2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Sarahspangles

MrsCD said:

I've always wondered about that, Laura. I also wonder if 'bugs' and viruses survive really cold winters, too. Do they just hibernate?

I know some viruses are killed by cold and dry air, but they only need to hitch a ride on/in a human to get back inside and continue spreading. The amount we mingle then determines how many cases there are.

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
I am just catching up on a month's worth of posts and have just got to 28 May. @PipneyJane, I am so pleased to hear about your news. I am so happy for you. 

Also, I loved the ladybird buttons on the baby cardigan.
i have one spend to report - a new pair of loafers. 5 coupons. This was one of my planned purchases for this year. Luckily, Mum and Dad are giving them to me as a birthday present, that is later this month, so no money spent. 41/66 25 left.

PipneyJane

Thanks @Gem-gem.  

@Laura_Elsewhere - thank you for the excellent advice, which I will follow once we get back home.  (We’re off to the Kent coast for a few days with DS and BIL.).   I did have a vague memory that a domestic freezer wouldn’t get sufficiently cold, but acted on a “well, it’s better than nothing” basis.

- Pip

Sarahspangles

PipneyJane said:

I did have a vague memory that a domestic freezer wouldn’t get sufficiently cold, but acted on a “well, it’s better than nothing” basis.

At least it’s somewhere the moffs can’t get!

Liverpool_Anne

hi all, on the subject of viruses and bacteria surviving cold

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/guest-blog/colder-than-ice-researchers-discover-how-microbes-survive-in-subfreezing-conditions/#:~:text=Research has shown that microbes can continue metabolic,subfreezing temperatures of -40 o C and below.

Laura_Elsewhere

It definitely depends on which microbes- some can not only survive but thrive in the very deepest depths of the ocean, in pitch-black and very cold conditions, others are happiest astonishingly close to the lip of active volcanoes!

I have to say, one thing I learnt (to my surprise) from the pandemic was WHY all those books we read as kids kept on having grown-ups tell children "it's nearly tea-time- go and wash your hands!" and when children came in from being out, they always came in and washed their hands... it's a habit I've more or less kept, just washing my hands when I come into the flat, on the grounds that the Outside World has a wider range of unfamiliar pathogens than the Inside World of the flat does But doesn't it just show how lucky we all are, to have grown up when most infections were treatable, mostly curable? Now we're back in the pre-war state of having serious disease that can't *necessarily* be cured by meds, so all those old-fashioned ideas like washing your hands when you come in, and washing your hands before eating, are a useful habit once again! 

I made some jam tarts yesterday, and I've left a few in the Oxo tin there. I'm pretty sure that wretched Scamp can't get that tin open like he learnt to with the old tin!  Help yourselves!

Sarahspangles

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I have to say, one thing I learnt (to my surprise) from the pandemic was WHY all those books we read as kids kept on having grown-ups tell children "it's nearly tea-time- go and wash your hands!" and when children came in from being out, they always came in and washed their hands... it's a habit I've more or less kept, just washing my hands when I come into the flat, on the grounds that the Outside World has a wider range of unfamiliar pathogens than the Inside World of the flat does But doesn't it just show how lucky we all are, to have grown up when most infections were treatable, mostly curable? Now we're back in the pre-war state of having serious disease that can't *necessarily* be cured by meds, so all those old-fashioned ideas like washing your hands when you come in, and washing your hands before eating, are a useful habit once again! 

In my current Woman from the Ministry job one of the things I’ve heard a lot about is the importance of dilution. That’s the point of hand washing, window-opening and most cleaning. We can outrun viruses if we only have a small number in our systems, and won’t get food poisoning from a few bad bacteria, it’s only when they’ve multiplied they’re a problem.

A senior Man from the Ministry recently told me we’re now all doing our bit for the War Effort by catching Covid, because it’s helping the less severe strains spread and over time this will suppress the nasty ones. Only those whose immune systems may not be effective need to have the extra protection from vaccines. It’s quite hard to sell this to people!

MrsCD

Thank you for all the info. That article is mind blowing! 
Yes, Laura, my father in law was a stickler for hand washing. He was a medic (St John's trained) at the pit and he always said that there would be far fewer poorly people if they washed their hands more!

Laura_Elsewhere

Oh, of course, @Sarahspangles - healthy open windows, yes! All those Chalet School books where they have the windows fixed open most of the year in the dorms  

Well, maybe adding some sensible healthy precautions from 1942 will help us all continue to enjoy our 1942 clothing-rations in rude health!  

I was given a cardigan a few years ago by an acquaintance who had knitted it but "once I'd finished it, I just didn't like how it looked, on" so (very kindly) gave it to me after I admired the colour... @PipneyJane helpfully sent me the pattern, and I have finally got round to Doing Something About It. 
I put it on, just to make sure I was doing the right thing by unknitting bits, and Mr E pointed out that not only did the two sleeves look wrong, they were also different lengths, AND different widths, AND different at each shoulder... 
Having unravelled them right back, I have discovered that the original knitter picked up every single stitch at the shoulder where the pattern says to pick up every second stitch- no wonder the sleeveheads were so oddly full and no wonder the sleeves felt so incredibly heavy! 
I currently have a sleeveless cardigan with 23 live stitches held at the underarm, each side, and two enormous balls of wool, each weighing over 100g...! Given that most of my cardigans weigh about 300g altogether, I am expecting to have some wool leftover  
The waist ribbing is very very loose but as it was knitted bottom-up I really can't face trying to undo all of it just now! Sometime in the future, if I lose more weight I may well do- it's a very lovely eau-de-Nîl colour, and I love the body design, so... 

Sarahspangles

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I have discovered that the original knitter picked up every single stitch at the shoulder where the pattern says to pick up every second stitch- no wonder the sleeveheads were so oddly full and no wonder the sleeves felt so incredibly heavy! 
I currently have a sleeveless cardigan with 23 live stitches held at the underarm, each side, and two enormous balls of wool, each weighing over 100g...! Given that most of my cardigans weigh about 300g altogether, I am expecting to have some wool leftover  
The waist ribbing is very very loose but as it was knitted bottom-up I really can't face trying to undo all of it just now! Sometime in the future, if I lose more weight I may well do- it's a very lovely eau-de-Nîl colour, and I love the body design, so... 

This made me laugh so much! I’m sure the original knitter would laugh now (though maybe not at the time).

I’ve got a vague memory of running elastic through the back of stitches on a baggy school cardigan. Probably at the wrist, I hate flappy sleeves. ETA: I definitely remember doing it for those patterned cotton knee socks we all wore at school.