2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

@TwibbleDee in 1942 in Britain I don't think there *was* any yarn other than woollen yarn!

Put it this way, when I learnt to knit 20 years ago, that was the first time I heard the word 'yarn' used to mean anything other than a story or tale.  It simply is not - still - in normal usage in Britain amongst non-knitters. Most people still just say "wool" to mean yarn. Even many knitters and crocheters say "wool" regardless of what it's made of. 

Even in shops like Hobbycraft, the staff who look after the yarn section call it all "wool" and say, "oh yes, all that section there is wool" and I try to explain I'm looking for woollen wool and they genuinely seem surprised to be told that stuff labelled "100% acrylic" is not actually wool... and these are the specific staff members who do the buying, ordering, stock decisions, etc... 

I had to teach myself to say 'yarn' and I still feel very pretentious when I say it!  

There probably were a few people knitting in 1942 in Britain with rabbit or goat, but I would be astonished if there were more than a handful of people then over here who even knew you could knit a yak!  

[Edit to add: also, I'm pretty sure when British rationing says 'wool' they mean sheep-wool and not any of the others.
Mending wool was almost thread-thin, much much thinner than what you knit with, intended for reinforcing behind the knitting or for very fine darning]

TwibbleDee

@Laura_Elsewhere  Very interesting, as over here you practically have to hunt down actual wool.  It wouldn't occur to most people that yarn should be made of wool.  Then again, I also live in the southern US.  They grow cotton within a few miles of my house, and we think it's cold when northerners would think it would be lovely and warm.

So would other varieties have been basically unavailable?

TwibbleDee

Oh, and @Laura_Elsewhere?  They did specify that wool from other critters was still covered under the regulation, at least for the yarn.

"21.  Are coupons required for knitting yarn?  Yes, provided it contains more than 16 per cent. by weight of wool.  Wool means fiber from the coat or fleece of alpaca, camel, goat, lamb, llama, rabbit, sheep, vicuna or yak, whether or not subjected to any process of manufacture or recovery."

Laura_Elsewhere

TwibbleDee said:

Oh, and @Laura_Elsewhere?  They did specify that wool from other critters was still covered under the regulation, at least for the yarn.

"21.  Are coupons required for knitting yarn?  Yes, provided it contains more than 16 per cent. by weight of wool.  Wool means fiber from the coat or fleece of alpaca, camel, goat, lamb, llama, rabbit, sheep, vicuna or yak, whether or not subjected to any process of manufacture or recovery."

Gosh, I had actually sleepily (been sleepy all day, despite sleeping fine - I blame the weather warming up) assumed hat list was from an American definition! Sorry   I suppose because of the American spelling of 'fiber'. 
So that's the British wording? Wow... 

skogar

Hello TwibbleDee.

I think that is possibly correct however I don't know whether non wool yarn would have been widely available. Acrylic wasn't used then I don't think. I'm sure cotton yarn would have existed but whether it would have been available I don't know.

skogar

I remember seeing on the website of the imperial war museum that yarnn for darning was unrationed. Initially it was sold in skeins but because people were buying it to knit whole garments from it changed to being sold in small amounts on cards.

skogar

Laura's repurposing of available material to make her flannelette petticoat would have been very much a thing.

thriftwizard

I'm pretty sure cotton yarn was available; I'm thinking dishcloth patterns & will check to see if I have any pre-war ones left. But also thinner yarns for crochet; I do have 1930s crochet patterns, one of them in French. Also, there certainly were other fibres available, though probably not as yarn to buy; if I remember correctly, Jane Eyre was married in a grey alpaca dress!

PipneyJane

Interesting question @TwibbleDee.  Based on my pattern collection, prewar it was possible to buy wool, mohair, angora, cashmere, cotton, linen, silk and “artificial silk” (which I think was rayon).  Admittedly, some of them would have been very expensive and hard to obtain, but it was possible.   I know my mum crocheted in both linen and cotton, pre-war.  (She went through a doily phase.)

- Pip

TwibbleDee

Laura_Elsewhere said:

TwibbleDee said:

Oh, and @Laura_Elsewhere?  They did specify that wool from other critters was still covered under the regulation, at least for the yarn.

"21.  Are coupons required for knitting yarn?  Yes, provided it contains more than 16 per cent. by weight of wool.  Wool means fiber from the coat or fleece of alpaca, camel, goat, lamb, llama, rabbit, sheep, vicuna or yak, whether or not subjected to any process of manufacture or recovery."

Gosh, I had actually sleepily (been sleepy all day, despite sleeping fine - I blame the weather warming up) assumed hat list was from an American definition! Sorry   I suppose because of the American spelling of 'fiber'. 
So that's the British wording? Wow... 

Whoops.  Apparently my brain "auto-corrected" fibre to the American spelling.  It was spelled "fibre" in the original.