2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

MrsCD

Just been catching up! There are some very interesting money management systems out there. I have a joint current account with DH, then we have accounts for: annual bills, savings, Christmas, my small pension as what I'd never had I wouldn't miss, and a 'slightly' higher interest savings account (ha ha!) We always tell each other if we're going to buy something for ourselves and have never needed to hide anything from each other. We don't drink alcohol at all which probably cuts our shopping bill quite a bit. I used to balance the bank statement every month to the penny, but nowadays I just keep a close eye on the direct debits and watch the spending.
We're both retired and don't feel the need to go out looking around shops but are happy with our home and hobbies. 

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

PipneyJane said:

I can explain about “ply” and thickness, @Liverpool_Anne.  In Australia, yarn weights are driven by them.  Cobweb yarn is the original 1-ply. Laceweight is 2-ply, i.e. double 1-ply. 3-ply and 4-ply contained 3 or 4 strands of cobweb, plied together.  In Britain, 4-ply used to be called “knitting”, hence “double knitting” is the thickness of two 4-ply yarns held together and, in Australia, it’s called 8-ply. My oldest jumper was knitted in 8-ply yarn, which consisted of 8 plies of Cobweb!

- Pip

Ah, but that one runs into problems with things like the Jamieson & Smith Shetland yarn which is equivalent to a 4-ply but has two strands so is technically 2 plies, but is not a 2-ply... And quite a few of the bulky or chunky yarns are 1-ply, like Rowan Cocoon or Wendy Norse. 
Hence why, if using a pattern, it's so important to knit a tension piece (aka swatch in American) to find out what your actual tension is, how many stitches and rows to the inch/cm...

True, @Laura_Elsewhere, you can’t go on the construction to determine the thickness of a yarn, which is why Ravelry is/was such a useful resource.  If you look at a yarn and it says in the weight description “12 ply” then you’ll know how thick it is - bulky weight - despite the number of real plies it is made from.  I find this table helpful in translating weights.

Cherryfudge said:

Liverpool_Anne said:

@Cherryfudge and CAFCGirl I am thinking I need to pay a visit to Otley, it sounds brilliant.

It probably is, but you'll find us in Northallerton. (Probably at the back of Yorkshire Trading, looking at yarn).

We need a badge, so that when @Cherryfudge and @CAFCGirl pass each other in the street, they’ll know immediately the secret identity of the other.

- Pip

CAFCGirl

I'll now be nodding at every person I see perusing the yarn section in Yorkshire Trading - just in case 

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

Cherryfudge said:

It probably is, but you'll find us in Northallerton. (Probably at the back of Yorkshire Trading, looking at yarn).

We need a badge, so that when @Cherryfudge and @CAFCGirl pass each other in the street, they’ll know immediately the secret identity of the other.

CAFCGirl said:

I'll now be nodding at every person I see perusing the yarn section in Yorkshire Trading - just in case 

I'll be the one attracting attention from security guards for looking sideways at innocent strangers, trying to work out if they're nodding.
Meanwhile you'll be out in the sunshine having friendly chats with all the people who think they should recognise you because you just nodded at them.

Laura_Elsewhere

You'll need to mutter loudly about Much Mending on the Borrow... after all, it's not a village anyone else is likely to be muttering about!  

"Nice scarf - I saw one like this once in the shop at Much Mending on the Borrow..."

"lovely painting - is that the meadows down from Much Mending on the Borrow, I wonder..."

 

Liverpool_Anne

I think the idea of a badge is excellent, might save Cherryfudge and CAFGirl being arrested as spies
I must have had a touch too much sun yesterday. In an effort to find somewhere to put the carp from in front of the boiler cupboard I decided to have a sort of my wardrobe. I have stupid louvre doors on it and I realised a lot of my clothes have gained a layer of dust from all the building work so I am now in the process of washing EVERYTHING in there. This may be a good thing as to my horror I discovered some holes in a wool long cardigan that I can only think are moth holes. EEK. Never had them before so now on the track of something to get rid of them. Any suggestions / recommendations gratefully received. I have checked all my other woolies and no signs of more holes but as a couple were knitted by my late DMum I would be devastated if I had to bin them. The holey cardigan is currently in the washing machine and will be inspected when dry but I fear it is irreparable. Will I be able to unravel it and reuse the wool? Or should it be binned? 

PipneyJane

Liverpool_Anne said:

I think the idea of a badge is excellent, might save Cherryfudge and CAFGirl being arrested as spies
I must have had a touch too much sun yesterday. In an effort to find somewhere to put the carp from in front of the boiler cupboard I decided to have a sort of my wardrobe. I have stupid louvre doors on it and I realised a lot of my clothes have gained a layer of dust from all the building work so I am now in the process of washing EVERYTHING in there. This may be a good thing as to my horror I discovered some holes in a wool long cardigan that I can only think are moth holes. EEK. Never had them before so now on the track of something to get rid of them. Any suggestions / recommendations gratefully received. I have checked all my other woolies and no signs of more holes but as a couple were knitted by my late DMum I would be devastated if I had to bin them. The holey cardigan is currently in the washing machine and will be inspected when dry but I fear it is irreparable. Will I be able to unravel it and reuse the wool? Or should it be binned? 

@Liverpool_Anne I have successfully used Lakeland's Moth Stop spray. My built-in wardrobe was invaded by moths.  Two pure-wool skirts destroyed.  < Boo!  Hiss! >  I had to clean and iron everything, paying special attention to the seams with the iron, in order to kill any residual eggs.

Re the holey cardigan: is it handmade or a commercial product?  The reason I ask is that even if it is full of ribs and cables and looks like it was made from DK yarn, commercial knitwear is usually cut from lengths of specially knitted cloth and then sewn together on an overlocker.  That means that each row is a single length of yarn, making reknitting it unworkable.   

If it is handknit, then a careful steam pressing with the iron - using a damp pressing cloth - will kill any eggs that may remain behind.  People talk about putting garments in the freezer to kill moths eggs but, from an interview I recall with the British Museum, the freezer needs to be set at -40C for it to work or you have to leave the garment in there for months and cycle through freezing/defrosting a few times.  (At least, that's what I understand.  @Laura_Elsewhere with her knowledge of fabric conservation, may know better.)  Before reknitting, the wool needs to be hand washed in hanks, so that it relaxes out of the stitches it was in previously.

If it is a commercial garment and you do want to do something with it rather than bin it, you could try boil washing it in the machine, in order to shrink/felt it, and making gloves or a tam from the resulting fabric.  Very hot water and lots of agitation will do the trick, so pick the really heavy duty cleaning program.  The offcuts can be composted but that takes ages.  (My ex-MIL used to do this, burying the woollen garment in with fresh horse manure.  It took over a year.)

HTH

- Pip

Liverpool_Anne

@PipneyJane, thank you so much, spray and sachets ordered and should be here by Wednesday, taking no chances with this.
The cardigan is a commercial one so will investigate if I can reporpose some of the fabric, my old boss, a DT teacher made some great slippers from felted wool jumpers and I remember scouring the cs for wool jumpers he could use.
Back to the washing, not looking forward to all the ironing though

CAFCGirl

Cherryfudge said:

I'll be the one attracting attention from security guards for looking sideways at innocent strangers, trying to work out if they're nodding.
Meanwhile you'll be out in the sunshine having friendly chats with all the people who think they should recognise you because you just nodded at them.

You jest but I've already been caught out multiple times by all the 'Hello's, Morning, All reet?' by random people in such a manner that they have me thinking I must have met them previously LOL We just don't do that kind of thing in the South....

CAFCGirl

I love how 'Much Mending on the Borrow?' fits beautifully as a code word/phrase