2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Liverpool_Anne

@PipneyJane and Wraithlady, I was born in the Uk, on the Wirral, but the family emigrated to Zimbabwe and I lived there for a few years, then we went to live in Kent and I returned to Liverpool to go to uni and here I have stayed apart from 3 years in Kuwait. So I am not really a colonial commoner but I am definitely a commoner

CAFCGirl

Liverpool_Anne said:

@PipneyJane and Wraithlady, I was born in the Uk, on the Wirral, but the family emigrated to Zimbabwe and I lived there for a few years, then we went to live in Kent and I returned to Liverpool to go to uni and here I have stayed apart from 3 years in Kuwait. So I am not really a colonial commoner but I am definitely a commoner

Can we really call someone so well travelled 'common'?  

Liverpool_Anne

@CAFCGirl, oh yes I am definitely common I enjoyed my time in Zimbabwe and Kuwait but it was too far to travel for the match

Wraithlady

Liverpool_Anne said:

@PipneyJane and Wraithlady, I was born in the Uk, on the Wirral, but the family emigrated to Zimbabwe

Oh right! Which part of Zimbabwe?

We went on holiday there once, with family from the UK (pre-name change) - absolutely lovely country 

maryb

Coupon spend pair of shoes in the Clarks sale 5 coupons.  Leaves me with 27.  Getting tight but we are nearly halfway through the year

Liverpool_Anne

@Wraithlady, we lived in the suburbs of Harare, also very pre name change, but travelled all over the place for holidays etc. My Dad worked in the power industry and we came home when they built kariba as the place he worked at was being closed. He was offered a job at Kariba and I remember going to visit it while it was being built. A 2 day drive and the 2nd day on a dirt road to see a building site. There were no plans for a secondary school so my sister would have had to go to boarding school and my poor Mum was not impressed with what she saw. I also remember on that trip a family of wart hogs crossed the road in front of us and my Dad and I got out of the car to see them and they chased us up a tree, we were there ages and my Mum and sister were sat in the car wondering what had happened to us . I loved all the animals that wandered around, especially the chameleons, and as a child had no fear. We also had a black mamba in the garden which was killed by our next door neighbour. Interestingly we went to Zimbabwe because during the war my Dad was in the navy and his ship was torpedoed twice, the first time they managed to limp into Cape Town for repairs and my Dad had extended shore leave and fell in love with the place, the second time the ship sank and he was floating around for over 24 hours before he was picked up and so spent more time there recuperating. I remember my Mum telling me how news was controlled to keep morale up and they had just heard on the radio his ship was lost and 5 minutes later my Dad knocked at the door 3 months after being sunk. I also remember my Dad was not impressed as my Mum worked in a munitions factory and earned more than he did. There he was out there getting torpedoed and she was safe at home earning more money than him . Obviously what Mum was doing was very dangerous work, and pretty horrible as she said the sulphur they had to handle made her skin yellow but I think my Dad's experience never really left him. He lost a few good friends and he said that was when he learned to swim. It must have been terrifying as he worked in the engine room having to get topside when the ship was sinking and then being at the mercy of the sea with all sorts floating around him for all that time. He didn't really talk about his war experiences other than to say it was terrible.
Sorry rambled on a bit there

Cherryfudge

Wow @Liverpool_Anne, thank you for that! Those sort of memories are so important and need to be handed on IMO. My Dad worked on ammunition disposal after a spell as a medical orderly (I haven't worked out how he got from one to the other) so he had a few stories to tell.

Have you ever been to Eden Camp? I think everyone who has will have traumatic memories of the submarine hut but there must have been many men who had horrific experiences at sea and I would imagine your Dad was not alone in keeping quiet about his experiences.

PipneyJane

Thank you for sharing your memories and stories of your dad, @Liverpool_Anne.  I can only guess at the emotions you mum went through in the five minutes between hearing about the sinking and him knocking at the front door.

My mum also spent part of her childhood in Zimbabwe.  This was in the 1920’s.  They lived in a house just off the square in front of Parliament House.  Google maps tells me, the square is now called Africa Unity Square.  (Mum spent her first 9 years in Africa.  They also lived in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg.)

@Cherryfudge, where/what is Eden Camp?  I’ve never heard about it.


To change the subject, I have some frugal knitting to show off.  These were knitted to use up the remains of two balls of self-striping Lang’s Super Soxx, one blue and one grey.  I had 20g of the blue and 35g of the grey, so decided to knit the cuffs, heel flaps and toes in the grey, then alternate rounds between the two.    



The legs are 10 rounds shorter than my usual sock, which I thought would be enough to compensate for not having quite enough yarn.  (I usually use 63-65g per pair of socks for me.)

Got part of the way through the gusset on the first sock when I started to worry about running out of the blue - I had 10g left at that point - so dropped it, knitted a bit in the grey and then brought in a third, grey-shaded, self-striping yarn.  On the second sock, I thought the grey would run out at the end of the gusset, while (ironically) there seemed to be loads of blue, so I thought I’d just knit it to its end and then bring in the third yarn.  Turns out that 2-ish metres of yarn goes a hell of a long way.  It ran out much further down the foot than I was expecting.  The blue ran out just before I started the toe, so the contrasting toe is the third yarn on its own.

Despite that, I think they worked.

- Pip

CAFCGirl

Not that it counts in terms of coupons, because it was second hand and also for the dog BUT NorthA has served me well again in the Yorkshire Cancer charity shop (love that wee back shop) with a fantastic waterproof dog coat, which covers the oddly shaped greyhound whippet springer spaniel mix we've got very well, with multiple velcro ties under the body to cover his belly and chest from mud splatter..... He's not super impressed by having to put his front paws through two 'sleeves' but it means it stays in place. £5 so maybe high for charity prices but given that we'd be looking at somewhat similar and nowhere near as all emcompassing for £25 plus. I'm a happy bunny.

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

@Cherryfudge, where/what is Eden Camp?  I’ve never heard about it.

It's a former POW camp in North Yorkshire, @PipneyJane. It was converted into a museum of the war, particularly military aspects. A very good day out when I went with a class from DD's school years ago, and it's probably come on since then.

Those socks work very well, by the way - they are definitely a pair, and a great way of using oddments of wool. I suppose they are more or less a free pair as you had the wool left over from others.

So you have a little more space in your stash... well done!