2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

CapricornLass

Gem-gem, I'm so sorry to hear about your step-father.  My condolences to you and your mum.

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane said:

 Did you see the item on BBC Breakfast this morning?  If the missing gentleman had had What3Words, the mountain rescue crew would have been able to pinpoint his location.  It works even if you have a dodgy phone signal or none at all.  (We’ve tested it at work.)

Ummm.... if you have no phone signal, how are you going to let Mountain Rescue know which What3Words location you are at...? 


The Mountain Rescue people do really urge anyone going off into the hills to have map and compass, know their route and be able to use said map and compass, because What3Words has had problems. It's great for people who are without a map, etc., but MRT really prefer people to plan and prepare for going up into the hills - which your husband will have done, of course! 

But definitely don't ever *depend* on What3Words being able to get you help arriving quickly in all terrain...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57156797

thriftwizard

Adding my condolences for @Gem-gem and my dismay at your sister's behaviour, @Laura_Elsewhere. 

Just to say, I've belatedly added 4 coupons to my signature, for another 2m of cotton jersey from the "good" fabric shop down West. I realised when we were at Torquay a couple of weeks ago that I don't have any reasonable t-shirts; I wanted something cool to dance in, but not quite as cool as a vest-top. Remembering that the pattern for the 3/4-length sleeve tops had a short-sleeve version included, I invested in some more of the good stuff when we went down this week to take Mum to the hospital for a check-up. So I now have two more decent tops for dancing and general wear in summer, and I've just cut out 4 more pairs of "underthings" from the offcuts too! 

I still have a number of reasonable-sized offcuts from the last two tops, and these; I'm wondering what I could do with them. Not sure whether it'd be a practical proposition to "patchwork" the scraps together - they're all roughly the same weight fabric - & try to make something out of the result... I might have to have a go, now I've thought of it!

Cherryfudge

Hugs to all, especially @Laura_Elsewhere and @Gem-gem.

My parents had huge amounts of stuff they couldn't deal with and I'm similar. I think it's time to start reducing it.

We are currently having a weekend in the Dales courtesy of our lovely children and yes, it's cold out! The house has a log burner though. We have also managed three unwell adults and a sicky baby out of eight of us, probably not helped by feasts for every meal. And yes, I downloaded What3Words.  

Nelliegrace

Mam said Welsh mountain sheep wool was not rationed as it was thought too coarse and not fit for anything. It is hard-wearing.

I have darned a tiny hole in a jumper. A short piece of yarn from a bobble hat was just the right shade and I used one of the strands. 

I have repurposed worn out socks into fingerless gloves. 

I have used 4 ration points on two pure merino wool golf vests in the sale from a sports shop at £4.99 each, much cheaper than any thermal vests if you don’t mind black and a tiny logo.

I have a traditional knitted tea cosy in two colours on the needles from last year. Does the pattern really mean pull the yarn tightly behind the stitches. I am beginning to think it won’t fit. 

PipneyJane

Nelliegrace said:

Mam said Welsh mountain sheep wool was not rationed as it was thought too coarse and not fit for anything. It is hard-wearing.

I have darned a tiny hole in a jumper. A short piece of yarn from a bobble hat was just the right shade and I used one of the strands. 

I have repurposed worn out socks into fingerless gloves. 

I have used 4 ration points on two pure merino wool golf vests in the sale from a sports shop at £4.99 each, much cheaper than any thermal vests if you don’t mind black and a tiny logo.

I have a traditional knitted tea cosy in two colours on the needles from last year. Does the pattern really mean pull the yarn tightly behind the stitches. I am beginning to think it won’t fit. 

Welcome @Nelliegrace.  Please have a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Mind the dog - he’ll try and steal it.

(Everyone - Nelliegrace mentioned on the Grocery Challenge that she is doing a 1940’s food ration challenge, so I invited her to join us in the village hall.)

Good spot on the golf vests!

To answer your knitting question:  two colour knitting will change your tension but I don’t think you need to pull the floats particularly tightly, in order to keep them in line.  You may want to view your tea cosy as an experiment/swatch and then try it again when you’re comfortable with the tension you’re getting.  

Technique matters too.  Your tension will be different if you are knitting with a colour in each hand (as is traditional for Fair Isle), or one yarn on each of your first two fingers of one hand (which is what I’ve done in the past), or knitting with one yarn, dropping it completely and picking up the other.  

- Pip

Nelliegrace

Thank you for the welcome. I shall bake a Bara brith when the oven is on for the Sunday roast. (It doesn’t use any of the butter or fat ration, just one egg, and grated carrot replaces some of the precious dried fruit.)

I do like village and church halls, I have done my share of making the teas, managing the Burco boiler, and washing up. The Christmas Fair was the best place for hand knitted gloves, tea cosies and marmalade. I buy a few fancy hand knitted baby cardigans very reasonably to have some in stock for new babies. I knit rather slowly now and they grow so fast. Last November I bought two lovely souvenir tea towels, never been used, and some Denby cottage green side plates for our set for 50p.

I went back to the local WI this month after a long absence for fear of the germs going around. (I took six of our fresh eggs to sell quietly, the three hens gave us fifteen eggs this week.) The WI have a marquee at the County Show, where the knitting and other handicrafts are wonderful. Quite recently they had knitted socks as one of the entries, such a joy to see such skill. 

I wonder if the pest control officer would give a talk at the WI. He spoke very well at the Smallholders’ meeting.

Best wishes,
Nelliegrace

2Scratters

@PipneyJane the W3W is absolutely brilliant for rural areas, even on motorways as people don't pay attention to the white sticks with blue tops on at the side of the road. It also works on water. The whole globe is broken down into 1 metre squares. 

I have acquired a generous box of sewing patterns from my DP's house as they have moved out and dad in particular has lost interest in sorting out the "stuff" that has been collected and saved over the years. Sizes were definitely smaller in the 60's/70's. DB and myself found some part made pants in a brown man made material of the day that looked like they were destined for me to wear, till mum an myself had a fall out over something as you did as a teenager. I'm sure some young lady who is frugal and likes original items will be able to finish them off for herself. High waisted flares - check me out being entrend 

2 Scratters xx

PipneyJane

@2Scratters I was taught about W3W but the St John Ambulance, last year.  It works off GPS and not off phone signal towers, hence us being able to pinpoint the location of our office, even though it is in a mobile phone dead zone.  (You can test the locations it gives you later, on their website.)

I wish I’d known about W3W 18 months ago, when we broke down on the side of the M25 and Motorway Control called the RAC, who failed to find us.  (Always use the emergency phone if you can on a motorway - it gives you added protection.). Motorway Control were brilliant, kept an eye out for us, phoned my mobile on a regular basis and chased up the RAC.  We were there for four hours in the end and saw one RAC vehicle on the opposite carriage way, who had apparently told his Control that we weren’t there, so stood down the call.  Someone did eventually turn up to tow us home, but he wasn’t the mechanic originally assigned the call.

This was also when I discovered that you now have to use the RAC’s app to do everything, including calling them.  Naturally, at that point, I didn’t have it on my phone and couldn’t download it.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

W3W is useful in many situations but the advice from Mountain Rescue Teams, as in the BBC article I linked to before ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57156797?fbclid=IwAR3rNHVV8Bd-BgUJo_RMwUBkZaifzyfES_9oxHleWuERL0Wd0oNj3IiL8k0 ), is *NOT* to rely on it if going hiking and always to learn how to use maps and compass and keep yourself safe that way if going off-road. 

Sorry to hammer on, but they really are desperately trying to get people not to rely on it - it can be a useful additional tool, but people seem to think it always works everywhere all the time and it very definitely doesn't! 
They recommend the OS Locate App which is more use to Mountain Rescue Teams. 


https://cumbriacrack.com/2022/08/30/lake-district-mountain-rescue-team-warning-over-what3words/
"This is the second callout in three days – and there have been others – when the What3Words location has been close enough to be believable but wrong enough to be useless.
What3Words should not be relied upon on its own. Always give a verbal description of where the casualty is and better still a grid reference from a map or use the app OS-Locate."

And
https://www.facebook.com/scottishmountainrescue/posts/pfbid0bVBWSsnXuCDV4ePQgcMuSzriZJk56wL5ahSAJrsMXDzmxoo7eWKwdHixhp7FEgrLl

"W3W certainly has its uses in the modern world but, for us as rescue teams, perhaps the single most useful piece of information we can have, that allows a speedy response, is an accurate OS grid reference. This is universally used by all rescue teams, the police and the coastguard rescue services. The sooner we get that the better. One, but by no means the only, means of acquiring an accurate grid reference is the free OS Locate app."

So if going hiking, mountaineering or generally away from major routes in the more remote parts of Britain, please don't assume that What3Words will be able to get help to you quickly... 


I'll get off my soapbox now!  
(Friends in MRTs over a lot of years...)