2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere hopefully, once you’re back living off homemade meals, the excess weight will fall off you.  If you need an exercise buddy, I’ll meet you at the Village Hall every morning for squats, push-ups and a 2 mile walk.*

In some respects, I’m also watching what I eat and my exercise levels, even though I’m in the opposite situation. I lost nearly 2 stone, when I was at my sickest - just had no capacity for food, even when I was hungry (which wasn’t often, until I started recovering after my first chemo).  I put back on half a stone once I started eating again and now I’d like my weight to stabilise.  There are quite a lot of size 12 clothes in my wardrobe that I can again wear, after spending most of the last decade wearing size 14.  (Too many nights spent working away, eating hotel meals.).   The size 14 suits and jeans won’t go to waste; I’ll just wear them with a belt.  

I have chemo again on Monday - round 4 - so will spend the day reading as usual. In the Dorothy L Sayers read-a-thon, I’ve made it onto Have His Carcase.  Fortunately, while I do remember the plot twist re the blood**, I don’t remember whodunit.  As the lead character, Harriet Vane is totally believable. Just as well since after reading Five Red Herrings, I’ve come to the conclusion that, by the time Sayers started that book, she was thoroughly bored with Wimsey.  There’s no other explanation as to why she swapped the book’s voice from character to character with each chapter - she was trying out different personalities.  

- Pip




* Seriously, I’m starting with 10 squats, 10 wall push-ups and trying to go for at least a 2 mile walk every day.  
** Hopefully not a spoiler.

Cherryfudge

I've just re-read a couple of Dorothy L Sayers thanks to you, @PipneyJane.

I have a five-coupon spend to declare as I've just bought trainers. In my defence, they are identical to some I bought last year which are very comfortable but are getting scruffy and have bleach stains. That pair is now relegated to cleaning and muddy jobs.

I also succumbed to a cashmere jumper for 50p at a car boot sale. There are a few stains, sadly, so wearability will depend on my being able to get rid of those.

PipneyJane

Cherryfudge said:

I've just re-read a couple of Dorothy L Sayers thanks to you, @PipneyJane.

I have a five-coupon spend to declare as I've just bought trainers. In my defence, they are identical to some I bought last year which are very comfortable but are getting scruffy and have bleach stains. That pair is now relegated to cleaning and muddy jobs.

I also succumbed to a cashmere jumper for 50p at a car boot sale. There are a few stains, sadly, so wearability will depend on my being able to get rid of those.

Ooohhhh….. Tell us more about the cashmere jumper @Cherryfudge.  What colour is it?  What can you determine about the stains?  (All I can say is don’t use bleach - it’ll dissolve the fabric.)

- Pip

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

Cherryfudge said:

I've just re-read a couple of Dorothy L Sayers thanks to you, @PipneyJane.

I have a five-coupon spend to declare as I've just bought trainers. In my defence, they are identical to some I bought last year which are very comfortable but are getting scruffy and have bleach stains. That pair is now relegated to cleaning and muddy jobs.

I also succumbed to a cashmere jumper for 50p at a car boot sale. There are a few stains, sadly, so wearability will depend on my being able to get rid of those.

Ooohhhh….. Tell us more about the cashmere jumper @Cherryfudge.  What colour is it?  What can you determine about the stains?  (All I can say is don’t use bleach - it’ll dissolve the fabric.)

- Pip

It's a very pale mint green. All tags except '100% cashmere' have been taken out so I can't tell you much.

Sadly I think the stains are sweat or deodorant - from what I've read cashmere is susceptible to sweat and the advice is to soak it in cold water with some white vinegar, then wash in baby shampoo. I did this yesterday and the stains are smaller but not gone. Meanwhile it's drying and is as gorgeously fluffy as it was before I washed it, so I'm doing something right.  

I have two other cashmere sweaters, picked up from a jumble sale for 10p each many years ago! I'm the last of the big spenders.  

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane said:

@Laura_Elsewhere hopefully, once you’re back living off homemade meals, the excess weight will fall off you.  If you need an exercise buddy, I’ll meet you at the Village Hall every morning for squats, push-ups and a 2 mile walk.*

In some respects, I’m also watching what I eat and my exercise levels, even though I’m in the opposite situation. I lost nearly 2 stone, when I was at my sickest - just had no capacity for food, even when I was hungry (which wasn’t often, until I started recovering after my first chemo).  I put back on half a stone once I started eating again and now I’d like my weight to stabilise.  There are quite a lot of size 12 clothes in my wardrobe that I can again wear, after spending most of the last decade wearing size 14.  (Too many nights spent working away, eating hotel meals.).   The size 14 suits and jeans won’t go to waste; I’ll just wear them with a belt.  

I have chemo again on Monday - round 4 - so will spend the day reading as usual. In the Dorothy L Sayers read-a-thon, I’ve made it onto Have His Carcase.  Fortunately, while I do remember the plot twist re the blood**, I don’t remember whodunit.  As the lead character, Harriet Vane is totally believable. Just as well since after reading Five Red Herrings, I’ve come to the conclusion that, by the time Sayers started that book, she was thoroughly bored with Wimsey.  There’s no other explanation as to why she swapped the book’s voice from character to character with each chapter - she was trying out different personalities.  

- Pip




* Seriously, I’m starting with 10 squats, 10 wall push-ups and trying to go for at least a 2 mile walk every day.  
** Hopefully not a spoiler.

 Oh, I should *love* to meet you at the Village Hall every morning for 10 squats (I shall have to do mine with a chair for now), wall push-ups and comparing notes on our two miles of walking... give me this coming week to get the sleep pattern under control (all screens off at 9pm, phone handed to Mr E, take a valerian tablet, spend time brushing hair and looking after skin and nails, settle down to read a familiar old book, nibble a little bit of cheddar, light off and sleep-mask on at 1-pm And So To Sleep... it makes for boring evenings, but if stuck to, it works...). 
Monday of next week, shall we compare notes in here?  

I'm, very glad you're enjoying Lord Peter's company during your chemo- I don't think she was getting bored of him in 1931, though- that was when she was living and working in London (at Benson's) and having a whale of a time, heavily involved in setting up The Detection Club, and they played around with all kinds of ideas in what was effectively still a very new genre- and writing a book with each chapter written from a different viewpoint is one of the things they did- along with a book with each chapter written by different authors, following an agreed plot, or a book in which you aren't allowed to have X or you must include Y... they set each other intellectual challenges, and she seems to have had great fun out of this time of her life. 
By the later 1930s, yes, she wanted to stop writing Lord Peter, but I have never read that she was ever bored with him- it was simply that he had brought her the financial stability and the confidence to enable her to go on to what she viewed as her 'real' work, the mediaeval literature and the religious works. But I don't think she was bored of him... 

See you a week tomorrow here?  

Laura_Elsewhere

Cherryfudge said:

It's a very pale mint green. All tags except '100% cashmere' have been taken out so I can't tell you much.

Sadly I think the stains are sweat or deodorant - from what I've read cashmere is susceptible to sweat and the advice is to soak it in cold water with some white vinegar, then wash in baby shampoo. I did this yesterday and the stains are smaller but not gone. Meanwhile it's drying and is as gorgeously fluffy as it was before I washed it, so I'm doing something right.  

I have two other cashmere sweaters, picked up from a jumble sale for 10p each many years ago! I'm the last of the big spenders.  

I would just keep on repeating the gentle process as you are doing. Often the gentler methods need repeating a few times, where we've become used to all-in-one instant-clean machine-wash stuff! Good luck!

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

PipneyJane said:

@Laura_Elsewhere hopefully, once you’re back living off homemade meals, the excess weight will fall off you.  If you need an exercise buddy, I’ll meet you at the Village Hall every morning for squats, push-ups and a 2 mile walk.*

In some respects, I’m also watching what I eat and my exercise levels, even though I’m in the opposite situation. I lost nearly 2 stone, when I was at my sickest - just had no capacity for food, even when I was hungry (which wasn’t often, until I started recovering after my first chemo).  I put back on half a stone once I started eating again and now I’d like my weight to stabilise.  There are quite a lot of size 12 clothes in my wardrobe that I can again wear, after spending most of the last decade wearing size 14.  (Too many nights spent working away, eating hotel meals.).   The size 14 suits and jeans won’t go to waste; I’ll just wear them with a belt.  

I have chemo again on Monday - round 4 - so will spend the day reading as usual. In the Dorothy L Sayers read-a-thon, I’ve made it onto Have His Carcase.  Fortunately, while I do remember the plot twist re the blood**, I don’t remember whodunit.  As the lead character, Harriet Vane is totally believable. Just as well since after reading Five Red Herrings, I’ve come to the conclusion that, by the time Sayers started that book, she was thoroughly bored with Wimsey.  There’s no other explanation as to why she swapped the book’s voice from character to character with each chapter - she was trying out different personalities.  

- Pip




* Seriously, I’m starting with 10 squats, 10 wall push-ups and trying to go for at least a 2 mile walk every day.  
** Hopefully not a spoiler.

 Oh, I should *love* to meet you at the Village Hall every morning for 10 squats (I shall have to do mine with a chair for now), wall push-ups and comparing notes on our two miles of walking... give me this coming week to get the sleep pattern under control (all screens off at 9pm, phone handed to Mr E, take a valerian tablet, spend time brushing hair and looking after skin and nails, settle down to read a familiar old book, nibble a little bit of cheddar, light off and sleep-mask on at 1-pm And So To Sleep... it makes for boring evenings, but if stuck to, it works...). 
Monday of next week, shall we compare notes in here?  

…

See you a week tomorrow here?  

Definitely @Laura_Elsewhere.  I find it easier to be motivated to exercise when there’s someone else involved.

If anyone else would like to join in, please come along.

I'm, very glad you're enjoying Lord Peter's company during your chemo- I don't think she was getting bored of him in 1931, though- that was when she was living and working in London (at Benson's) and having a whale of a time, heavily involved in setting up The Detection Club, and they played around with all kinds of ideas in what was effectively still a very new genre- and writing a book with each chapter written from a different viewpoint is one of the things they did- along with a book with each chapter written by different authors, following an agreed plot, or a book in which you aren't allowed to have X or you must include Y... they set each other intellectual challenges, and she seems to have had great fun out of this time of her life. 
By the later 1930s, yes, she wanted to stop writing Lord Peter, but I have never read that she was ever bored with him- it was simply that he had brought her the financial stability and the confidence to enable her to go on to what she viewed as her 'real' work, the mediaeval literature and the religious works. But I don't think she was bored of him... 

I had forgotten about The Detection Club and its influence.  Yes, that makes sense.

- Pip

thriftwizard

Can I join you in the Village Hall for exercise, please, ladies? The riverbank's been mostly underwater since about October so I'm feeling very unfit and a bit stir-crazy! (But spent quite a lot of yesterday on allotment 2, just up the road, which is in need of a LOT of remedial work before I can grow much there. So I ended up feeling quite stiff!) I'm taking my mind off the shabby state of most of my clothes by attempting to learn to warp up a little 4-shaft loom which fell off the back of a lorry at the last Guild meeting & is needed for a workshop at the next one, which is "Weaving New from Old" and involves making new cloth from - you guessed it, old clothes & bedding! Brilliant - an excuse not to throw anything out; just what I needed...!

Laura_Elsewhere

@thriftwizard, I'll happily take all the company going, because there's tons of evidence that building healthier habits is more likely to succeed if you do it with others! 

I haven't managed the two miles walking today, but I did go for a dip in the quarry first thing, and then to the gym and did plenty of sit-squats as part of that... and then at lunchtime, I cycled most of the way to and from the shops, walking up the hills (two weeks sitting in cars and sitting at my parents' place!), so I think I have probably managed for today!

My bad habit in recent months, though, has been to manage fine with getting out and doing stuff on a Monday and Friday but in many weeks I haven't even left the flat on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday!! So it's one thing going out today when I was meeting others, but now I need to get myself out tomorrow... luckily I shall have you lot to walk with!  

Cherryfudge

You lot all sound very energetic! Good for you! I did a basic C25K run the other night. It was lovely. Having the cleaning job has undoubtedly made me fitter, but I couldn't do a follow-up yesterday without a lot more verve and aplomb (whatever they are) than I actually had, and today it's raining. Can't run, might dissolve. Also I have various things to get done at home.

If anybody wants to throw gravel at my window tomorrow morning, I might just bestir myself enough to put my running shoes on again and accompany you. 

By the way, the cashmere jumper is now on its third super-gentle wash and I think there's a little more improvement. Perhaps if I just keep to this regime as a regular wash, it will eventually be so effective that even I won't know there were marks. I also washed one of the other cashmeres similarly, but noticed the texture is very different so I checked the label and it's only a bit cashmere. Ah well. It's still a nice jumper and a classic so I always feel a bit more elegant in it, which is worth a lot!