2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PollyWollyDoodle

Oh I had missed your edit Pip.  Just watched this on iPlayer - Dame Harriet is one of my favourite actors (best Harriet Vane ever). Thanks for the repost @keepcalmandcraft , and I might add the book to my Christmas list too. 

Nelliegrace

I did enjoy the BBC interview with Dame Harriet Walter, thank you @PipneyJane. The book reminded me of The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy where the wife of some famous characters, Freud, Darwin, Lazarus, Icarus, etc., gets her chance to comment.

The film shown at the local village Memorial Hall was interesting. Helen Mirren and Ian McKeller were the stars in The Good Liar, a film with lots of twists and turns. The parts set in the 1940s were interesting. I took my knitting, and our mugs and flask of coffee which we had before the film. The interval, with free tea and biscuits, was most welcome. I saved my little pack of biscuits for DH to have another day. 

My missing sock has turned up. DH had it in his sock drawer, waiting for its partner to turn up! 

PipneyJane

keepcalmandcraft said:

PipneyJane said:

ETA:  Did anyone see this morning’s interview of Dame Harriet Walter on BBC Breakfast?  If not, it’s worth watching on iPlayer (only available for 24 hours).  She comes on at 0750.  She’s talking about her new book, She Speaks, in which she gives voice to some of the women in Shakespeare’s plays. No spoilers but I think Dame Harriet would fit in well in our village.  (And, yes, I’ve added the book to my Christmas wish list.)

I am going to see Dame Harriet speak at the Cambridge Literary Festival so I shall look forward to hearing about this.

Oohhhh…. I am so jealous!  Please tell us all about it, @keepcalmandcraft.   

PollyWollyDoodle said:

Oh I had missed your edit Pip.  Just watched this on iPlayer - Dame Harriet is one of my favourite actors (best Harriet Vane ever).. 

Agreed, @PollyWollyDoodle.  It was her portrayal of Harriet Vane that led me to buy/read the Lord Peter Wimsey books, back in the 1980’s.  

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Welcome, @potplant - help yourself to a cup of tea from the urn, and if you can find out just where we carefully hid the biscuit-tin so that Scruff the dog didn't get to it, then you can help yourself to biscuits too...

I like the sound of your approach to clothing  


And I've got to alter my signature to update it- just bought *two* new dresses today! Reduced from £65 to £18, from Joanie, both the same but in different colours, pure cotton sun-dresses with elasticated bodices and two tiers of skirts, and pockets (!). One is pink and white stripes and one is green and white stripes... given how long I lived in my blue and white striped similar, I thought I would look for similar ones in the sales! I shan't wear them til next summer but it means I have a range of sun-dresses so shan't need anything next summer (I basically just lived in the blue-and-white one, adding shirt or cardi as needed). 

Welcome @potplant.  Here’s the biscuit tin.  I put it on top of that high cupboard by the cooker.  Scruffy-dog can’t reach there, even if he manages to get onto the kitchen counter.

@Laura_Elsewhere those dresses sound lovely and such a good bargain.  I hope they last you for years.

- Pip

thriftwizard

Never mind the biscuits, @PipneyJane, @Nelliegrace's grandmother's Bara Brith will blow your hand-knitted socks off! So delicious that OH felt the need to eat a second slice, to check that he hadn't just got a particularly good slice. I did double-up on the spice, having a consignment that fell off the back of a lorry during a bombing raid, and some of the milk was whey from an almost-empty pot of Greek yogurt, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

Never mind the biscuits, @PipneyJane, @Nelliegrace's grandmother's Bara Brith will blow your hand-knitted socks off! So delicious that OH felt the need to eat a second slice, to check that he hadn't just got a particularly good slice. I did double-up on the spice, having a consignment that fell off the back of a lorry during a bombing raid, and some of the milk was whey from an almost-empty pot of Greek yogurt, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.

Thanks for the recommendation @thriftwizard.  I’ve added a link to it to the first post.

Somewhere on the internet, I learned of a site run by the Internet Archive people, The Magazine Rack, which is free to use and includes an archive of thousands of digitised knitting magazines.  The Brooklyn Refinery explain it better than I can.  Sadly, the website is down at the moment (Some b@st@rd hacked it - the whole archive was down for a while), or I’d link directly to it.

- Pip

Wraithlady

The recipe looks quite similar to one I have for 'Irish Brack' from the 1970's - only without the milk. I really must make that again ( I would say it keeps for ages but it's never really had a chance to!)

florianatwobob

Thinking about older people one of the ladies I used to volunteer with about 30 years ago was a young woman during WWII. She never used to talk about her war work citing the official secrets act.  , She did mention she was fluent in French. She also never
mentioned why she was awarded an OBE (of which she was very proud). I’ve subsequently wondered if she was either linked to Bletchley Park or SOE. 

She was what my dad would’ve described as ‘a game old girl’ though. 

CoffeeSonata

Sorry for disappearing for a long time. Life happened, and everything was just overwhelming and crazy. (Isn't that much better, just new crazy-overwhelm). 
I have spent coupons, sadly more than I wanted, but not really added up yet. 
Meanwhile, I am knitting/crocheting to outrun the crazy and maintain a semblance of sanity. 
It has been forever since I knitted socks. 
I'd like to knit myself a pair of socks for indoor probably with DK wool as I have plenty of that. 
Does anyone have any resonable tried and loved patterns for socks? Ideally ones that stay up,but slouchy style is fine, idea is to wear on sofa or with slippers. I am fed up of starting sock patterns and giving up because the pattern is wrong, or finding they are just HUGE on the ankle. Any style of knitting or pattern is ok, more hoping for tried and loved /accurate pattern recommendations for DK that suit people who have thin ankles! I'm a size 5-6 if that helps! 

Nelliegrace

Thank you @thriftwizard, I bung whatever I have in a bara brith. I use white sugar with a teaspoon of treacle, grate in a carrot or the zest of an orange, add the rinsings from the bottom of a jar of marmalade, mincemeat or jam, a bit of grated apple, dried cranberries, or a few chopped nuts. 

PipneyJane

florianatwobob said:

Thinking about older people one of the ladies I used to volunteer with about 30 years ago was a young woman during WWII. She never used to talk about her war work citing the official secrets act.  , She did mention she was fluent in French. She also never
mentioned why she was awarded an OBE (of which she was very proud). I’ve subsequently wondered if she was either linked to Bletchley Park or SOE. 

She was what my dad would’ve described as ‘a game old girl’ though. 

Not sure about who has the SOE’s records @florianatwobob but, if you remember her name, it might be worth contacting Bletchley Park.

CoffeeSonata said:

Sorry for disappearing for a long time. Life happened, and everything was just overwhelming and crazy. (Isn't that much better, just new crazy-overwhelm). 
I have spent coupons, sadly more than I wanted, but not really added up yet. 
Meanwhile, I am knitting/crocheting to outrun the crazy and maintain a semblance of sanity. 
It has been forever since I knitted socks. 
I'd like to knit myself a pair of socks for indoor probably with DK wool as I have plenty of that. 
Does anyone have any resonable tried and loved patterns for socks? Ideally ones that stay up,but slouchy style is fine, idea is to wear on sofa or with slippers. I am fed up of starting sock patterns and giving up because the pattern is wrong, or finding they are just HUGE on the ankle. Any style of knitting or pattern is ok, more hoping for tried and loved /accurate pattern recommendations for DK that suit people who have thin ankles! I'm a size 5-6 if that helps! 

Welcome back @CoffeeSonata.  Your feet sound similar to mine. For thicker socks, I use a pattern from Regia which was designed for their 6-faedig sock yarn.  These are my crib-sheet notes:

Use 3mm needles
Cast on 48 st
Work 10 rnds K1P1 rib
Rnds 11-50 knit
Heel work over 24 st
Gusset pick up 16 st
Foot 30 rnds
Toe work down to 8st on each side
Each sock weighs 39g

If the fabric is too dense with your DK yarn, try using 3.25mm needles or 3.5mm and going down to 44 st.  (Virtually all sock patterns are worked over multiples of 4.). 

Nelliegrace said:

Thank you @thriftwizard, I bung whatever I have in a bara brith. I use white sugar with a teaspoon of treacle, grate in a carrot or the zest of an orange, add the rinsings from the bottom of a jar of marmalade, mincemeat or jam, a bit of grated apple, dried cranberries, or a few chopped nuts. 

I will definitely give this a try @Nelliegrace.  I’ve added a link to your recipe to the first page of the Challenge.  Thank you for sharing it.

- Pip