2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Rah

PipneyJane said
ETA:  Book review, please, @Rah.  How many patterns does the book have?  What are they for?  Did you have to trace them out/draw them onto paper yourself?

@PipneyJane I really like it. From memory, It's got about 20 or so patterns (some are variations of others) mostly women's, a couple of men's. Wide range of sizes (8 to 22 I think for the womens). Big pattern sheets included which you need to trace onto tracing paper and then cut out. Only a couple of the patterns suitable for beginners, the remainder more for improvers or more experienced sewers I would say. Good clear instructions. 
Very little to do with the TV show though other than a foreword from Patrick and Esme. 
Recommended!

Rah

thriftwizard said:

Yeeehaaa! A mere two years since I decided to do it...

A bit wobbly round the legs, but they fit & they're comfortable. There'll be no stopping me now - beware, all who put pretty t-shirts into the washing pile!

Wow! Well done 

skogar

The new knickers look great Thrift Wizard.

Laura_Elsewhere

We're obviously all Making Do & Mending rather well to help us save clothing-coupons, but is anyone else going to try to become a little smaller in dimensions so as to use less fabric this year?  

I'm hoping to shrink a bit - quite seriously, I want to knit myself a gorgeous complicated Fair Isle cardigan in 4-ply, but I'm not going to tackle that much knitting in this size, so I'd like to get rid of a couple of stone this year... I know knitting sounds a bonkers reason for losing weight, and obviously it isn't the only one, but it does frustrate me that everything I make for myself requires such a lot more yarn or fabric than it would if I were a little less rotund! 

I managed to ditch a stone last year, nice and slowly, and it's stayed off, so I hope a couple of stone is reasonable to hope for this year!

Cherryfudge

@Laura_Elsewhere, we are the only two people I know of who shrank last year! Well done fellow weight warrior! Of course there are many others facing much more than I've had to face, or at a healthy weight to begin with, so I'm not dismissing the importance of those things... just surprised at finding someone with a similar story to mine.

I still have nearly a stone to go: it will be the first time in a quarter of  a century that I've been the 'right' weight once I get there. Even half way through, though, I look and feel healthier so in some ways my mission is accomplished... though between icy pavements, lockdown and home baking, I may continue my slow progress even more slowly...

I have added to my stash this week, though no coupons involved: I unpicked a chenille scarf that was fraying and on closer inspection turned out to be chevrons of yarn laid flat and overstitched in place, if that makes sense. Unravelling all the stitchery where it wasn't already unravelled was oddly satisfying, like undoing the stitching off the top of a a paper potato sack, if anyone's ever had that pleasure. I now have umpteen balls of a very fine yarn from the stitching (dolls' sock weight at a guess!) and six colourful balls of chenille weighing an average of 25g apiece. It's very chunky but I don't know enough to be able to say what weight - I crocheted up a swatch on a 10mm hook and that seems about right but clearly the manufacturer had made the yarn go further by NOT knitting /crocheting it so it I'm to do either, it will need to be a small, rather dense project. I'm thinking of a hat - I have a big head so most don't fit me but a man's pattern would do. All thoughts on that one gratefully received!

Incidentally, I mentioned to someone who has just dropped in on last year's thread that we are all down the air raid shelter waiting for the all clear. I am expecting to see a colourful array of siren suits when we emerge, but I can see the Village Hall is well sand bagged so I expect the cake and kettle are safe and we can go on keeping each other's morale up as ever. Meanwhile outside is snowy and sunny, and doesn't the village look like a chocolate box?

PollyWollyDoodle

Good luck with your endeavour Laura, I would like to lose a bit more but will be happy just to keep running and be fitter. Interestingly I didn’t put on any weight during the first lockdown, but gained some afterwards when we could have coffee and cake, see friends and so on. It has made me realise where some of my over-consumption happens. I think knitting is a very good motive for losing weight. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@Cherryfudge - I think mine was because I really tackled my unfitness, so even though for most of first lockdown we were only doing a 1.3-mile loop on local footpaths, we did short sections timed, or counting paces between A and B and trying to reduce that, ie lengthening my stride, and changing how I breathed and so on. It made an ENORMOUS difference to how knackered I was and being able to keep up with My Intended on even the tiniest slope.... but it also obviously booed my metabolism a bit! 
I also forced M.I. over from always just plain white bread to bread made with Hovis granary flour, so our fibre intake rocketed, hurrah! Always helps... 

We've slithered back into indolence, though, so I have warned M.I. that since we're incapable of managing Mon-Wed-Fri walks, we will be switching to going *every* weekday morning, no thinking, no deciding, just wake, fall into clothes and out the door, trot round the same loop and home, rain or shine, dark or light, whatever. Like we did before. If we are going to have Covid-19, I want us to have as few additional rick factors for a bad outcome as possible... elderberry syrup every morning is good, but it can't work wonders!  

Re the chenille - nice work on retrieving it! Have you tried doing alternate rows of the chenille and the dolls-yarn? No idea, but it might be worth doing... 

I am finally machine-sewing the lining (grey viscose) for my grey wool skirt. M.I. has a lot of work calls next week so I'm trying to get a load of machine work done this weekend so that I can sit and quietly hand-sew to finish things off, rather than being delayed yet again. I have my crimson culottes to work on too, having dismantled the wonky bit to re-sew - I was sewing those two years ago! Anyway, hard at it on the treadle - my 1902 Singer is a good little workhorse and treadling helps keep me warm  

But - in dramatic news - we have actually started using a little electric heater - our first time using any form of heater in over 6 years! Just in the sitting-room, because it is colder, being north-facing, and with M.I. having to work from home, we can't just use the south-facing cosier bedroom as a bed-sitter as we usually do in cold spells... 

PipneyJane

I have a new teapot for you all to test, once we get out of the air raid shelter.  L!dl are selling those Bodum "Assam Tea Press" teapots that have a built in tea-strainer.  Perfect for loose leaf tea.  We bought one this afternoon and I think it made a very nice cuppa.

Thanks for the book review, @Rah.  I am tempted to track it down.

@Cherryfudge and @Laura_Elsewhere, there is a third "shinker".  I lost 9lb during the first Lockdown.  Like you, Laura, it was all due to implementing daily walks after work, to destress and break up the day into "work time" and "home time".  (I didn't start running until July.)  No massive change to our diets - I've always focused on high fibre, low fat and getting our 5-a-day.  

I think I've mentioned before that my fitness goals for 2021 are to regularly run 5k and to build some strength/muscle.  I need to lose at least the same amount of weight again, to comfortably ensure that I can wear all my clothes.  I have classic hypothyroid weight distribution - all excess weight goes around my waist.  I reckon that the stuff that fits me well now will be fine if I wear a belt but, worst case scenario, I'll just add a couple of darts to the waistbands.  

In Fix & Finish Friday news, I unpicked the edge of the collar on my "Summer Jumpers are Casual" sweater and added an extra 8 rows before casting off again. I'd been hoping to add 10 rows, but there wasn't enough yarn left.  I only had 7 grams of leftover yarn to play with.   If tomorrow morning is sunny, I'll model it as well as the Lady's Lacy Jumper, and get DH to take some photos to share with you.

Has anyone been on Ravelry lately?  What they haven't mentioned about the new format is that there are now two different "themes":  Herdwick and Merino.  Since they are discontinuing the classic view at the end of March, I've started using the Merino theme.  I think the one that was causing all the problems was the Herdwick theme, which is brighter and much harder on the eyes.  (Still no apology or acknowledgement that there were problems, of course.  I am not impressed by that.)

- Pip

Couldsavemore

Not managed any ctaft this week...
But have manged some running, the weather is such fun.
Hows everyone getting on at the village hall

thriftwizard

I wouldn't mind shedding half a stone! I don't think I've gained any weight in lockdown; I put my jeans on the other day, last worn in about March, and they still fit fine. But I know I'm carrying a bit extra and it makes my joints ache sometimes, something that eases straight up when I lose a bit. So I'm dragging whichever DD is around out on a 3-mile walk every day the weather permits (it gets impassably muddy after a few days of rain) and will be doing Zoom dance classes again as of 19th. Not to mention digging my allotment; I'd much rather go no-dig, which makes much more sense to me, but it's against The Rules anyway, and they are rigidly enforced. I could walk or cycle to the allotment rather than drive; it's only a mile, but that's a mile of narrow, twisty medieval streets with cobbles in places & commercial vans hurtling through at well over the 30mph limit.

The diet's pretty sound, with lots of fruit & veg, but I'm consciously trying not to eat as many carbs as I'm used to, and oats & sourdough rather than eclairs & shortbread, just because I know of old that that suits me better.So I'm glad you all helped me finish off the cheese scones!