2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Rah

Hi all, just popping in to report a purchase of a blouse at 5 coupons, bringing my total to 20.5 spent so far this year. 
I recently visited a lovely independent shop that I hadn't been to in years (in a different town) and bought this lovely embroidered blouse before I had even thought about the challenge - oops! Still, I have plenty of coupons left luckily. Really need some new trainers next! 

CraftyLittleLisa

Sorry people I have been missing a while although I have still been reading along.  

I have just got back from my holiday for which I did spend a few coupons on gear I felt I needed.  As a result I have only got 5.5 coupons left.  Coupons go so quickly.  I bought myself:

2 pairs of pyjamas - 16 coupons
Slippers - 5 coupons
10 pairs of knickers - 20 coupons
3 bras - 4.5 coupons
Long length mac - 14 coupons.

I now need to check out all my finances and spreadsheets to make sure I can get back on the frugal wagon as well as concentrate on making things out of my old stash for general instead of just clothes.  I did make myself a little handbag out of some left over fabric for my holiday which I absolutely loved.

thriftwizard

Well, I've got the dyeing part of my trousers finished; it didn't come out as dark as I'd hoped but it's a very pretty ex-curtain now! Hanging out to dry currently. I have another rug to finish before I can iron it & cut the trousers out, but should get that done tomorrow. The fabric is a little less than the pattern asks for; I need 1.8m of 60" width, and I've got about 1.7m. But it would be entirely authentic to use a contrast fabric for the waist ties and the patch pocket, so I'm not dismayed. In the meantime the girls have been chucking old t-shirts out; I can feel a whole batch of knickers coming on!

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

@Cherryfudge - I’m knitting it in a dark grey.  I will try to take a photo tomorrow to show off the yarn.  I had this jumper in mind, when I bought it and was gutted when I got home - 13,000 miles away from the shop - to discover it was the wrong thickness.   It’s taking me 8 years of procrastination to get this far.

I can’t wait to hear more about your discoveries at your mum’s, but first tell us about your WIP.  What is the rate of increase?  Is the pattern Lacey?  We may be able to work out why your stitch count is off.

- Pip

...

@Cherryfudge, I have been thinking further about your stitch increase problem. I am wondering if the maths is off, not your knitting.    Did you have the correct number of stitches before the increase row?  How many are you meant to have afterwards?  How many increases does the pattern ask you to do?  If you are willing to type it up, what are the instructions for the increase row? (I’m sorry but you will probably have to tink back the row again.)

I'll be very interested to see the yarn, @PipneyJane, and I truly sympathise, after the debacle with the yarn for the grey jumper I'm making (now the two-shades-of-grey-and-a-big-red-stripe jumper) with discovering the yarn is 'wrong' when you can't go back for more. It's a lovely jumper and that hemline is really eye-catching and I think you will find a way to make it happen.

Thank you for the enquiries about the WIP. It will be a day or so before I can answer all, as I'm dog-tired this evening and I suspect the stitch count was awry before the increase, though I don't know where or why. It's a simple pattern, suitable for beginners and people who need to knit without paying attention all the time - which is probably why I went wrong.

The instructions to this point, which I wrote out carefully according to the size I need and are identical front and back till you get to the neckline, are as follows:

Cast on 93.
Rib row 1 (right side) K1 *p1, k1* rpt. to end
Rib row 2 P1, *K1, P1* rpt. to end.
Repeat for 7cm. End with row 1.

Increase row Rib 1, *M1 (knit into back of horizontal loop before next st.), rib 6. Rpt. from * to last 2 sts. M1, rib to end. (109 sts.)

As I said, I'm too tired to unpick mentally let alone physically but the back was knitted first and seemed to work as expected. With the front, the first try resulted in 113 sts and the second was 114 sts.

Perhaps I should continue merrily onwards and present the finished jumper to DH when he's had a very large meal and the increase might be welcome to accommodate expanded girth.

CapricornLass

Woo-hoo!  Sorting out paperwork brought over from my mum's house, and I've found:

a) a newspaper from 1942 - Java has plenty of food apparently, and someone from the village was fined for driving without any lights.

b) a book on wartime cookery.  Still got to explore that one further, as I've not opened it yet

c) one and a half books of petrol coupons!  (Thanks, Grandpop)

Still patiently sifting through my parents clothes.  However, I think I've pretty much sorted out what I'm planning to take to the car boot sale.  Otherwise, I've not bought anything.  Rather I've thrown away - two pairs of knickers and, after tomorrow, a tee-shirt which is developing holes.  (I don't know what things are coming too, grumble grumble they don't make anything to last these days I mean I've only had it for thirty-five years, grumble grumble..!.)

Cherryfudge

Isn't it amazing how these things have lasted and are still coming to light! Good to hear about Java.

Disgraceful about the tee shirt though.  

Liverpool_Anne

@Cherryfudge, I'm not an expert but doing the maths on the increase row seems to be right to me, but I'm sure Pip or Laura will correct me if I have it wrong
@CapricornLass, I am just amazed that a t shirt you have had for 35 years still fits you mine wouldn't go near me

CapricornLass

Well, it doesn't owe me anything, does it?  The body is coming away from the neckline, but its not worth repairing it, I think.  I'm going to have to demote another t-shirt, as that was one of the four I use for garden/cleaning/painting/sorting out parents house!

Liverpool Annie, I have to confess - I have gone up a dress size in the meantime, but there's no problem with the fit at all.  I have a madras cotton blouse from M&S that I still wear, and its a similar vintage.  I wore it when i was expecting eldest son, and he's thirty-four now.  But summer clothes just don't get the sort of hammering that clothes for the other three seasons get.

PipneyJane

Good afternoon Ladies

Shock!  Horror!  I have to go into an office tomorrow!  What on earth am I going to wear?  One of my suits, I reckon and proper shoes!  (It's our new owners' head office and I've never met any of them in person, so I'd better look smart.  No idea if they do "dress down Friday".  If they did, I'd wear jeans and a tweed jacket.)

@Cherryfudge, you are increasing by 16 stitches from a 93 stitch starting point, which needs an increase every 6 stitches, so the increase row as written is correct.  If you haven't frogged back already, I'd suggest counting your stitches twice, sticking markers/safety-pins between every 20*, then once you've worked out how many excess stitches you have, designating at random the increases you are going to "fix". If you are out by 2 or less stitches, just tink back to the second-from-end "M1", unwork that one and rib to the end of the row.  (Doing any more than 2 this way may skew your knitting.)   If you have loads too many stitches, then your choice is to select some of the increase stitches at random across the row and either knit that stitch together with a neighbour when you knit the next row or to drop it completely, so that there is a small gap.  (Does that make sense?  Either fix should work and not show because they'll be absorbed into the busy edge of the ribbing.)

@CapricornLass congratulations on your finds!  The newspaper and the cookbook  sound fascinating.  Sorry to hear about your tee-shirt but it sounds like it was well worn.

As promised, here is a picture of my latest WIP:



The yarn is more grey and less blue in real life. Apologies but it's a bit crowded on the circular needle, so you can't quite see the pattern definition.   It's woollen spun, which you can just about see from the next photo, of my swatch:



I've just started the third ball and I'm on round 34.  I have 9 balls.  Fingers crossed that will be enough.  (I keep hoping that I'll find a tenth ball tucked away in the stash.  Probably no such luck.  I have no recollection how many I actually purchased at Christmas 2012.)

- Pip





* I do this so that I can confirm that I've counted a section correctly.  Saves having to recount everything when you've got 200+ stitches on the go.

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, nice knitting! 

A year ago when My Intended went into hospital for worrying surgery, second week of August, I set about overhauling a half-made skirt suit started in the 1990s from one of Gran's late-40s patterns. A year on, the sleeves are still not properly set in, the lining is only pinned in, and the skirt hasn't been touched... so I'm gearing up to re-start the work, as it would be nice to wear for getting hitched in, come October if things go according to vague-plan Grey skirt and fitted jacket (it's beautiful rich warm mid-grey British wool, very fine flannel- iirc it was about 90 quid back in the 1990s), with the Wedlothia silk shawl over it, and possibly a fitted waistcoat underneath in silks in crimsons, scarlets, burgundies, oranges...