2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

thriftwizard

Love what you're doing with that blanket, @Liverpool_Anne! Re-making memories - absolutely the best way to go.

I have another small quilt to make; luckily I kept some of the leftovers from DS1's wedding quilt, which is exactly the right palette for their house, all warm & cosy. I have until December, so I can have a good run-up at it. But I've also managed to snap up an Ebay bargain of a rather-large rug loom; I've been after one for years, and actually had one at one point but didn't have enough space to justify keeping it. However with less inhabitants I can make some space now, so some of my time will be taken up learning to warp it properly & achieve the results I want! And next week will be dedicated to making that space, there and in the sewing room...

retiredinfrance

Delighted for you,@Pipney-Jane. Such good news and such a relief.

MrsCD

Well....our coffee morning at church sometimes attracts the wrong sort...flies, that is! So...I thought I would have a go at crocheting some food covers...here's the first one. I went a bit wrong changing from one row to another a few times, but it will do for a first try. Now, the thing is, do I make another one the same to try to get the pattern right, or do I try a different one?

Cherryfudge

That's very pretty as well as practical, @MrsCD. What sort of thread have you used?

MrsCD

@Cherryfudge, thank you. It's King Cole mercerised cotton 4 ply from my stash, so I don't know how old it is! I've been on a hunt for more patterns, but I'm also thinking it would be quicker to crochet around a circle of netting.
The pattern is from www.jugcover.blogspot.com but without the little jug in the middle. It measures 17"/43 cm diameter.

Cherryfudge

MrsCD said:

It's King Cole mercerised cotton 4 ply from my stash, so I don't know how old it is! 

Thank you! I thought there was something different about the thread and the ways it falls... now, having looked up mercerisation, I understand better. I thought it was about having a sort of sheen to the thread, I didn't realise it also adds strength and the colour last better. And that really is a very pretty colour.

You will have us all searching our vintage patterns for alternative patterns for you, but the one you've done works really well.

thriftwizard

Very pretty, @MrsCD, and useful too! I've made jug/bowl covers to order, and for quickness's sake used leftover scraps of Tana lawn, with small buttons or shells picoted (if there is such a word) round the edges. About 10 of them were ordered by a camper who announced that he and all the inhabitants of his street had come camping down here, as they do every year, but wasps kept getting onto the cream at the breakfast table! Must be a different sort of camping to what I do... and much though I love my neighbours, I'm not sure I'd want to go camping with them all for two weeks!

CapricornLass

That is really pretty, Mrs CD.  And I'm dead envious.  I can't crochet for toffee-nuts, and its not through lack of trying.

PipneyJane

That is lovely @MrsCD.  My vote is to do another one and use the same coloured yarn to match.  That’s not just because it’ll help you nail the things that went wrong this time, but because everyone at the coffee morning will know the pink ones are yours, so they won’t go astray.

Good luck with the blanket, @Liverpool_Anne.  Hopefully you won’t discover any other damage to the yarn.

Ditto with the quilt @thriftwizard .

What is everyone else working on at the moment?  Do you remember the teal coloured jumper I was knitting where I knitted the sleeves in the round and discovered the sleeve heads were too small for the armholes because I hadn’t taken into account that there were no decreases in the pattern for the underarms?  Well, I’ve ripped them back to the 8th pattern repeat and am reknitting them flat from that point.  Hope to get them finished within the next week.

Its successor project, Knitter’s Delight, was completed last weekend and just needs to be washed and photographed.  I made the sensible decision to test wash my swatch on the wool cycle in the washing machine on Thursday and, while it didn’t shrink, it did lose so much stitch definition that I have decided this jumper is handwash only.

You may have noticed that I have a real issue where, if I don’t sew my knitting up and weave in ends immediately after finishing it, I never get around to it. I’ve started a Finishing Off Project and I should have some more photos to share with you soon.  That black, short-sleeved jumper I shared with you last month is one example.  (I finished knitting the pieces in March 2021!) There are five projects left on the list:

• Diagonal Pattern Shirt Blouse from Knitting in Vogue.  This jumper predates both Ravelry and my blog, and has been waiting for me to finish sewing on the collar for about 20 years.  Seriously, I’d forgotten it existed until I was looking for something else.  I restarted sewing down the collar earlier this week and I’m 99% done. All that’s left is to position the short edge of the placket and stitch it down.  However, I’ve just noticed a small hole on the back that’ll need fixing. No others - I’ve checked.  With the exception of buttons, this will be finished today.
• Entertain in This based on a pattern from the Lux Knitting Book 1936.  That’s been lurking since 2016.  I think it just needs the cuffs sewn down.
• Trott (aka Carmine).  I finished this one in December 2020.  It only needs the sleeves sewing up.  Seriously, I think I’ve been procrastinating because I know this is going to be a handwash only jumper.  I machine washed my swatch years ago and it shrank to the point where it wouldn’t even make a stubby holder.  I should be able to sew this one up tonight, while watching the Champion’s League Final.
• Acer Cardigan.  This was finished in 2017 and got worn a few times, but I always had a problem with aligning the button band.  Then I realised that I’d knitted an extra repeat on one front, so it was at least an inch longer than the other!  I’ve ripped out the button band, etc, but never got around to putting it back together.
• Deco.  Another one that was finished years ago (January 2015), which just needs press-studs sewn on and buttons attached.  I regret not doing button holes.  The button bands are knitted as you go, so I can’t frog them and add button holes now.

I hereby vow to have all of the above finished before I return to work at the end of July.

- Pip

PollyWollyDoodle

I am the world's worst procrastinator/non finisher, I loathe sewing up and I'm always excited to start the next thing.  I will watch your progress with interest, Pip!