2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I've bought more knitting wool - Propagansey (who are brilliant, at Whitby Wholefoods in Whitby, lovely woman named Deb) had some irresistible Falklands Corriedale 5-ply gansey for £20/500g so I bought a kilo... um.... er....! Will need to adjust my signature by a teensy bit... 

I had to look up Propagansey, even though I'm not too far from them. Wow! I showed DH and he says I can knit him one next year...

The samples shown in the shop are beautiful colours.

I'm not sure people actually plan to increase their stashes. There's some sort of natural law whereby once yarn gets into a house, it attracts other yarn. A bit like cats finding cat lovers.

@CAFCGirl, I hope things look up for you. I'll just add these ginger and cinnamon biscuits to the tin, fresh from the oven...

So true, @Cherryfudge.  So true.

- Pip

diminua

Apologies for the long post. I’ve actually been more focussed on getting rid of stuff I no longer want, but I took a quick inventory and this is what I now have:

Coats and winter woollies: one rain jacket, one full length coat, one aran cardigan, one large cotton cardigan (bought this year) six or seven jumpers (various sizes). I don’t anticipate needing any more of those in 2022, and probably not '23. I do need to sew a button back on the rain jacket though.

Tops: misc t-shirts and strap tops and thin long sleeved things (about 4 I’d wear on top as office casual, some weekend, and some that do for base layers), three summer blouses, a more office type blouse. I don’t anticipate buying any of that next year either. 

Dresses and skirts: 1 summer dress. That’s sufficient. I gave up buying skirts when I realised I liked how they looked but almost invariably wore trousers. I’m torn on whether I need a light short-sleeved cardigan to wear over the summer dress – on the one hand it would look better, on the other I wouldn’t ever put a dress on unless it was stupidly hot, in which case I’m really not going to want to wear a cardi.  

Trousers: 3 cheapish office type pairs of trousers, one pair of cords, one pair of blue wool trousers. The cheapish trousers are likely to start falling apart in the next year, in which case I’d like to get some brown or black wool ones to replace them, and hopefully those will look better and last longer. If I get jeans they’ll be second hand this time.

Boots and Shoes: four pairs of boots (walking boots, 2 pairs of DMs and Clarks) with one more on the way, sandals. Shoes are a gap – I will probably get some plain black medium heeled court shoes or mary janes in the spring. I’ve bought school shoes in the past, but I think I do want one pair of moderate heels. 

misc socks and underwear. Again I’ll be getting more as this wears.

So: Shoes – 5 coupons.  Light cardi (possibly) – 5 coupons. Wool trousers – 6 to 12 coupons. Jeans – no coupons. Underwear – 10 coupons and possibly more. 

Of course this all assumes my being able to get the things I want and not being distracted by other shiny new things while I do it..

thriftwizard

Looks like a sensible plan, @diminua; I haven't even tried to asses what I own yet! But I do know I need 2 pairs of leggings, and have finally ordered them - after much teeth-gritting; how can it be so very hard to find what you actually want, in an average sort of size, with the whole internet trying to sell you stuff?! - but can't for the life of me remember how many coupons I need to surrender!

The other thing will be walking boots; still not sorted, but I need to go somewhere & try them on, and our outdoor shop shut its doors a couple of years ago, and I don't want to go 30-odd miles to the nearest decent shop that might just have something for my wedge-shaped feet! Everything closer has been put out of business by G* 0utdoors, who never actually have what I'm looking for. I think it'll have to wait for a trip to Wales to see DS1 & partner's (rather fabulous) new abode, which will probably be in the New Year.

CAFCGirl

I've picked up the scarf again and I've decided I'll actually make it into an infinity scarf, and sew the ends together and it'll look nicer like that given how the sides have curled on me, and I wont have enough yarn to make it the length I intended.

I feel better about it now   

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

Looks like a sensible plan, @diminua; I haven't even tried to asses what I own yet! But I do know I need 2 pairs of leggings, and have finally ordered them - after much teeth-gritting; how can it be so very hard to find what you actually want, in an average sort of size, with the whole internet trying to sell you stuff?! - but can't for the life of me remember how many coupons I need to surrender!

The other thing will be walking boots; still not sorted, but I need to go somewhere & try them on, and our outdoor shop shut its doors a couple of years ago, and I don't want to go 30-odd miles to the nearest decent shop that might just have something for my wedge-shaped feet! Everything closer has been put out of business by G* 0utdoors, who never actually have what I'm looking for. I think it'll have to wait for a trip to Wales to see DS1 & partner's (rather fabulous) new abode, which will probably be in the New Year.

@thriftwizard - Leggings are 2 coupons each. 

I feel your frustration over the walking boots.   Do you remember who made your last pair?  Might be worth trying their website.  (I suffer something similar re trainers, as I only wear one brand. All our local "sports stores" are owned by the former owner of Newcastle FC.  Fortunately, I could buy my trainers direct from the manufacturer's website.  It was either that or trek into Oxford Circus - or out to Bicester - to buy them from one of their shops.)

CAFCGirl said:

I've picked up the scarf again and I've decided I'll actually make it into an infinity scarf, and sew the ends together and it'll look nicer like that given how the sides have curled on me, and I wont have enough yarn to make it the length I intended.

I feel better about it now   

Clever thinking there, @CAFCGirl.  Hope it looks lovely.

- Pip

skogar

Thriftwizard - Yes finding walking boots is a pain - I have very wide feet and it i always a nightmare and a lot of the smaller shops now don't do boots as they have to keep in such a range of sizes so it is usually a significant journey to possibly get some.

CAFCgirl - I think your infinity scarf shuld look very nice.

Laura - That was a narrow escape! I only saw your post about Propagansey after I got back from Whitby at the weekend. If I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to resist a look and I would have more than blown my 3 remaining coupons!

Nice to hear of people's plans for next year's coupons

Cherryfudge - Many thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow re suggesting I could hunt through my stash for some suitable wool for accessories - I've had a quick look and I have a few balls of things that might make some nice accessories - unfortunately a bit limited on blue - I do have some nice chunky wool but as I have enough for a larger project I am reluctant to raid that - I will have a look and see what I have - it is a good idea to post it in the signature to try and keep track. Would love to see a picture of that red cowl (or whatever the yarn turns into) after you have knitted it - the colour sounds lovely.

MrsCD

6 coupons for a pair of jeans for DD for Christmas to declare. Not a lot left!😨

TwibbleDee

I just saw this and it reminded me that I haven’t popped in for a bit.

Today is a cookie day.  Going to have to run in for more flour - finally worked through the stash I’d ordered early in 2020!  (FYI - I did not buy an excessive amount, just ordered enough that if I had to start making GF bread, I’d be able to.  Only had about 6 pounds, I just rarely bake!)

TwibbleDee

Random thought: They were collecting scrap metal back during WWII.  How much of our metal now would actually be usable?  I mean, my cookie sheets are silicon-coated!

PipneyJane

TwibbleDee said:

Random thought: They were collecting scrap metal back during WWII.  How much of our metal now would actually be usable?  I mean, my cookie sheets are silicon-coated!

Good question.  Presumably, at a high enough heat, the silicon would combust or evaporate.  Whether that heat is the higher than the temperature needed to liquify the metal is a different matter.  (I don't know the answer.)

Certainly, I recycle as many things as possible, but I wonder how much of it actually gets recycled and how much is "recycling optimism" that ends up going to landfil. (There's a better phrase than that but, for the life of me, I can't remember what it is.  All I can say is that I heard it on a BBC podcast.)  Our local council is pretty good, but we've all seen horror stories about British "recycling" being shipped around the world to end up in landfil in a poorer country.

I love the picture you posted.  

- Pip