2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

[Deleted User]

I don't think I'd necessarily call them classics but they're of a shape that fits and some of them will keep me warm this winter because they're of a shape that would fit anyone, no matter what shape because they're lovely and baggy! I shall be comfy and definitely not elegant but I shall be warm and that's what counts isn't it?

joedenise

Congratulations Pip on the job extension.  It will at least give you a bit more time to find something else, although probably not a good time to be job hunting.  Is there any possibility it could be extended further?

basketcase

Good news about the contract extension Pip!  And best of luck with the job search.

I've never read Pollyanna either...

Laura_Elsewhere

Pollyanna is a little girl in late-19th century America (edit: actually c.1913, my mistake), whose Daddy teaches her to "play the Glad Game", ie to look for the silver lining in everything and not dwell on the negative. 

All sounds fine, in theory - she ends up an orphan iirc, living with some crusty old aunt who doesn't want or love her, but still she contrives to Play the Glad Game... 

It becomes incredibly grating and much as I adore this kind of Sunday School prize type of book and have hundreds of them, she is pretty ghastly. Even for her time and place, it's pretty grim. 

One year at Christmas, her sole present is a pair of crutches, mistakenly delivered to the wrong person by a charity, and she manages to come up with "Well, I'm just Glad that I'm a well little girl and I don't need these crutches!" and suchlike. Pass the bucket. 
She does at some point, iirc, end up crippled, and still manages to be Glad about everything. 

What's worse is that she even teaches everyone else in her town to Play the Glad Game. 

tbh, I'm not surprised her sour old aunt is sour and crusty. I think I would be, if I had to live with a right little bleedin' ray of sunshine (as my Fond Mama enjoys calling me, when I'm being particularly Pollyannaish! )

PollyWollyDoodle

I have read Pollyanna, along with others  of that genre (What Katy Did, Rebecca of Sunnybrooke farm) and it does grate after a while. My mother used to mutter sourly about Pollyanna when one of us was being particularly twee and irritating. Not that she was a pessimist but sometimes that constant ‘oh look - sunshine! Oh look - trees!’ can get on your nerves!  

I’m generally a positive person, things usually turn out for the best. So congratulations on your job extension Pip, and good luck with the job hunting.

I have just spent a couple of days with my sister, lovely after three months of not visiting. She is having new wardrobes built and all her clothes are on temporary rails, so at her request we went through them. She has a LOT of clothes!  I did my best to be non-judgmental (and probably failed! 😂) but she did throw out a few things. She also threw out several pairs of pyjamas, something I am a bit short of. She’s larger than me, so I am hoping I can cut them down to fit using an existing pair as a pattern. At least the trousers, tops will be a bit more complicated. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@PollyWollyDoodle I think our mothers probably felt exactly the same  

The pyjamas jackets - could you experiment with putting pin tucks running up the front, over the shoulder and down the back, just six inches or less either side of the shoulder-seam may well do it? 
I made a kimono dressing-gown for my mother in Liberty silk (Dad paid, I made ) and somehow cut it so it was miles too wide across the body, so I put in three pin-tucks, carefully-grouped and spaced evenly, and only stitched them down to iirc 4" down from the shoulder, front and back, and they looked intentional (translation: phew, got away with it!). 

Cherryfudge

@PipneyJane, thank you for the welcome, and I shall certainly go gingerbread hunting on your blog, though I'm not sure I can get all the goodies for the baking on this week's ration points.  
Well done on having your job extended, I am sure you are the sort of person who would not only get a new kitchen out of bomb damage but find some parachute silk in the wreckage to turn into lovely undies.
As to knitting for charity. I've decided my nurse dolls, which were made to look like the individuals who received them, didn't go to a charity as such. I'm also not returning the extra yarn to the WI, so I'm declaring a spend of one and a half coupons (150g acrylic - is that right?) bringing my year's spend to six and a half coupons. If and when I ever get round to updating my signature, that's going in.

PollyWollyDoodle

Thanks Laura, pintucks might do it. I haven’t really looked closely at it, but I have just worked out in my head that I can lay a pair of pyjama trousers on top of these and probably cut them down to size. They are not all pairs, I think there are more trousers than tops, I often pair an old T-shirt with pyjama trousers anyway. I’m just very glad to have them because it’s something I’m short of, I have looked into making them but you need an awful lot of fabric to make trousers!  I only wear PJs in winter or when visiting someone else’s home. 

basketcase

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I meant: If anyone wants to start knitting socks, I'm always happy to advise.

    I - I mean my friend - may be interested in starting knitting socks. I she has circular needles, but not DPNs.  What length of cable and/or tips would you advise?  Or is there a technique for using the circulars so that the stitches aren't stretched when you try to join them together, IYSWIM?

   Not sure just seeing what the pattern said would work.  It didn't with Henry's Rabbit.  Knitting on 2 needles then sewing them up really doesn't appeal. 

   Mind you, that puts me in mind of something that happened waaaay back when I was going out with a Shetlander.  His mum knitted amazing stuff and used to supply the local shop selling to tourists.  Anyhow, she decided to knit a really nice lacy baby shawl but, rather than spend a lot on baby wool, thought she'd knit one in ordinary wool first to see if she liked it.  That, in itself, amazes me - it was large and complicated.  I wouldn't have finished it yet!

   Anyway she was over halfway along when, to my surprise, she said "I'm stuck with this.  You use patterns" (she didn't usually) "can you work out where I'm going wrong?"  So I read the pattern line-by-line with her checking that's what she'd done till we got to where she was stuck.  I suddenly realised what it was.  It was a 4-pin pattern and she'd knitted the whole thing on 2 needles!  So, I told her and asked had she not realised that herself in the beginning.  Her airy response was "Oh, I can't read patterns, that's why I asked you.  I only bought it so I could copy the picture.  Now I know what the trouble is I can get round it."  And she did!  I wish I could knit like that...

   Back to the mundane, I notice many people seem to use DPNs for socks.  So are circulars even an option?

[Deleted User]

I knit socks on circulars @basketcase. For 4ply yarn I use 2.25mm needles and an 80cm cable. I havent tried any other cable lengths but I know a 40cm was far too short for me. There are far better knitters here so I will gently backway and allow them to help you but yes, knitting socks on circulars is possible.