2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere said:

@PipneyJane - oh my goodness! How wonderful...

BUT do think very carefully about a silk-lined wool suit. I was so pleased with putting a lovely vintage-silk lining into Dad's old Harris tweed jacket but what I've ended up with is a jacket I carry a lot and scarcely ever wear because it's simply too darn hot! 

Maybe think of a tailored proper long overcoat - wool lined in silk would work for that.... or use the silk for blouses to wear with the wool suit lined in something less warm? 

Fortunately, I run cold most of the time.  (Until I hit menopause, that is.  Now the dreaded hot flushes have made the last few days particularly uncomfortable, but they did help to keep me warm over the winter.)

I don’t have a pattern in mind, so we’ll see what inspires me when I eventually browse through the pattern books.

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I have a major dentist appt tomorrow mid-morning, so Mr E will have to drop me before 9am and collect me at lunchtime, so I plan to take crochet and book, and use the spare hours to explore cool shady places in the historic little town where my dentist is - I reckon the Norman church will still be cool - they built them to withstand anything a thousand years ago!!

Good luck with the dentist.  I hope it’s not too painful.  Also with finding a nice cool spot in the church.  

@TwibbleDee it isn’t just a lack of air conditioning.  If temperature is considered at all in modern British building, it is in terms of passive heating, i.e. designing the building to harvest the heat of the sun to keep the building hot!  My office is in an extension to some farm buildings, built to look like a stables.  It has plenty of windows down both sides but very few of them open.  One long side faces west.  In Australia, that side would have either a veranda down the full length or at least awnings over every window, to shade the windows from the sun.  Not here.  Even in regular weather, we have to have the air conditioning on by mid-afternoon because it gets too hot and stuffy.

- Pip

TwibbleDee

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@TwibbleDee - remember almost no homes in the UK, and not all places of work, have any aircon... many don't even have a fan. We have no experience of temps in the 100s, and not much of temps in the 90s. Also, it's staying hot overnight tonight, so probably staying above c.77F, and hitting high-90s on the days either side, so with no air-con, you can imagine what that does to anyone with a heart condition or respiratory issues... 

Yes, I remember.  It does normally stay around 75F+ around here at night.  I'd probably have had heat stroke several times by now if we didn't have air conditioning, as I oddly enough don't tolerate heat that well for where we live.  We actually have a camper with a generator that can run the air conditioning if the power goes out, but it needs some maintenance before we can use it.  When our air conditioner went out, we moved out to the camper for a few days until it could be fixed.

Luckily, ours is desert, so humidity is generally under 25%.  Going outside feels like stepping into a blow dryer (but hey, no 60mph winds since last week - with those, you get free dermabrasion when you step outside!).  I'm "used to it" - and still about keel over if I spend more than 15 minutes or so outside, worse if I start sweating.  Hmmm.  The heat may actually be part of why I'm so tired here lately.  Eventually, I'd like to live further north.

TwibbleDee

PollyWollyDoodle said:

I'm very impressed that you are able to.wear your wool dress in these conditions. Is it true then that it remains cool in hot weather?  

Much cooler than my usual clothes.

Back in April, when we went to camp, I spilled my electrolyte stuff on my dress and had to rinse it out and lay it out to dry.  I wore a t-shirt and jean shorts whilst driving the golf cart to pick people up, and soaked both with sweat in 5 minutes flat, where as with the wool dress (keep in mind, my dresses are basically shifts - sleeveless and knee-length - these ones: https://wooland.com/products/sierra-tank-dress-forest-night) and bike shorts underneath it, I might have a light layer of sweat that would actually cool as it dried.  I ended up switching back into my dress before it dried after I rinsed it because I was starting to feel light-headed from the heat.

MrsCD

Yes, @PipneyJane you're right about the crocheter in MammaMia!
Have fun with your sock knitting while you're away.

@Gem-gem your blanket is beautiful!
 If it was mine, I would do one row of granny clusters all around for a base row, making a cluster of 2+2 uk trebles  in each of the 2 joined corners along each side IYSWIM. This helps to keep the edge from going wavy. So you would do your 3 uk trebles in each space along the side but when you come to a join you do 2 in the first space and 2 in the second space but all as one granny cluster.
Then the next round I would change colour, and do a few rows of linen stitch, where you do a uk double crochet, miss a stitch, chain one and dc in the next stitch. The next row is worked the same but in the chain spaces. A few rows of dc would make a nice border without being too much.

Can't wait to see what you decide to do!

Cherryfudge

TwibbleDee said:

PollyWollyDoodle said:

I'm very impressed that you are able to.wear your wool dress in these conditions. Is it true then that it remains cool in hot weather?  

Much cooler than my usual clothes.

Back in April, when we went to camp, I spilled my electrolyte stuff on my dress and had to rinse it out and lay it out to dry.  I wore a t-shirt and jean shorts whilst driving the golf cart to pick people up, and soaked both with sweat in 5 minutes flat, where as with the wool dress (keep in mind, my dresses are basically shifts - sleeveless and knee-length - these ones: https://wooland.com/products/sierra-tank-dress-forest-night) and bike shorts underneath it, I might have a light layer of sweat that would actually cool as it dried.  I ended up switching back into my dress before it dried after I rinsed it because I was starting to feel light-headed from the heat.

I couldn't get your link to work but used the terms in it and found the picture: Sierra Merino Wool Tank Dress - Forest Night - wool& (wooland.com). The website is American with a European equivalent - well, it's nice still being part of Europe for something!

I'm rather keen on the olive green version of your dress, by the way. If I wore dresses often I'd be very tempted. In fact I remembered the advice about wool being good in heat as well as cold last night. I have a wool-stuffed pillow which so far has never been too warm, and instead of a duvet I used an old Witney blanket (pure wool) which was very comfortable despite a warm night. There's definitely something in this wool-as-an-ideal-fabric.

weenancyinAmerica

One year my parents and, a friend and I visited England during a heat wave. The small hotel we were staying in was so wonderful, they went and bought a fan to put in my parents' room for the week we were there. It made such a difference. 

maddiemay

On the subject of using/wearing wool in warm weather I noticed a recommendation in one of the lifestyle bits of weekend paper to wear botany base garment to sleep in if such was lurking in wardrobe.   I have a wool duvet and pillow (a rather expensive treat to myself well pre-covid), during the current spell I have started off with sheet over me and duvet over my legs, but with the window wide open and the drop in temperature in the early hours I have been pulling the duvet back up, waking feeling perfectly comfortable and dry.  I am one of those odd folk who normally run very cold, but can overheat in an instant.

Keep safe and hydrated all.

PipneyJane

maddiemay said:

On the subject of using/wearing wool in warm weather I noticed a recommendation in one of the lifestyle bits of weekend paper to wear botany base garment to sleep in if such was lurking in wardrobe.   I have a wool duvet and pillow (a rather expensive treat to myself well pre-covid), during the current spell I have started off with sheet over me and duvet over my legs, but with the window wide open and the drop in temperature in the early hours I have been pulling the duvet back up, waking feeling perfectly comfortable and dry.  I am one of those odd folk who normally run very cold, but can overheat in an instant.

Keep safe and hydrated all.

Are you sure you aren't related to me?     I'm the same.

What entertains me are the Fashionistas who refer to "botany" or "botany wool" as if it were a real thing.  Ditto "Geelong wool". Both are just merino wool, sold to the wool brokers in that location.  (Botany, of course, is Botany Bay, while Geelong is Victoria's second city, with a huge port.)

I was woken this morning by the sounds of scaffolding being erected/taken down, somewhere on our street.  It was about 5am, so the builders started early.  My phone tells me it's currently 36C here in sunny west London.

- Pip

florianatwobob

And there I was thinking ‘botany’ related to a natural fibre base layer rather than the location it came from. 

Quite randomly we used to have a Botany Bay near where I live. It’s nowhere near the coast! Or a river! When it was redeveloped it lost it’s original name which was sad. 

PipneyJane

florianatwobob said:

And there I was thinking ‘botany’ related to a natural fibre base layer rather than the location it came from. 

Quite randomly we used to have a Botany Bay near where I live. It’s nowhere near the coast! Or a river! When it was redeveloped it lost it’s original name which was sad. 

Obviously the home of an ex-pat Aussie.  Wherever they lived in Africa, my grandparents would always call their house "Bondi" after the beach (and suburb) in Sydney.  They were expats for 9+ years.

- Pip  (We get everywhere.)