2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

@Liverpool_Anne, gosh, poor you having a nasty reaction to wasp stings - I'm very fortunate in not reacting to anything much (except the drastic hayfever produced by the wretched neighbour two floors down with his, any time of day, every day, very powerful, dopesmoke!).

Our boxroom is literally packed to the ceiling! We have nine sets of shelves in there, two metres high, a metre wide, 50cm deep, and a 7-foot-tall cupboard, and the boxes on top of the shelves are literally touching ceiling... our stuff could easily fill a four bedroom house... 

Liverpool_Anne

@Laura_Elsewhere, I seem to react to nearly everything bitey or stingy, even things that are not generally known to, I have had a reaction to an earwig bite and a ladybird bite. Generally just developing a large red itchy lump but the last time I had a wasp sting my whole hand and arm up to the elbow swelled to nearly double size and I ended up having to wear a sling for a few days and being told to avoid wasps at all costs. As if anyone deliberately seeks out wasps! Interestingly the only thing I have had only a minor reaction to was a bee sting, I felt quite sad about it though as I love bees and of course it was then dead. Luckily I also don't really get hay fever just odd days when I get itchy ears. There is a local bee keeper who sells his honey labelled by the post code, he has various hives all over the city, and I have heard eating honey produced from the pollen of the plant that causes your hay fever can help but I don't think even he has any bees knowingly feeding on that particular plant or I would send you some
Take care

CapricornLass

Hi everyone, hope you are all doing ok.  Its been weeks (or more probably months) since I've been on here but I've been SOOOO busy.  Mum and Dad have moved to a nursing home, and my sister and I are trying to sort out all their possessions so their bunglaow can be sold.  I'm trying to get rid of their clothes.  Mum bought loads and loads of clothes and doesn't seem to have thrown any of it away - would you  believe  six wardrobes, a chest of drawers, and three of the four drawers under their bed?  Currently I have 8 large laundry bags stuffed and stacked in my front room, another half full of of bits to go to the homeless shelter, and another which has a cloak.  Yes, a full length cloak in dark green loden wool,  wiith a hood ending in a lyripipe.  (For those not in the know, the hood ends in a long, long point, which is supposed to be wrapped around your neck like a scarf, this bit is the lyripipe.)  The height of fashion in the 1400s and never come back since, and having tried it on, I can see why!  What on earth am I going to do with that?  I'm not sure its accurate enough to be passed on to medaeval reactment groups.

Anyway, I have two spends to declare.  The first is a pair of socks,  because I ran out of them on holdiay and the washing didn't dry fast enough.  The second is a holiday buy too, one of the heavy cotton bretton tops in navy and white stripe.  I've been looking around for one for ages, and this was the first one that I liked.  i think that must be around the 8-10 coupon mark.

BTW, Annie, I use local honey, preferrably in the comb, to help keep my hayfever at bay, having half a teaspoonful every day during the winter months.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get hold of any local honey last year due to Covid, and I am definitely suffering badly this year.  Just hope I can get some comb in the autumn.

Laura_Elsewhere

Well... depending on the kind of dark green, and texture of wool, and the size, I could think of something to do with a cloak with liripipe...!

My word, though, you have my absolute admiration for having that job to deal with - not easy, to put it mildly! Here, have a seat by the fire and finish off the biscuits... 

Liverpool_Anne

@CapricornLass, no I couldn't get any honey this year either due to covid but I just use it because I like it. I always ask what the bees are feeding on and try different ones from all the post codes to get the different flavours.
Could you offer the cloak to a theatre wardrobe department or something similar if you don't want to use it yourself?

PipneyJane

Big hugs, @CapricornLass.  You must be emotionally exhausted.  Please take the comfy armchair and I’ll fetch you another cup of tea.  (<stern voice> Get off it Scruffy-dog!  Now!)

I think @Laura_Elsewhere has claimed the cloak.  Does your mum remember where/why she got it, CapricornLass?  There must be a story behind it.

- Pip

Wraithlady

CapricornLass said:

Currently I have 8 large laundry bags stuffed and stacked in my front room, another half full of of bits to go to the homeless shelter, and another which has a cloak.  Yes, a full length cloak in dark green loden wool,  wiith a hood ending in a lyripipe.  (For those not in the know, the hood ends in a long, long point, which is supposed to be wrapped around your neck like a scarf, this bit is the lyripipe.)  The height of fashion in the 1400s and never come back since, and having tried it on, I can see why!  What on earth am I going to do with that?  I'm not sure its accurate enough to be passed on to medaeval reactment groups.

You could always try either local theatre groups or any Live Action Role Players in the area/ sell on Fleabay - actual historical accuracy not required in either case

CapricornLass

Well.... my mum just liked buying things, I guess.  She was interested and involved in so many things, and she had the income to spend on them, although I'm beginning to think that possibly in the last couple of years, she got forgetful about what she actually had bought, or couldn't get to it. I mean, I've inherited nine dishwasher cleaners, and seven pre-washing sprays from Sainsbury, four bottles of Barkeep's Friend and two powder versions , a pack of Fairy gel pod thingys - and its not all been emptied yet.  Jim bought home a black bin bag full of toilet and kitchen rolls, and I think I've liberated about twenty bars of toilet soap.  I will use it all eventually, but I reckon it could take years.  But there was no way I was going to let my sister just stuff it all in the bin, which is what she wanted to do!

Anyway, back to the lyripipe.  Mum and Dad spent two years in southern Germany when Dad was contacting to IBM out there and apparently there is a big festival where the stall holders all dress in medaeval clothes and practice medaeval crafts and living.  I believe that my mum saw this cloak there, and bought it.  The fabric is fabulous - I believe it could be loden cloth, and its a beautiful forest green.  It weighs a ton, and definitely will keep you warm, but not quite the thing to wear while shopping round Tescos!  Part of me would like to keep it and get a loose (as in unstructured) jacket from it, but I know I won't ever get the time, and the damn thing is cut on the bias as well.  I don't have Laura's sewing skills!

CapricornLass

PS, Scruffy Dog is welcome to sit on my lap!

Laura_Elsewhere

CapricornLass said:

 Part of me would like to keep it and get a loose (as in unstructured) jacket from it, but I know I won't ever get the time, and the damn thing is cut on the bias as well.  I don't have Laura's sewing skills!

No, maybe you don't, but you *do* happen to know a Laura who does  

Hang onto it for now and keep an eye open for pictures of the kind of boxy jacket you mean, and maybe over the winter we can put our heads together and see what can be done...! 

xx