2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

I have washed and looked through the various blouses found at Mum's house and really am never likely to wear them so they can go to someone who will.
The mustard-coloured jumper washed beautifully and even got rid of some of the cat hair, but although I've had some fun playing with it, I can't repair it unless I somehow stumble across matching yarn. I don't even know what the yarn is! It's very soft and could be artificial for all I know, and might date to the late 1950s. I'm playing at being 'Repair Shop' but I think they'd ditch me after one episode as all I've achieved is to fix some runs that had extended down the sleeves. Higher than that, I think I see the origin of the trouble. Some of the yarn has thinned and pulled apart under the sleeves, probably where it got rubbed and would need a transplant to replace it. It's not the sort of place where I could attempt a Swiss darn in a contrasting colour!
I also found that I'm not the first to attempt a repair: seams have been mended in cotton thread in one place, and a slightly lighter yellow wool in others! That lead to further speculation as I had assumed Mum made the jumper but the seams aren't her style. There is some quite fancy stitching in the front and back but the seams are relatively clumsy. Of course I'll never know but I like to try to work it out.
There are also only 4 of 12 buttons left!
If I really was on coupons I'd be taking it apart and making something else and I might try that yet.

I have an idea regarding the mustard sweater:  needlepoint/tapestry wool. There’s a million different shades.   Take the sweater to your nearest decent craft shop and colour match it. Then you can “knit on” a patch by using Swiss darning.  If it’s too thin, then double up or triple up the wool.  (From memory, it’s DK thickness, but my memory may be completely wrong.)

Actually, that stimulated another idea... Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift wool comes in hundreds of shades.  (It’s used for Fair Isle.)  It’s 4-ply, so you may have to double or triple it up.  They will sell you a shade card.

- Pip

ETA: @Cherryfudge, here’s a link to Jamieson’s website.

basketcase

keepcalmandcraft said:

Wow Laura, I love your shawl and lace. 

I just learnt to crochet a few months ago and have made 3 dishcloths!  It’s a good way to practice stitches and doesn’t matter if it goes wrong. 

My thoughts precisely!

Laura - Your work is absolutely beautiful.  You obviously have great gifts.

   Thanks for the advice about the symbols.  Having googled a list, I could give it a go, but it's the sort of thing I struggle with.  Let me explain, because even to me it sounds as if I'm being defeatist.  Briefly, got flu, fainted, hit my head on a skirting board corner but (thankfully) missed actually falling down the stairs.  It affected my perception and I couldn't remember the information in graphs, musical notation, maps, charts, diagrams.  The neuropsychologist concluded that I could recognise what I already knew or describe verbally, but nothing abstract and retaining visual images was problematic.  (Pitman's was a nightmare...)  "But you're a bright young woman - you'll find ways round it."

   I've found ways round it.  eg to plan a route, I start with a map of the country, read out and write down the towns I'm going through, note the atlas pages then search each page for the 1st and 2nd points.  You may do the same but, if I look for 3rd place, I lose the other 2 because I'm not looking at them.  I've coped by keeping as many points as possible in the line of vision then highlighting the route until the whole journey's done.  I also write it on post-its with the page refs.  (God bless the AA route finder, which does it for me!)  This is why the Alpine ski jumper's such a nightmare.  I can just about manage a regular pattern like Fair Isle, especially after the first repeat when I've got a solid example which I can perceive and remember.  But every time I look up from the chart, I only have the words in my head - the drawn visual's just not there.  And I have to trace the line until I get to the bit I've just done so that I can memorise the next bit.  IYSWIM.

   So I could probably learn most of the individual symbols, especially since, eg, the shell symbol looks like a shell but I'd still be using the name in my head to verbalise them so that I could use them.  Looking at a full chart, I think I'd struggle to keep/find my place - even with highlighting.  But you never know.  Nothing ventured and all that...

  Sorry to burble on.  And thanks again, Pip and Laura for the help.

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

I have an idea regarding the mustard sweater:  needlepoint/tapestry wool. There’s a million different shades.   Take the sweater to your nearest decent craft shop and colour match it. Then you can “knit on” a patch by using Swiss darning.  If it’s too thin, then double up or triple up the wool.  (From memory, it’s DK thickness, but my memory may be completely wrong.)

Actually, that stimulated another idea... Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift wool comes in hundreds of shades.  (It’s used for Fair Isle.)  It’s 4-ply, so you may have to double or triple it up.  They will sell you a shade card.

- Pip

ETA: @Cherryfudge, here’s a link to Jamieson’s website.

@PipneyJane, thank you so much! What a lovely website - I've bookmarked it as the Cornfields Spindrift is very close to the colour I need. First I'll try looking through the tapestry wools - I think there are a couple of local sources and as I've unpicked a sleeve seam to give me better access and hopefully sew it up better than the original (! Invisible seams are my nemesis), I have a twist of yarn I can keep in my purse.
I'm still wondering about the pattern of wear on the cardigan: under the front of the sleeves makes me think of a perpetual backpack wearer! 

[Deleted User]

You are all very individually talented crafters. It has been a pleasure to catch up on all your endeavours this lunchtime.

I am here to report a coupon spend of 8. If I remember rightly it is 1 coupon per 50g. Please tell me if I'm incorrect though. I have bought the yarn to knit a Boxy sweater. It should keep me in knitting for a while.

Laura_Elsewhere

@Noaidi - it depends if it's synthetic or natural fibre - synthetic is half the coupons of natural! 

@basketcase - how absolutely fascinating, and brilliantly explained. I can imagine that causes all kinds of "interesting" awkwardnesses, from minor niggles to huge great big ones. I am really impressed with how well you've developed work-arounds for various things. Nice work... (I'm quite autistic so I have familiarity with having to work around something that 'Everyone Else' views as simple but which my had will not permit to be done...)

My Intended proved yet again this morning what an excellent choice he is - discussing my weight-loss having stalled, and even reversed a bit, much to my frustration, we went over when and how I eat the extra food he isn't eating (he's not gaining!) and one thing that emerged is that when i have one specific thing to do that I can really get my teeth into (no pun intended) I snack and graze less... so then he asked about ongoing projects, and mentioned That Satin Dressing-Gown, so then he talked me through what needs done, and the upshot is that I now have a completely dismantled pile of satin ready to iron, and tomorrow we'll sort out space to put the ironed pieces for the duration, and then I can iron them *afetr* establishing where the ironed pieces will live during assembly! 

I'm aiming for wearing it by Sunday next...! 

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere - your crochet is beautiful.  I hope you don’t have to wait too long for your cataract surgery. It will make a huge difference.  My dad was terribly short sighted and, by the time he had his cataract surgery, his sight had deteriorated a lot.  (He wore bottle-bottoms for glasses by then.)  I will never forget the joy on his face after his operation, when he stood on our local beach, looked out across Port Phillip Bay and saw the YouYangs in the far distance.  He actually asked “Which mountains are those?”!  He hadn’t seen them for years.  (They’re a mountain range and were well over 20 miles away across the Bay, on the far side of Melbourne.)

@basketcase - don’t apologise for burbling on.  Brain injury can have weird consequences.  Congratulations for learning ways to cope.  I had a stroke patient who suffered no physical or mental disabilities except for one.  He was a Yugoslavian immigrant and had lived in Australia for decades.  The stroke damaged the language centre of his brain.  He couldn’t remember any Serbo-Croat or any English.  The only language he retained was the Italian he’d learned while living in Italy as a refugee.  This being Melbourne, there was always someone for him to chat to in Italian, but he was dreading having to re-learn English.
 
- Pip

ETA:  Just saw your post, @Laura_Elsewhere. Your bloke is a keeper!

MrsCD

Laura, your crochet is exquisite! I'm in awe of your talent with fine thread work. 😍 I finished a shawl a couple of weeks ago, but as it's a sort of curved triangle, I'm not totally sure how I'll wear it! 🙄😚  I just had some 4 ply sitting looking at me and the pattern looked interesting. I think it's called Flora. When I work out how to use the forums on my phone I'll try to post a photo of it!

MrsCD

This is the finished shawl, sprayed with water and pinned onto the carpet to block overnight!
Sorry for the size. I don't know how to reduce it when you choose the photo.

PipneyJane

That is beautiful, @MrsCD.  I think it’s just designed for wrapping around your neck like an overgrown scarf.

There’s no way to make photos smaller in the new style Forums.  It’s one of the annoyances.

- Pip

Cherryfudge

@MrsCD , that's beautiful, and unusual but a clever idea. I think @PipneyJane is spot on: if you have the pendant bit (top right of the photo) behind your shoulders, there's then a long, nonchalant throw to go across your front and back over the shoulder on the far side. Or you could play around with various elegant drapes. I've never seen anything like it, but it's ingenious.