2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Liverpool_Anne

A thought on the availability of home grown tomatoes, it's possible the small greengrocers can't source them.  Many farmers have exclusive contracts with supermarkets for their produce so small independent shops have no access to them. Also, for example, heinze buy the whole Portuguese tomato crop for their various products.  In the past I have grown my own which are really yummy and very easy to grow but it is a shortish season. On the subject of chickens, the farming methods were one of the reasons I became a vegetarian over 30 years ago when free range etc. were unheard of and I am still wary of those labels now. I don't know of any decent butchers nearby, though to be fair I haven't really been looking

Nonnadiluca

Thanks Laura, I like to make a batch of biscuits when the grandsons are here and these will go down a treat!

Liverpool_Anne

@Laura_Elsewhere, could you teach me to make that bag? I think it's wonderful and I like the idea of knitting it in the round

Laura_Elsewhere

Liverpool_Anne said:

@Laura_Elsewhere, could you teach me to make that bag? I think it's wonderful and I like the idea of knitting it in the round

Well, it really is pretty simple. Can you knit already?  

I used cotton 4-ply, and 3.5mm needles. I cast on 60, and joined in a circle.
R1-2: knit
R3: (yarn over, k2tog) all the way round
R4-5: knit
That gives you the eyelets along the top for the drawstring. 

Then I did ten repeats of the mesh which is two rounds:
a) wrap the yarn three times round for every stitch (ie put rh-needle through stitch on lh-needle, but before making he stitch literally just wrap the yarn round once, twice, three times, instead of just once as normally)
b) knit only the front one of the three loops for each stitch. 

The stitch count should keep being 60 throughout. 

After ten repeats, I decreased by k2tog at the same time as the triple-yarn-over, which sounds ghastly and complex but was actually no more complex than k2tog really That gives you 30 stitches.

Then I did one repeat of the normal mesh, ie rounds a) and b).

Then I did the decrease again, k2tog-and-triple-yarn-over, taking it down to 15 stitches. 

Then I just cut the yarn to 6" or so, and cast off by pulling the yarn through each stitch and pulling it tight as a drawstring for the bottom of the bag - now this is the bit taking most weight so I really really really made sure that end was woven in incredibly thoroughly and tightly and well! If I made a bigger bag to carry more weight I might well do something like a crocheted cord and tying that in a double-knot. 

Finally I wove in the cast-on end at the top, and made a crocheted chain long enough to weave in and out of the eyelets. 

This is a really small bag - about 7 inches across the top laid flat, and just over 6 inches top to bottom laid flat, but it stretches a lot (which is the whole point of the string bag!). 
It weighs 16g inc drawstring, so it uses less yarn than I expected. 

Edit to add: thanks to @Cherryfudge for the original pattern from a wartime magazine - can you remember what magazine or roughly which year, please? I'd love to credit them properly! 

The original is worked flat as a rectangle with eyelet bands at each end, folded in half and sewn up the sides; each mesh round is a 4x-yarn-over, but I just found that a bit fiddly and 3x seemed to work well for me. I invented the decrease method, simply as a means of narrowing the bag to a drawstring. I expect it's around as a method then  
Basically, this is a very forgiving pattern, and if you find you get on better with some other variation, go for it! 

Laura_Elsewhere

Incidentally, following a discussion elseforum after THREE friends suggested I sell these (!), I'm going to start putting the hours onto every item I make, whether I'm posting a pic of something like this I've made for myself, or something I'm giving to someone. 

This was about four hours, so I eventually decided to charge eighty quid for one That is what you would pay for four hours' work from a blacksmith, a plumber, an electrician, a tutor for your kids' A-Level Maths.... 

Nobody seems to be buying, mind you...!

But I'm going to start labelling everything with how long it takes me, as a means of getting the idea of time across. One friend, for whom I had crocheted a lace shawl 3 years ago as a present, was stunned when I told her it had easily taken 100 hours and probably more. Thankfully I do know she loves it but she's now looking at it as two thousand quids' worth of friendship...!  

dreamyd

Hi everyone  - hope you're having a good weekend.
I'm just sitting down with a cup of tea from the urn - could someone check my coupon calculations please?

My Primark expedition to use my birthday voucher resulted in
2 pairs of leggings (2 coupons each - 4 in total)
three pack of croptop-style bras (4 coupons, I think)

My order from Snag Tights  (again another voucher burning a hole in my inbox) also came through 
- 2 pairs of tights (4 coupons?)
3 pairs of stay cool shorts made out of tights material (6 Coupons?)

Does that come to 18? - if not would someone advise- thanks

It's a bit of  an outlay, but I shouldn't need much more new stuff.  I do have my Hobbycraft vouchers (plus my £5 gift code from them) to spend  but I've got my eye on some 4 ply so that i can do some twinset knitting or similar.

@Laura_Elsewhere that baking looks amazing.  I would be significantly bigger if I made anything as lovely as I have no willpower around such things...

PipneyJane

dreamyd said:

Hi everyone  - hope you're having a good weekend.
I'm just sitting down with a cup of tea from the urn - could someone check my coupon calculations please?

My Primark expedition to use my birthday voucher resulted in
2 pairs of leggings (2 coupons each - 4 in total)
three pack of croptop-style bras (4 coupons, I think)

My order from Snag Tights  (again another voucher burning a hole in my inbox) also came through 
- 2 pairs of tights (4 coupons?)
3 pairs of stay cool shorts made out of tights material (6 Coupons?)

Does that come to 18? - if not would someone advise- thanks

It's a bit of  an outlay, but I shouldn't need much more new stuff.  I do have my Hobbycraft vouchers (plus my £5 gift code from them) to spend  but I've got my eye on some 4 ply so that i can do some twinset knitting or similar.

@Laura_Elsewhere that baking looks amazing.  I would be significantly bigger if I made anything as lovely as I have no willpower around such things...

Hi @Dreamyd.   

The total comes to 18.5 coupons.  

The bras are 1.5 coupons each, so three would be 4.5 coupons. Also, I’m assuming that the  Snag Tights are heavyweight, almost leggings thickness, yes?  (Remember each of us gets some nylons coupon free, but nothing thicker.)

Re Hobbycraft:  their website carries considerably more yarn than they have in store, AND it’s better quality. If you want wool and not acrylic, then you can only buy it off their website. In 4-ply, I like West Yorkshire Spinners’ Signature Sock Yarn, which is excellent value at £7.50 per 100g ball.  It’s 75% wool, 25% nylon and 300g will certainly make you a top like my Hand Knit Charm.  (I’m a size 14 and I used 234g.)

  

- Pip

dreamyd

Hi @PipneyJane

Thanks for your assistance- will update my tally accordingly. 
Your photo is lovely- I like the look of that pattern. Will  continue my research on Ravelry for patterns. I'm a tall size 20, so measurements  will need to be tweaked  a bit.
I did some decluttering over the weekend and found some skeins of Fyberspates I'd bought in John Lewis in a past life, which will probably turn out to be enough for a cardi and vest style top.  The receipt was from 2014!

Liverpool_Anne

@Laura_Elsewhere, thank you, yes I can knit and have copied down your instructions, when I get some cotton yarn I will definitely give this a go and let you know how I get on.  I did see the original post but as I use my kindle for this forum it was too small for me to read but thanks to cherryfudge for the inspiration
A very good idea to post how long things take to make, the baby blankets I have made recently took me about 40 hours to crotchet so I would have no chance of selling them but I only make things for gifts. Your costings are probably underestimated if anything, my OH is a driving instructor and charges around 25 pound per hour and I have paid a lot more for skilled craftsmen such as plasteres to do work in my house.

PollyWollyDoodle

@dreamyd Thank you for reminding me about the Snag tights voucher, I have got one lurking somewhere in my inbox, purchased last year in lockdown. 

Laura, thank you for the pattern for the bags (and thank you also cherryfudge). I had a brainwave last night, if I made these in something washable they would be ideal for holding little packs of reusable makeup remover wipes.I was given some of these for Christmas, and I’m planning to make my own but ideally you need a mesh bag to wash them in. I’m still turning that idea over in my mind but I think it could work. 

I love the idea of labelling stuff with the hours taken to make it.  Did you get any response from that company, Pip?