2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

@maryb - sorry to hear your news.

@PollyWollyDoodle - those turquoise fluffy mules would haunt me!    Even typing those words make me shudder.

I can't remember what I last wore to a funeral, beyond a black coat.  It was last winter and my most lasting memory was being unable to shake off my ex-husband, who decided to sit next to me, despite Covid precautions.  (I hadn't seen him since 2012. Another funeral, where we all went to the pub afterwards and he kept referring to me as "ex-wife" so I took the pleasure to inform him that we'd been divorced for longer than we'd been married.  The only way to shake him off that time was to leave.  What on earth did I ever see in that man???)

We've had a minor knitting-related disaster.  My DH has lost the hat that I knitted for him in 2010, when he was during passenger surveys on the buses.  Ironically, he thinks he left it on a bus on Saturday, when he had his hands full, lugging stuff around.  He's already phoned the bus company's lost property and nobody has handed it in.



This was knitted in Wensleydale Long Wool from the (now closed) Wensleydale Sheep Shop, which is now in deep stash. I have at least enough to knit a jumper but not sure I can make him another hat and knit the jumper I had planned.  He loved that hat.  (The picture makes the yarn look much more purple than it is.  It's more of a marine blue.)  

Oh, sod it!  I'll make him another one and give it to him for Christmas.  

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane, if it's either Dusk Blue or Midnight then both of those are on Rav's de-stash, if it might save you having to sacrifice your planned jumper...?

https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/wensleydale-longwool-sheepshop-wensleydale-longwool-dk/stashes?status=trade&cf=?&search=&photoless=0


EDIT: but also the Wensleydale Longwool DK is for sale still on their website in several blues... any good?
https://www.wensleydalelongwool.co.uk/product/double-knitting-dk-wool/?v=79cba1185463

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane, if it's either Dusk Blue or Midnight then both of those are on Rav's de-stash, if it might save you having to sacrifice your planned jumper...?

https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/wensleydale-longwool-sheepshop-wensleydale-longwool-dk/stashes?status=trade&cf=?&search=&photoless=0

Good thinking, @Laura_Elsewhere but I think the colourway is "Denim".  I'm overjoyed to discover that they're still selling it!  (I'm also overjoyed to discover that they're still in business.  I thought I'd heard somewhere that they'd closed, but the website is up and running.)

However, in all honesty, I should have enough meterage for the jumper I had in mind, as well as for knitting DH a hat.  Last time I saw the Wensleydale ladies at Ally Pally, I bought an "emergency skein" of this colourway, to replace the one used in DH's hat, which means I have over 1800 metres of it.  I'm thinking of making the pullover version of Sandrine.

If I knit DH a hat, at least he'll have something nice to unwrap on Christmas Day.  He already knows that my planned Christmas Present for him is a voucher for a suit.  ("Voucher" as in a card with the words "I promise to spend up to £XXXX on a new suit for you".)  Now, to knit it without him noticing....

- Pip

Wraithlady

More coupons used:

1 cardigan for MIL (moving into a care home, they don't allow her beloved cashmere cardi's 'on health grounds') - 5 coupons
1 pr slippers for OH - 5 coupons
3 m fleece (to replace the aforementioned cashmere cardi's) - 2 coupons per metre, so 6 coupons

So that's 16 coupons spent.

PipneyJane

Wraithlady said:

More coupons used:

1 cardigan for MIL (moving into a care home, they don't allow her beloved cashmere cardi's 'on health grounds') - 5 coupons
1 pr slippers for OH - 5 coupons
3 m fleece (to replace the aforementioned cashmere cardi's) - 2 coupons per metre, so 6 coupons

So that's 16 coupons spent.

Excuse me for being a cynic, @Wraithlady but I can only assume that "health grounds" are really "Health of our pockets if we felt the cardigan by accident" grounds, because they'll boil wash everything to within an inch of its life.

It's very kind of you to donate your coupons to your MIL, instead of raiding hers.

- Pip

thriftwizard

What a shame about the hat, @PipneyJane! But I'm glad you'll be able to make him another; that'll make a very special present.

In the meantime, I've finally done my wardrobe audit, and am ashamed to confess that I probably won't need to buy anything new until 2025! How it all fits into 3 large drawers and one "hanging rail" (actually the edge of a shelf on what was originally a fitted wardrobe, until the doors fell off when the twins were about 2. They're 29 now...) I'll never know, but that's probably because I've exiled my dance costumes & practice gear to another room. The only thing I'm in need of, as things stand, is knickers, and I'm intending to make those, but may have to crack & buy some if I can't clear more space in the "sewing room" (aka spare bedroom) very soon. Would help if the DDs hadn't de-stashed their sewing supplies into there as well, when I already had  ***too much fabric***...

One thing that did please me was that most of it "hangs together" reasonably well & gives me lots of options, though there are a few "oddities" in there. But they also work together well & make a change from my usual pinks, reds & blacks, or denim & blue-stripes in summer. For a while I though I was going to have to invest in a couple of those mid-length stretchy little skirts that go so well over leggings with a big jumper, but found a couple hiding under my summer jumpers. Just about the only things that have been bought new are underwear, thermals & what I call mid-wear - i.e. leggings & polo-necks - everything else has come from charity shops or the recyclers, and a few bits I've made myself. I now have a bin-bag of everyday stuff I don't wear to donate to the Salvation Army (who don't throw any of it away) and a bin-bag of items that really are beyond reasonable use to dispose of.

There are still things I don't wear regularly in there. But sadly, yes, funerals are a possibility (as always) but then, so are parties, weddings and Christenings. Last time I had a serious de-stash I threw out all my decent dresses, as I hadn't worn them for 6 months or more, as per the minimalist websites. (Who did I think I was kidding?!) Then my brother announced he was having a party... aaargh! I had to buy a dress in Phase8's sale! I don't want to do that again in a hurry.

I'm almost tempted to aim for no coupons at all next year. But being realistic, there's always yarn... and fabric...

Edited to add: and walking boots! Looks like I probably need "barefoot" ones... never mind the coupons, that's going to cost...

Gem-gem

Received a £10voucher from The White C0mp@ny. So along with my loyalty discount card, received £16.30 off a pair of brushed cotton pyjama bottoms. Also, have free delivery. 

If pyjamas are 8 coupons, I would assume that pj bottoms are 4 coupons. 

Clothes bought so far this year ...
tops x 4.  (20 tokens)
trousers /jeans x 5 (30 tokens)
knickers x 5 (10tokens)
boots x 1 (5 tokens)
scarf x 1 (2 tokens)
socks x3 (3 tokens).
pyjama bottoms (4 tokens)
74 tokens used.
Overspend - 8 tokens

What a shame about the hat, @PipneyJane! I bet the person who found it snuffled it away. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@Gem-gem, that's pretty good, only having an overspend of 8 coupons in your first year! I ended up buying tons on the black market my first two years, I think... I just ran out of coupons so quickly in those days!  

And yes, if a full set of pyjamas is 8 coupons, then one-half would be 4 coupons  

Gem-gem

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@Gem-gem, that's pretty good, only having an overspend of 8 coupons in your first year! I ended up buying tons on the black market my first two years, I think... I just ran out of coupons so quickly in those days!  

And yes, if a full set of pyjamas is 8 coupons, then one-half would be 4 coupons  

Thank you for confirming. 

Gem-gem

Have been looking in my wardrobe and contemplating my needs for next year. I need very little for spring/autumn/winters most of my coupons will be spent on summer clothes - needs include: two pairs of crop trousers, one new t-shirt and a new going out summer top. 

I may need a new pair of work trousers but hoping that my current pair will last another year. I do have a smart skirt / dresses for work but tend to wear these one it starts to warm up. 

Shoes: a pair of sandals and maybe a new pair of loafers. My current loafers I have already had resoled - If you buy form Russell &Br0mley you can take your shoes back to the shop and they will send them off to be resoled with their own products. Of course, I will try and get them resoled again. Do you use coupons if you gave them re-soled?