2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PollyWollyDoodle

What?  Purple is the BEST colour. For everything 😀

Thats a beautiful colour @Laura_Elsewhere and I admire your thriftiness. However I have to point out that if you keep reusing yarn in this way your stash will never go down!  

cowboymum

To continue the knitting talk I'm very pleased that I have completed my first pair of socks (I've knitted a number of single socks in the past but never completed a pair  ).

I finished them with Kitchener stitch which  I saw on a programme the other day was first used for socks for soldiers in WW1(less likely to get blisters than the old way of sewing them up). Might have got some of my facts wrong (was trying to concentrate on the socks whilst watching the programme!).

Also found a single sock in my stash which is a bit big but I'm going to make another in different wool for bed socks.

Gem-gem

Good morning everyone, have been enjoying reading about your socks and colours that you wear. 

I have a lovely purple velvet skirt, one of the handful of things in my wardrobe that isn't navy blue, white/cream or grey. Turquoise/teal don't really do it for me. 

No reported spends so far this year. Was tempted with T@fts free delivery and new peony pink wool but have resisted temptation at the moment. I did say that I wasn't going to buy any wool till June. 

I haven't done any crocheting since the new year. Work and supporting my parents has been taking up most of my time, I need to get on with my poncho. The neck is finished. 

@CAFCGirl, I had the same problem a little while  ago. I started crocheting something in the wrong stitch, a few days later, started again in the right stitch and realised it didn't look the same. Then had to work out what stitch I had been doing and make a decision about the stitch that I was going to continue in. 

I am reading a book called, The Paris Library. It is all about an American library in Paris, set in the 1940's and 1980's. 

Yesterday, I spent all day in the kitchen, cooking/ baking the following
1 x  loaf of bread
12 x cherry scones
1 tub of blackcurrant ice cream
1 large apple and blackcurrant crumble
1 small apple crumble
3 steak and kidney pies 
2 x Christmas cakes (one fed with brandy and the other with sherry).
and a chicken tikka masala for dinner. 

Luckily, we bought two large 18kg sacks of flour before the war and my mum gave us stork that was past its best before date Also, we had two lots of butter in the freezer, needing to be used up. All meat was ys. The raisins were bogof, as they had a Christmas decoration on it and the supermarket were trying to get rid of them. 

The fruit was all home grown either in mine or aunt's garden. 

Today, I am going to venture out into the garden. Winter clean up plus tackle some of the weeds that I didn't pull up in the autumn. I also need to spread the treated manure onto the raised beds. Seeds have been bought so that I can 'dig for victory'.

@Laura_Elsewhere, the cable looks very complicated, The yarn doesn't look as though it's been used before, let alone on its fourth incarnation. Do you wash the item before unravelling it or after repurposing it?
I am tempted to upcycle my mittens. 

Cherryfudge

Gem-gem said:

Yesterday, I spent all day in the kitchen, cooking/ baking the following
1 x  loaf of bread
12 x cherry scones
1 tub of blackcurrant ice cream
1 large apple and blackcurrant crumble
1 small apple crumble
3 steak and kidney pies 
2 x Christmas cakes (one fed with brandy and the other with sherry).
and a chicken tikka masala for dinner. 

Luckily, we bought two large 18kg sacks of flour before the war and my mum gave us stork that was past its best before date Also, we had two lots of butter in the freezer, needing to be used up. All meat was ys. The raisins were bogof, as they had a Christmas decoration on it and the supermarket were trying to get rid of them. 

The fruit was all home grown either in mine or aunt's garden. 

 

What a wonderful list! I have a day off today and you are inspiring me to Do Something with the kitchen. Something more inspiring than my current idea of cleaning the fridge, that is. I'd already taken chicken out of the freezer for a chasseur (still need to buy mushrooms) but I haven't baked for a while and I miss it. Dh is still finishing some stollen I got him for Christmas, though, so maybe not cake...

MrsCD

@CAFCGirl if you put a photo of your crochet, I would try to identify your stitches...

@Gem-gem phew, that's quite a day's work! I'm planning on baking this afternoon...banana and sultana loaves to use up old bananas, and Yorkshire puddings for the freezer. I made bread for a couple of weeks but we eat too much when it's around so I'm giving it a miss this week!

@Laura_Elsewhere the cables are beautiful 😍 

Laura_Elsewhere

@Gem-gem, you're an inspiration - I've been meaning to make another sticky-ginger cake to take, sliced, for my fellow-swimmers at the quarry of a morning - I don't like it, nor does Mr E, but I took one along hoping they'd use it up after it turned out we didn't really care for it, and everyone loves it and apparently it's just the thing after coming out of 2-degree water! So now I've made a golden syrup cake (small) for Mr E, and a bigger ginger one for the swimmers... 

I don't wash the yarn - it is visibly a bit squashed and crimped so I hope it'll bloom on washing! I decided against the right-angled corner-cables (another time) so am doing this fat plait as a yoke sitting on my shoulders, like a mayoral chain-of-office! Then I'll pick up front and back, cast-on underarm and knit downwards in a simple fat k4p1 rib for the body and then k2p2 or k1p1 rib for the long waist. 

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I don't wash the yarn - it is visibly a bit squashed and crimped so I hope it'll bloom on washing! I decided against the right-angled corner-cables (another time) so am doing this fat plait as a yoke sitting on my shoulders, like a mayoral chain-of-office! Then I'll pick up front and back, cast-on underarm and knit downwards in a simple fat k4p1 rib for the body and then k2p2 or k1p1 rib for the long waist. 

We look forward to a photo of your chain of office once it's completed, Laura!

skogar

Laura - Your Mr E sounds like a very sensible young man.

Only other thought I had is would the tuquoise socks dye to a more wearable colour?

I'm not a turquoise fan myself - I like deeper more muted colours. Can wear purple if it is a rich one definitely not a light one - but normally don't, teal is OK here. As for pink - always thought I couldn't wear it but did find I can get away with a fairly saturated warm pink - not something I normally wear at all though!

Cherryfudge

I have been shopping and managed the following without coupons: about half a square yard of a gorgeous Rose and Hubble fabric, some bias binding and a wooden darning mushroom. I realise the latter two wouldn't have cost coupons anyway, but you are probably the only people to know that a darning mushroom is a valuable asset, so I thought I'd share it anyways.

I'm wondering what to do with the fabric: it was too nice to leave and very little-girl-y but it's more a soft furnishing sort of print than a dress fabric. I suspect it will end up as one face of a cushion as I don't see DGD wearing it.

Laura_Elsewhere

Oooh, well done, @Cherryfudge - a good darning mushroom is definitely A Good Thing! 

I've used odd ends of Rose & Hubble to make lovely handkerchieves - ime it washes really well without fading, and is soft on your nose when you have a cold too! 

I have to do some coupon-adjusting - I've lashed out wildly on two pairs of plimsolls, and a new swimsuit - 18 quid reduced to 5.40 and at the till it came up as a quid...! How many coupons is a swimsuit?!