2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

basketcase

Sarahspangles said:

I wonder what the dandelion roots, autumn crocus, acorns, beech mast and horse chestnut were for? The second of those is a source of colchicine -maybe wartime pigs had gout?

Acorn and beech masts can be used to make flour, I think. And/or coffee.

Roasted dandelion roots are still used as a coffee substitute.  Dandelions can also be used in dyeing.  IIRC you get yellow from the flowers, green from the leaves and (rather surprisingly, I thought) magenta from the roots.

As for autumn crocus, I thought it was poisonous...

Sarahspangles

basketcase said:

Sarahspangles said:

I wonder what the dandelion roots, autumn crocus, acorns, beech mast and horse chestnut were for? The second of those is a source of colchicine -maybe wartime pigs had gout?

Acorn and beech masts can be used to make flour, I think. And/or coffee.

Roasted dandelion roots are still used as a coffee substitute.  Dandelions can also be used in dyeing.  IIRC you get yellow from the flowers, green from the leaves and (rather surprisingly, I thought) magenta from the roots.

As for autumn crocus, I thought it was poisonous...

I saw Ray Mears cook acorns, and it was a very long winded process! I didn’t think of dyeing.

My mother, who was born in 1939, taught us to identify pig nuts for their edible roots, she also called new hawthorn shoots ‘bread and butter’ because they used it like salad.

Nelliegrace

Autumn crocus is toxic, but is used as a medicine for rheumatoid arthritis.

Cherryfudge

This thread is endlessly fascinating. I would never have space for a spinning wheel but have looked thoughtfully at drop spindles... Despite living in Yorkshire, I'm not sure I could easily find enough raw wool for more than one sock a year, but thank you @thriftwizard for capturing the story about the raw wool stockings. The lady must have had a hard life but, I assume, soft hands from all the lanolin!

Nelliegrace

Granny had us collecting raw wool from barbed wire for her chilblains. 
The new electric spinning wheels are tiny, @Cherryfudge.

Laura_Elsewhere

Raw fleece used to be knitted into oversized hats to make them virtually weatherproof as it sheds the water. They are called 'thrums' and the great Sally Pointer makes and sells them but also sells a pattern for knitting your own... 

I've used thrums the other way round, knitting a twist of raw fleece collected from the hills into the wrists of mittens so that there's a fleecey cosy draught-stopping inner lining. And I used kapok knitted into the inside of the soles of some thick house-socks for my niece, so her feet were in a thick squishy cosy layer  

I'm glad I have so much cosy wool- went swimming this morning in my quarry, water 8ºC and air temp at zero! 

Very beautiful in the sun and snow (another couple of inches overnight, on top of 4 inches yesterday) - and we saw a heron catch his breakfast only about twenty feet from us as we swam! 

I was glad of a hot drink afterwards- I bought this tiny enamel tin mug from Tebay services a few weeks ago Just right for a small hot drink! 

Sarahspangles

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Raw fleece used to be knitted into oversized hats to make them virtually weatherproof as it sheds the water. They are called 'thrums' and the great Sally Pointer makes and sells them but also sells a pattern for knitting your own... 

I've used thrums the other way round, knitting a twist of raw fleece collected from the hills into the wrists of mittens so that there's a fleecey cosy draught-stopping inner lining. And I used kapok knitted into the inside of the soles of some thick house-socks for my niece, so her feet were in a thick squishy cosy layer  

It’s a lovely word, Alan Garner’s latest collection is called Powsels and Thrums.

dND

Hi all, I had to go AWOL again but hopefully things are going to be a bit more settled now that the internal building work is just about finished.

It was 2 months ago I last updated my coupons, so a spend to declare and a make to declare also.  I made the second pair of socks which I love. I put them into one of the laundry nets so that I could wash them on the wool wash cycle but totally forgot they were there and included them in the general wash.  While this wash is a cold water wash, it’s over 2 hours of churning so I now have a pair of slightly felted socks but they are still serviceable.  I also discovered another couple of balls of a different colourway, orange/red, lurking at the bottom of my stash -I’m going to try your pattern with that Pip.

Socks before washing/felting! 🤣

Encouraged by the success of the socks I’ve started on a cardigan.  Unfortunately I didn’t find a colourway I wanted, (or even sufficient quantity), of the Anika in L1dl, so I headed off to W00l W’hse and got 10 balls of Drops Fabel, Shoreline, along with 6 balls of Drops Fabel, Grey Blue.  The Shoreline I’m making into a cardigan while the Grey Blue is for a slipover.  So far I’ve done both sleeves and just finishing the second front of the cardigan.  I started on the smallest piece first so if I had to unpick due to not understanding the pattern, it would be less to do. 😁

That, if I’m right, is a total of 16 tokens bringing my total to 62.  Hopefully that’s all I need to buy this year. I did have a purchase of a pair of jogging bottoms from the charity shop as I needed something to wear when gardening.

I should be able to unpack the sewing machines etc,. so I can start trying to make some of my own clothes too. 😁

Also, I second @Cherryfudge comment about the depth and variety of knowledge on this thread - lots of rabbit holes to delve down! 🤣

Nelliegrace

It is chilly today, -3°C first thing with more snow. I have my woolly hat and a wool chair throw for a shawl, warm pyjamas and bedsocks, a hot water bottle, and a flask of tea. There is no rush to get up. I have a stock of fingerless gloves made from the top part of old socks. A bit of crochet over the cut edge and to divide the thumb and hand part.



DH collected my free, reserved books from the library yesterday.

alicef

@dND ouch, ouch on the felted socks.  My first pair are on 2.5mm circulars, so I now know that a pair of socks is not in any way a small amount of effort to knit. 

Could you soak them with a little baby shampoo and re-block?  I have just discovered sock blockers, (which haven't been a presence in my life til now, due to the absence of sock knitting). 

I have another 2 coupons to declare.  Wool, (again).  I shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a yarn shop.