2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

No no no - 89 posts to catch up with! Been very busy between business and the allotment, and somehow just not kept up with you all in the evenings. So busy, I haven't even managed to spend any coupons despite actually needing some new underwear & walking boots! Though I have picked up a couple of 50p items from the recycling warehouse to make some "new" knickers, but there's no way I can do that for a bra... Off for a bit of a catch-up, see you all soon...

I am stunned that the thread is over 1,500 posts long!  

(Is it just me, or do you think the Forums are a lot quieter now that they don’t send out daily/weekly “digest” emails containing all the posts on a thread?)

I’m just watching this week’s Sewing Bee.  No spoilers but I am constantly amazed that nobody thinks to sew their slippery fabric anchored to tissue paper. It stops it slipping!  OK, you spend your life picking paper out of your zig zag but it works!   I don’t know if it is possible with an over locker (I’ve never used one).

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane:

"I am stunned that the thread is over 1,500 posts long!  "

It's entirely your own fault for letting us use the Much Mending Village Hall so freely, not to mention all those Anzac biscuits you keep providing when the mail-boat from your Australian rellies arrives... 

Wraithlady

Cherryfudge said:

@Wraithlady, what's the bolero like?

Can't find it again on Ravelry, but it's in Aran chunky, rib up both arms and back then knitted in the round (in rib) to form the front and collar - had to get a colleague to translate it from Norwegian. It should be really cosy come winter

Cherryfudge

Wraithlady said:

Cherryfudge said:

@Wraithlady, what's the bolero like?

Can't find it again on Ravelry, but it's in Aran chunky, rib up both arms and back then knitted in the round (in rib) to form the front and collar - had to get a colleague to translate it from Norwegian. It should be really cosy come winter

It does indeed sound cosy. One tends to assume the Norwegians understand cold weather clothing, too.

Last night I was rather pleased at hitting the target number of rows I'd set for myself then suddenly saw a hole that had emerged about 6 rows before. I spent quite some time getting rid of it and now I've got yesterday's progress to do again. It's a good job the yarn is so nice to work with.

Did someone say Anzac biscuits?

Laura_Elsewhere

I'm using yarn I already have - the green-fawn mohair-blend laceweight is two skeins leftover from my first Edlothia shawl and goes from conifer green to fawn, with a strand of green lurex, and I'm knitting it held together as one with a strand of cobweb navy-blue mohair; the other is a pure wool 4-ply that goes from chestnut through dark red to grey, almost black, and back out again to ginger. 
The navy mohair cobweb and the wool 4-ply I got second-hand in the last couple of years, on eBay/Rav, so were coupon-free, and the green-fawn mohair was bought in about 2015 and has been sitting around ever since.

It's being knitted up loose, on 5.5mm DPNs, and will be a cardigan. Probably It may yet be a jumper, but I think a cardigan... knits up very rapidly - started this afternoon and just about to divide for the sleeves and continue down the body!

Liverpool_Anne

@Laura_Elsewhere, those colours are lovely. Can I ask what is the difference between laceweight and cobweb? I am showing my ignorance about things wool related again but I thought they were the same ply, so how do decide what is laceweight and what is cobweb?   

Cherryfudge

I don't know either, @Liverpool_Anne!

@Laura_Elsewhere, that's quick work! And super colours as always.

I'm about to try to solve the problems created by That Hole a couple of days ago.

dreamyd

@Laura_Elsewhere those colours are beautiful!

Laura_Elsewhere

@Liverpool_Anne, not that ignorant, loads of people are confused, as was I initially, not least by the variations internationally ("double-knitting" is a weight of yarn in the UK but a technique of knitting in the US...)

Cobweb is a single strand, very very thin, whereas lace-weight is typically 2-ply (but not always ) and has a range from quite thin (but thicker than cobweb) through to nearly 4-ply. 
tbh, I mostly go by feel and familiarity - I know I can knit up Zauberball laceweight with 4-ply and they'll be more or less equivalent for colourwork, and I know I can use DK knitted tightly with 4-ply to work together... the categories are useful, of course, but there's a fair bit of variation, so once you know your yarns a bit, you know which ones are closer to the border, and can be used as the next category up or down if you feel like living dangerously  

Here are a few examples I had to hand:

Sylko sewing thread running across for scale.
Nearest the reel: the navy blue mohair cobweb, and a rust mohair cobweb (they make a surprising difference!)
Then a scarlet laceweight and an ecru 1-ply laceweight, and a Shetland cream laceweight and a darkgreen Shetland laceweight. 

It's why knitting a test piece is such a good idea, because everyone knits differently, more tightly or less tightly, and yarns classed as the same weight can be quite different too. 

Cherryfudge

That's a fab illustration, @Laura_Elsewhere. I wish I had known that all those years ago when I bought the right weight of chunky yarn only to find that there was 65m difference between the same weight of two brands!

I really wish the US and UK used the same systems as each other: yes, we can translate but I need a crib sheet to know which language I'm looking at and, as with your example of double knitting, if I get it mixed up it may not make sense at all.

P.S. Love that your nail varnish matches the thread!