2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

dND

After a quick check back, my 2024 total is correct so I will have 4 coupons in reserve for 2025. 😁

My first need for spend has appeared.  Thanks to one of the cats, and I won't go into details, I looked at the soles of my slippers and saw that the plastic sole on one of them had snapped across the width!  I luckily had another pair, charity shop if I remember, so no purchase was necessary.  But, I will be keeping my eyes open in the end of season sales for a good pair of sheepskin slippers.  I think the Vimes Boots theory will come into play, I go through so many pairs of cheap slippers either with problems with the soles wearing/breaking or the upper detaching from the sole.

Apart from that, some thin socks will also be needed as I'm getting low on pairs where I haven't worn through the heels and yes, I do wear mismatched pairs until the each sock has worn through.  What else I need will depend on whether I get sewing and whether I can shift some of the weight I've gained over the years. 🤣

Happy New Year everyone. Dx

PipneyJane

laura_lau said:

Thank you for the welcome @PipneyJane I love pavlova, so will definitely have a bite with my tea this afternoon!

I am currently knitting a pair of mittens for my StepSon (whom I will call DS from now on, as it is basically what he is). He is 17 and recently got a small motorbike from his mum's family, and he asked me if I could make him a good and warm pair of fingerless mitts for when he rides it, I chose a yellow and purple combination (he requested purple) as they have a nice long rib on the wrist and then the hand is worked in 2 colours (very warm) in what I believe is similar to a honeycomb pattern, but not quite as big. I finished the first one yesterday, Just need to add some ribbing to the thumb opening, they were really quick to make! 
I am making a poncho with sleeves for my aunt, but it is proving to be very tedious, as she asked me to use some acrylic she had leftover from many years ago, which is quite thin and very black! It has currently been relegated to the naughty project corner. I also have a number of unfinished projects and projects ready to be started, but not currently "active" so will mention them when I get to them, which I am determined to do in 2025!

Love your solution for the socks! I am flying back to the UK from my mum's house abroad later today (landing fairly late but hopefully will be home well before midnight), and still have to pack my bag and backpack for hand luggage. I need to remember that a pair of socks I knitted a few years ago and I use at home and in rubber boots to walk the dog developed a hole on the heel the day before I left, and I need to mend them, but I've never done anything of the sort, I do not know where to start from and I do not think I have any leftover of that wool (it was DK). Any suggestions?

I do a knitted on patch when my husband wears through his socks.  (He has really hard, leathery soles.). You will need a latch hook but, basically the technique is as follows:-

1. Using a latch hook, pull loops of yarn through the stitches below the hole and place them on your knitting needle.
2. Working in stocking stitch, knit the right side stitches and purl the wrong side stitches.
3. At the end of each completed row, anchor the edge of the patch by pulling a loop through the nearest original stitch and either K2tog or P2tog when you work the first stitch of the next row.  Continue until the patch is long enough.
4. When you are ready to cast off, anchor each stitch by pulling a loop through the comparable stitch on the original fabric, then k2 together.  Repeat for the next stitch along and then pass the first stitch over the second to cast off.  Repeat to the end of the row.
5. Weave your ends in, anchoring the two layers together.

Does that make sense?  There are photos and instructions on my blog, written in January 2012, but we’re not allowed to link to our own blogs.  (It’s entitled Non-Darning Sock Repair.)

HTH

- Pip

alicef

Lovely, lovely socks @PipneyJane - I'm going to go with WYS 'Blue Tit'?? as main yarn.

Right - I don't do resolutions usually, as I have the sticking power of a gnat, BUT wool stash needs to be addressed in 2025.

so I'm going to have each month...

1) Big project (may span many, many months)

2) Small project (must be completed in the month)

and

3) Project all ready in progress that must be finished that month (which could be a cop out for no. 2)

For January this is

1) Cast on P Roberts Brownie and get going

2) Knit the Purl Soho Double Seed Stich Scarf using up stash vintage Holmfirth Wools yarn

3) Finish socks using up WYS Holly Berry & Wavecrest Yarn

!!!!!!!!

PipneyJane

Your resolutions sound good to me @alicef. Good luck with them. And, yes, you are spot on.  It is WYS Blue Tit.  I still have enough for another pair, just need to find a victim suitable recipient.  (I now have 2 pairs for myself:  one regular, turned heel, and the other with the after-thought heel. Don’t want a third pair.)

I’ve signed up for the 25-in-2025 Challenge.  One of my resolutions is to knit 25 balls from stash.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

Bella_Budget said:

 I can't quite get my head around reverse couponing, what is that?

It's only my own little challenge, nothing to do with the main one  

I thought it might be interesting to see how many coupons' worth of clothing I can knit, sew or crochet in the year. So if I sew myself a new cotton dress, that would be 5 reverse-coupons. It is NOT linked arithmetically to the main challenge, I'd be lost in minutes I just keep a little running tally of what I have made, and how many coupons that would have cost had I bought the items new. My dream is to make 66 coupons' worth of clothing! 

laura_lau

Thank you @PipneyJane that makes sense! I do happen to have a latch hook, it’s a bit small but hopefully it will be big enough. I will
five it a go tomorrow or Thursday! They are starting boarding now, so far all smooth at the airport. 

Laura_Elsewhere

I'll just pop in and leave this link here - it's the brilliant Sally Pointer showing and explaining in her inimitably clear way, how to 'run a heel' to reinforce it *before* it becomes a hole that needs darning. 

Ideally, you run the heel (and any other places you usually wear through first) when the sock is new, and it will last a drastically longer time before needing attention, but even if the place is worn thread-thin you can run it and it's amazingly effective- often from the outside, it simply looks newly-knitted if you choose a yarn that's similar to the original. 

It's something that used to be done routinely and with barely a thought, but we've almost lost the concept, let alone the skill! All you need is yarn and a needle that will take the wool through its eye... and I find large raw potatoes very useful for running or darning socks- no need to spend money on a darning mushroom if you don't do tons of darning!

Oh, and yes, you can run the heel on bought, thin, machine-made socks...  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fKKLOUNOHU

PollyWollyDoodle

Wow, some new members of the village hall community!  Welcome. 

@laura_lau and @Cherryfudge the best thing to start with a sewing machine is making some simple drawstring bags - lots of straight seams and they’re useful fit all sorts of things. There are plenty of YouTube videos.  Then you can progress to zipped pouches, lined bags etc.  but honestly - just have a go, what’s the worst that can happen?  

‘Me and My Sewing Machine’ by Kate Haxell is a great book for starting out.  

Oh, and lovely socks, Pip!  

Cherryfudge

I have the Kate Haxwell book, @PollyWollyDoodle! In fact, it was very likely mentioned on here.

I used to be able to use a sewing machine and could do pillowcases (not many steps behind a drawstring bag, but saves wondering if I've got the channel wide enough). Eventually I got a new sewing machine and since then have been really stuck. Some of the machine is counterintuitive (I put the presser foot down and the 'head' bit fell off the machine, turns out the presser foot was elsewhere on this machine) and I feel I need someone experienced to play around with it for a bit them show me how to negotiate its foibles. My son's partner is a confident sewing machine user so I'm hoping she will help, but they don't live locally.

I have wondered for a while if the sewing machine isn't set right, so perhaps I should take it to a sewing machine shop?

You are right about 'what's the worst that could happen?' - really it's not going to be the end of the world even if a project doesn't go right, is it? I mean, I feel nowadays that I learn more from my mistakes than from getting things right, so all I've got to do is set up Duolingo to tell me I'm 'awesome' and 'I've corrected 5 mistakes' all the time.  I tell myself Duo is an imaginary green owl so he probably can't tell I'm not doing language learning, can he?

Cherryfudge

Oh my goodness, this thread is running away from me! @PipneyJane, I will refer back to your instructions as I've never successfully Swiss darned things and came to the conclusion the people who do videos have special easy holes to repair, whereas mine... aren't.

Safe journey @laura_lau. I'd be interested in a link to the videos if you find them helpful, pretty please?

@Laura_Elsewhere, I've followed this lady's excellent example and it really does help make socks last longer.

Here are my knitting and crochet UFOs to be worked on in 2025:

3 pairs fingerless gloves that should look better than they do as I've followed the instructions but they look like featureless lumps so I want to design edging to make them pretty before giving them to the intended recipients.

One small knitted snowman - basic done, but need to be awake to sew up and work out the details.

A baby blanket with the knitting done but the backing still only half attached.

A jumper I started for DH several years ago, went wrong and my wonderful friend did lots of counting and worked out where I'd gone wrong, but I haven't dared restart.

There may be others but I'll leave it at that for now.

It's very cosy around the fire here in the village hall, all the more so for hearing the rain lashing down outside. Before I get back into my gaberdine and brave the blackout to get home (where are the Boy Scouts with torches when you need them?), may I wish you all a happy and peaceful 2025, and may your ingenuity stretch your coupons till the very end of December next year.