeans fit and flatter.  (DH promptly turned the channel over.). While I’m not a fan of the host, I may try and watch the episode on iPlayer.

Noaidi said:

My knitting plans have halted. I get dyshidrotic eczema but usually it just becomes a nuisance on the tip of one my toes. It's decided to give me itchy red blister right by where my knit pro zing needle sits on my left hand. This is the third time I've had it there since lockdown and I'm thinking that the stress of the virus and the metal (possibly nickel within the aluminium) are agitating it. I have built my interchangeable needle collection up and feel quite frustrated at this happening. I believe my connecting wires will fit into knit pro's wooden needles but I'm wondering how the wooden needles fare. Does anyone have any experience knitting on wooden needles?

So my coupon spend is halted in terms of wool purchase. I need to get rid of the itchy lump first and that usually take a good two weeks to drop back. Then I have to work out which needle I invest first according to most used. I was wanting to knit a cabled aran weight hat but I won't use the needle size often. I might be better off doing the fingering weight sweater because that needle size I will use much more regularly. I will have to have a strategic think. 

How annoying, @Noaidi!  And painful!

I use wooden KnitPro interchangeables most of the time.  I have a couple of the metal tips, too, but prefer wood.  The cables fit all varieties of KnitPro tips. I bought a set 12 years ago (3mm up to 6mm) and, in that time, I’ve broken 1 tip.  My most used sizes are 3.25mm, 3.5mm and 4mm.  I actually ordered a replacement set of 3.25mm needles last night because one of the tips has developed an odd flat patch and a ridge along the veneer edge.   It is annoying me to knit with.  I must have knitted a dozen sweaters with these needles, either using them for the ribbing or for main body of the sweater.

One other point to note:  avoid the 3mm interchangeable tips. As the smallest, their sizing is a bit off.  After knitting a swatch on 3.25mm tips and another on 3mm tips, I was confused to find that the gauge was identical.  My DH is an engineer by trade, so carefully measured both sets of tips using some tools at work.  Both were 3.25mm.  I ordered some replacement 3mm tips and they, too, measured up at 3.25mm.  After some more measurements, his conclusion is that the metal end where the cable attaches is actually more than 3mm in diameter and the tips were sized to fit smoothly.  I replaced those tips with 3mm wooden fixed cable needles, which he measured up at 3mm.

I prefer wooden needles because they are quieter and a bit more gripping. I knit a lot of pairs of socks and my preferred DPN’s are 6 inch wooden KnitPro 2.5mm.  They’re sold in sets of 6 and I’m still using 4 of the original set.  (I’ve lost 2.). They have developed areas of wear, that feel rough to the fingers but doesn’t catch on the yarn.  They aren’t about to develop splinters. You may know that KnitPro needles have an association with the American website KnitPicks. KnitPicks founder, Kelly Petkun used to podcast.  I have a vague memory of her mentioning smoothing down these rough patches with fine sandpaper but I’ve never been brave enough to try. 

HTH

- Pip

joedenise

Thanks pip.  I have a couple of pairs of stretch trousers and you're right they do fit around the bum well and hold in the tummy a bit as well.  They will probably my next purchase but not for while yet!  I only replace clothes when they are beyond wearing!

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane

"I caught 20 seconds of You Are What You Wear on BBC1 the other night, just as the fashion expert was talking about how stretch jeans fit and flatter."

They weren't talking about me, then... 

My backside isn't a problem - but the silhouette is! A back-end like Kim Kardashian, or rather like several Kim Kardashians, and a pot-belly like a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig to boot   

Imagine this middle image, only with 16 stone of excess Lauraness as well as the shape-deformity! A skirt covers a multitude of weird shapes  



My favourite pair of Accidental Trousers as an example of how to cover up weird shapes   

[Deleted User]

Hi @tgroom57 and @boazu it is warm and welcoming on this thread.

@Laura_Elsewhere and @PipneyJane thank you so much for your wisdom and recommendation that wooden needles might actually be better all round. I've taken note of the smaller needle issue and I thank you for it. I'm a loose knitter so that mm difference could have got me into a pickle.