2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PollyWollyDoodle

The RM Williams boots sound fabulous!

good point @Laura_Elsewhere and once upon a time I’d have bought stuff to cheer myself up/to celebrate spring/because there’s new stuff in stock. However apart from shoes and bras - oh, and a pair of running leggings with pocketses - I have not bought any new clothes for a long time. This challenge combined with lockdown has really changed my view. Now the charity shops have reopened I will be replacing a few things, I calculated that my second-hand jeans have each been worn around 130 times since last March and it shows. 

This weekend I’m going to a big shopping centre for my second vaccination, and I’m going to pop into M&S for some underwear. Long held  plans to make my own knickers have still not reached fruition although I have fabric, elastic and pattern. (I’ve packed everything away at the moment because of selling the house.) When I pulled a pair on last week and they ripped, I knew it was time to get some new ones. Can’t tell you how old these are but they’ve definitely reached the end of their useful life, except as polishing cloths. 

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane, that's really interesting reading, y'know. 

You've gone from "At some point, I will need new trainers for running, plus a pair for slobbing around in and, maybe, a pair of shoes for work.  (I'm hard on shoes.)  I'll possibly need a couple of new bras, too. " to potentially not spending any coupons on those things: running-shoes as a present, bring disused-but-still-fine slobbing-shoes back into use, start wearing really well-made, long-lasting, properly-made boots into wear, and no need to replace items showing "no sign of wear"...! 

How much of our buying is this kind of habit, I wonder? Not so much for me, which might be why I'm picking up on yours- I know my weakness is buying a new item as a treat to cheer myself up, regardless of its not going with anything else and/or being poor quality so not lasting... 
But maybe you could look at your really good-quality RMWilliams boots, and think, "hang about, these are how boots used to be made, and if I take reasonable care of them, polish them from time to time, get them re-heeled or re-soled when they need it, then they actually could last another twenty years." I know exactly what you mean about not wearing them in case you wear them out (I do the same!), but these are exactly the kinds of items we all *should* wear more: the sort that are designed and made to last, to be repaired, to keep on going, looking better and better, being really comfortable and NOT needing to be replaced each year!

Those RMWilliams boots are the kind of quality things that are how our grandmothers managed on the clothes coupons. Things that lasted... Wear them and glory in their *not* wearing out!  

Yes, I agree, @Laura_Elsewhere. There are times when I think I’m such a contrary person.  I don’t particularly enjoy shopping, but I will browse charity shops and shop windows “just in case”. Fashion and I fell out a long time ago - it seldom suits my build or my tastes - but I will study what others are wearing to try to figure out what makes their outfit work.  I like clothes!   I’m really fussy about fabric - it has to feel natural, not plastic.   The reality is that I so seldom find clothing, bags or shoes that I like, so when I do, I buy.

The RM Williams boots are lovely.  Not their classic “stockman” with the Cuban heel - worn by everyone from bankers, to businessmen to real stockmen - but they weren’t available in my size.  I love them.

- Pip

maryb

I have some Mephisto shoes which have gone back to France twice for resolving in the last 10 years and Imust wear them most days for about two thirds of the year.  They don’t make that style anymore but I will keep wearing these until they canno longer be repaired.

i have also got a Barbour which was one of their special ranges and it’s lined in Liberty William Morris Strawberry Thief fabric.  The cuffs wear out quite frequently but as you can get the fabric, I have been able to replace them myself, although I could also send it back to Barbour.  There’s a small hole where the sleeve folds at the elbow so I probably will send it back as soon as the weather finally improves.  They can rewax it as well which is not my favourite job but has certainly kept that jacket going for the last 12 years

I do love things that last.  And I get even fonder of things that have been repaired.  There’s a Japanese term for it which escapes me at the moment.  It’ll come to me but it perfectly sums up how I feel about giving much loved items a new lease of life

maryb

Wabi sabi, that’s what I was thinking of.  Seeing the beauty in the imperfections of something you have mended

Laura_Elsewhere

maryb said:

Wabi sabi, that’s what I was thinking of.  Seeing the beauty in the imperfections of something you have mended

Yes! I love this too, always have done... 

Cherryfudge

Which kind of leads on to Kintsugi...  

A not entirely idle question for those of you with knitting know-how, if you please. This jumper I'm knitting seems to be eating up yarn at a scary rate! The pattern asked for 10x50g of chunky yarn and I in my innocence substituted 5x100g of a different chunky yarn. It looks as though the back alone will take two full balls, and goodness knows what the sleeves will take - perhaps 1 and a half each? That's a guess.

When I knitted swatches the recommended 5mm and 6mm needles were all wrong and the closest I could get was using 4.5mm and 5.5mm.

An added complication is that a dark, fluffy, bouncy wool doesn't go well with a fairly complex cable pattern so I pulled back the cabling and am just knitting and purling, though I would have thought that would have reduced the yarn needed.

The yarn is no longer made and I've managed to get a ball of the same yarn in another colour to eke it out with some stripes but I'm starting to worry if even that will be enough! Am I paranoid, or is this jumper out to get me? Will I end up pulling most of it back and making big lacey inserts?! How much more yarn can a jumper eat, or will it magically resolve itself?

I would have been hopeless in the war... DH would have ended up with daisies in random scraps of craft wool to fill the voids...

Laura_Elsewhere

It my be that your substitute has less mileage per ball? I jus had a quick look at half a dozen yarns classed as 'bulky' (aka chunky) and 100g ranged from 91m to 151m! 
But also using slightly smaller needles usually means using slightly more yarn per row - not a lot in it but a little bit more. But then as you say the cabling would usually use up more than plain stocking stitch. When you say you are just knitting and purling, have you changed the whole thing to rib, because that uses more yarn too...

It does sound like the pattern might be a bit out in its estimates though!

PipneyJane

@Cherryfudge, basically I'm seconding what @Laura_Elsewhere said but with a couple of questions.  What does the ball band say are the metres per ball? If they don't, then what is the brand/name, etc?  What was the original yarn, as specified in the pattern?   No matter that it hasn't been made for 50+years, it's bound to be listed in the Ravelry database, so we can check its yardage, even if that isn't stated in the pattern.  (FWIW, what is the brand, name and number of the pattern?  We may be able to find that on Ravelry, too, and see how other knitters dealt with it.)

- Pip

Cherryfudge

Ooh thanks @Laura_Elsewhere and @PipneyJane! I think you have found the problem but I need someone who can keep maths straight in their head (I can't) to see what the deficit is and how much I need to allow to compensate.

The pattern was from People's Friend probably about 6 years ago - my Mum got the magazine and I grabbed the pattern. I can add a photo of the materials/tension bit if that helps, but the original yarn was Rico Hioghland Chunky (by which I assume they meant Rico Fashion Highland Chunky as there's no trace of anything without the 'fashion' element). Ravelry says 50g = 100m so I assume 100g = 200m.

I'm using Stylecraft Alpaca Chunky (not the newer Tweed Chunky) in which 100g = 135m. A huge difference!  

So if I have understood it rightly so far, the original allowed for 10 x 50g@100m = 1000m.

Using the Alpaca chunky I have 6 x 100g@ 135m = 810m so I need another 2 balls to make sure I have enough.

Have I done it right please miss?

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

Ooh thanks @Laura_Elsewhere and @PipneyJane! I think you have found the problem but I need someone who can keep maths straight in their head (I can't) to see what the deficit is and how much I need to allow to compensate.

The pattern was from People's Friend probably about 6 years ago - my Mum got the magazine and I grabbed the pattern. I can add a photo of the materials/tension bit if that helps, but the original yarn was Rico Highland Chunky (by which I assume they meant Rico Fashion Highland Chunky as there's no trace of anything without the 'fashion' element). Ravelry says 50g = 100m so I assume 100g = 200m.

I'm using Stylecraft Alpaca Chunky (not the newer Tweed Chunky) in which 100g = 135m. A huge difference!  

So if I have understood it rightly so far, the original allowed for 10 x 50g@100m = 1000m.

Using the Alpaca chunky I have 6 x 100g@ 135m = 810m so I need another 2 balls to make sure I have enough.

Have I done it right please miss?

Yes, your maths is right @Cherryfudge.  I'd always buy an extra ball for insurance, so get three.  Ravelry tells me that the Wool Warehouse sells it, as do Deramores.  (Not sure when that was updated.)   There are three people with it in their stash who will sell it onwards.

HTH

- Pip