2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

@Liverpool_Anne, yes it will be worth the coupons and the hours.... when someone is going through the mill and there is abso-bloomin'-lutely sod-all you can actually do, it is a real godsend being able to make something particular for them, in the colours or textures or size that they will like, and send it to them.

PipneyJane

Good idea, @Laura_Elsewhere.   Since it's a gift for someone ill, @Liverpool_Anne can raid the "Red Cross Yarn Cupboard" and not have to spend her own coupons.

- Pip  (Sorry to hear about your friend, @Liverpool_Anne.  I hope this is just a short relapse and she'll be back to full health soon.)

dreamyd

@Liverpool_Anne, sending healing thoughts to  you and your friend from an internet stranger, for what that's worth...

I hope that  the coupon deities will forgive the spendthrift behaviour I am about to divulge, but in my defence it was in the name of a birthday voucher plus 3 for 2 plus student discount, that added up to 1.6 kg of acrylic if synthetic yarn is 50g/1 coupon, 
3 x 400g Soft and Smooth Aran yarn (24 coupons)
4 x100g Soft and Silky (8 coupons)

Am I your worst ever  newbie, falling into the black market in her first month? I won't need any non-charity shop stuff for months ,and I've got plans for all of that...
*hangs head in shame and scuttles to the kitchen to do some drying up in penance*

CAFCGirl

dreamyd said:

Am I your worst ever  newbie, falling into the black market in her first month? I won't need any non-charity shop stuff for months ,and I've got plans for all of that...
*hangs head in shame and scuttles to the kitchen to do some drying up in penance*

it was the yarn that got me in my first year too so do not despair too much!

PipneyJane

dreamyd said:

@Liverpool_Anne, sending healing thoughts to  you and your friend from an internet stranger, for what that's worth...

I hope that  the coupon deities will forgive the spendthrift behaviour I am about to divulge, but in my defence it was in the name of a birthday voucher plus 3 for 2 plus student discount, that added up to 1.6 kg of acrylic if synthetic yarn is 50g/1 coupon, 
3 x 400g Soft and Smooth Aran yarn (24 coupons)
4 x100g Soft and Silky (8 coupons)

Am I your worst ever  newbie, falling into the black market in her first month? I won't need any non-charity shop stuff for months ,and I've got plans for all of that...
*hangs head in shame and scuttles to the kitchen to do some drying up in penance*

It is yarn that gets me, every time.  Have a look at the 2019 thread; I totally failed to keep within my coupons.  I spent over 100!

- Pip

PS:  acrylic yarn is half the coupon cost of real wool so if all the above is acrylic, then you've spent 16 coupons not 32.

TwibbleDee

So...I'm going to have to get new shoes.  I normally wear very minimalist shoes - ie, basically a flat sole held onto my food with string.  We are realizing that for hiking and more walking, I need shoes that cover more of my foot - I tripped and road-rashed the topside of my ankle badly enough that my entire foot is swelling.  Argh.  I don't like wearing real shoes, even if I can find some that fit!  My feet feel so closed in.  I will try to find some with minimalist soles, as I'm particularly a danger to myself when wearing what's generally considered "proper footwear", as I have mild proprioception issues and can't feel where I'm at well enough if I wear thicker soles.

Oh, and I'm not entirely sure of the sequence of events, but I think I tripped over the hem of my skirt.  It's one that you can tack up for fly fishing, and I think my foot caught in the pocket that's created when I tack it up.

PipneyJane

TwibbleDee said:

So...I'm going to have to get new shoes.  I normally wear very minimalist shoes - ie, basically a flat sole held onto my food with string.  We are realizing that for hiking and more walking, I need shoes that cover more of my foot - I tripped and road-rashed the topside of my ankle badly enough that my entire foot is swelling.  Argh.  I don't like wearing real shoes, even if I can find some that fit!  My feet feel so closed in.  I will try to find some with minimalist soles, as I'm particularly a danger to myself when wearing what's generally considered "proper footwear", as I have mild proprioception issues and can't feel where I'm at well enough if I wear thicker soles.

Oh, and I'm not entirely sure of the sequence of events, but I think I tripped over the hem of my skirt.  It's one that you can tack up for fly fishing, and I think my foot caught in the pocket that's created when I tack it up.

Ouch!  Hope your ankle and foot feel better soon.

I'm not sure if this will help but there are specialist shoe companies that make sandals for hiking and for running.  I think Teva are one of them, but don't quote me because it's something I read about years ago.  If you go down that route, make sure you go to a specialist shop and have your gait analysed before picking suitable shoes.  If they are anything like running shoes certain brands are designed for particular walking/running actions so what suits one person will totally screw up the legs of another.  (I overpronate and wear Asics to run/walk in.  When I bought a pair of Adidas for casual wear, I couldn't walk long distances without my legs complaining.  They are designed for a totally different foot type.)

HTH

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

I would second going and having your gait analysed by a specialist place - and definitely don't buy off-the-peg hiking sandals - I've known a few people with big-name "hiking sandals" which have fallen apart miles away from help, in one case causing a bad fall that wrenched a knee, causing a very slow and panful hobble back to base. 

You could investigate the 'barefoot' running shoes - they do some for off-road cross-country running that might be just the job, as they are designed not to alter your foot's natural barefoot gait. A friend swears by hers for track running, says they're the best thing she's ever worn. 

Laura_Elsewhere

Someone asked the other week, in a group I'm in for mid-20th-century children's fiction, about the fact that it's never mentioned that he children change into hiking boots before going off for a 10-mile hike over the hills. I had to explain to quite a few people that the standard leather lace-up shoe of the 1940s schoolchild would in fact have been perfectly adequate for hiking up and over the hills of Shropshire, across Dartmoor and so on - as would 17th century leather latchets and mediaeval turnshoes.
It's only since everyday shoes became so useless that we've all started having to have special hiking footwear for walking on what used to be our normal everyday surfaces. 
My 1940s-replica lace-up leather shoes have done me for 7 miles on unmetalled footpaths, ie a surface of kind of trodden rubble. I reckon they could do as far as my leg muscles are up to. I wear Merrells for hiking when I've gone out with the Ramblers because when I started I didn't have really good lace-up leather shoes - my original ones I grew out of, with the bunions, and then I had some years of managing with rubbish modern ones that lasted 12-18 months and then just disintegrated/ couldn't be repaired, etc. I shall keep wearing my Merrells until they wear out but as long as i have a source of 1940s-replicas, I can't see me replacing the Merrells when they do wear out. They, of course, cannot be re-soled, re-heeled or repaired in any way... 
I am pretty sure that, in time, I shall end up with far fewer pairs of shoes...

Wraithlady

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Someone asked the other week, in a group I'm in for mid-20th-century children's fiction, about the fact that it's never mentioned that he children change into hiking boots before going off for a 10-mile hike over the hills. I had to explain to quite a few people that the standard leather lace-up shoe of the 1940s schoolchild would in fact have been perfectly adequate for hiking up and over the hills of Shropshire, across Dartmoor and so on - as would 17th century leather latchets and mediaeval turnshoes.
It's only since everyday shoes became so useless that we've all started having to have special hiking footwear for walking on what used to be our normal everyday surfaces. 

My school shoes were the standard 'Mary Jane' style, but were absolutely fine walking for miles in the South African veldt (I used to have to pick the duiweltjie seeds out on a weekly basis). I agree with Laura Elsewhere - modern shoes seem so flimsy!