2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PurpleAndGreen

For those of you in/around London, there's an exhibition called "Socks: The Art of Care and Repair" which you might find interesting, it's on to 30 March - free entry.  The link below has all the details.

https://nowgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/socks-the-art-of-care-and-repair?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Darn Good&utm_id=01JNGKVCEQY1SRDNRPZ0HFAM30&utm_term=SOCKS&_kx=04XVsE68ZElDmvUh4op7KkAISJU5Fe5A6OFo8rSarUM.PGuuxW

I've copied below an email sent by Patrick Grant about the exhibition.

Through her brilliant project, SOCKS, the guru of all things darning Celia Pym, has taught 600 kids how to darn. They were aged between 3 and 11 (somewhat surprisingly, 3-year-olds are not bad, many can thread a needle, but they need a bit of a hand with tying knots). They were all from nearby Surrey Square Primary School in Southwark, and by all accounts, they absolutely loved it. I’m keen on a bit of a darn myself, it’s an amazingly mindful almost meditative, thing to do, as brilliant for developing fine motor skills as it is for mental health and unsurprisingly it was equally popular with both boys and girls.     There’s an exhibition of their work, and some of Celia’s (which is very special) at the Now Gallery in North Greenwich in London, showing off a total of 480 pairs of darned socks. They are all beautifully mounted by colour, corresponding to the age of the darner. Many of the socks will look familiar to CC aficionados, because needing hundreds of socks for pupils and workshop attendees to practice on Celia contacted one of our sock suppliers, the amazing J Alex Swift, and they sent bagfuls of rejects collected over the years.    Last week I took part in a brilliant conversation at the gallery with Celia and Helen Kirkum , who makes amazing new trainers from old trainers which she and her team lovingly disassemble and resew. We talked all things fixings, remaking, restoring, and making things well so that they are actually worth fixing (at the heart of our philosophy, but not something many brands do). Darning, like all other kinds of repair is an act of kindness and care; to the object, to the planet, and definitely to the person whose socks you might be mending. It is also, as Helen says, an act of rebellion, against the tidal wave of low quality consumerism being pedalled by the big corporations.    SOCKS  has been extended until the end of March. All visitors are encouraged to have a go at darning! There’s a drop in workshop space, how to films and diagrams, and spare socks, yarn, scissors and needles for you to have a go. On Wednesdays and Saturdays there is also a "Gallery Darner" on hand. And you’re invited to add your darn to the wall o’ socks (or take them home). Its super easy to get to, right in front of the exit from North Greenwich tube, and while you’re there grab a ride on what is now called the Cloud Cable Car (nothing to do with darning, it’s just a pretty amazing view).  You will be able to hear a recording of our conversation via the Now Gallery sometime soon. We will let you know how when they put it live.

Thought this would fit in well on here.
PAG

PollyWollyDoodle

Oh that sounds amazing!  I have as usual overcommitted myself and I can’t get down to London before the end of March, but that would definitely be worth a trip. 

If anyone goes, please report back!  

alicef

@PurpleAndGreen - I saw some photos of the exhibition in the CC newsletter - it does look very interesting.  I know I can't swing a trip to London, so another vote for details if anyone manages to go along.   

kiwisavings

PipneyJane said:

@kiwisavings thanks for the link to that program.  I will watch it eagerly, later this weekend.

Hope the book lives up to your expectations.  I have several “vintage” knitting books, starting with collections from Vogue Kntting that were published in the 1980’s-1990’s, and now including all of Susan Crawford’s books.  There are several websites that will sell you PDF’s of old patterns but, before you spend your hard-saved cash, may I suggest you browse Trove?  It’s free.  Trove is an Australian National Library project to digitise old newspapers and magazines.  I’ve linked to a Ravelry search  - each pattern has a listing and link to the original document - because you could get lost for hours on the Trove website and not find anything.

In the UK, there is a huge collection of vintage patterns at the University of Sussex.  I don’t know if they have digitised it.

- Pip

@Pipneyjane, thanks for the link to Trove -especially useful as I am already a member of Ravelry.
My knitting project for this year is a jacket/cardigan and think I have found a pattern on ravelry : 



It's definitely a modern style and has long sleeves, long length and is not fitted. Unfortunately, I don't think I would find the 1940s cardigan styles (short sleeved, short and fitted) very flattering to my slightly top heavy shape...
I guess that the pattern does fit in with some 1940s suggestions, as it's knitted in finer wool (5ply) and a stitch that takes less wool (mostly stocking stitch). I did find some patterns that were knitted in 8 ply and had cables etc and they took 18 balls of wool, where this one takes 10-11 balls.

Anyhooo, I might have blasted through some more coupons as a NZ wool store had a sale and I found some yummy merino/possum wool in 5 ply and loved both the green and denim/periwinkle blue. Somehow 11 balls of both colours found their way into my cart at checkout and so I'm down 22 more coupons!!!!
I was also eyeing up some merino that was at super discount because the dye job was a bit patchy - but I didn't order any as I thought about the coupons and how I really needed to buy good quality. 

PipneyJane

kiwisavings said:

PipneyJane said:

@kiwisavings thanks for the link to that program.  I will watch it eagerly, later this weekend.

Hope the book lives up to your expectations.  I have several “vintage” knitting books, starting with collections from Vogue Kntting that were published in the 1980’s-1990’s, and now including all of Susan Crawford’s books.  There are several websites that will sell you PDF’s of old patterns but, before you spend your hard-saved cash, may I suggest you browse Trove?  It’s free.  Trove is an Australian National Library project to digitise old newspapers and magazines.  I’ve linked to a Ravelry search  - each pattern has a listing and link to the original document - because you could get lost for hours on the Trove website and not find anything.

In the UK, there is a huge collection of vintage patterns at the University of Sussex.  I don’t know if they have digitised it.

- Pip

@Pipneyjane, thanks for the link to Trove -especially useful as I am already a member of Ravelry.
My knitting project for this year is a jacket/cardigan and think I have found a pattern on ravelry : 



It's definitely a modern style and has long sleeves, long length and is not fitted. Unfortunately, I don't think I would find the 1940s cardigan styles (short sleeved, short and fitted) very flattering to my slightly top heavy shape...
I guess that the pattern does fit in with some 1940s suggestions, as it's knitted in finer wool (5ply) and a stitch that takes less wool (mostly stocking stitch). I did find some patterns that were knitted in 8 ply and had cables etc and they took 18 balls of wool, where this one takes 10-11 balls.

Anyhooo, I might have blasted through some more coupons as a NZ wool store had a sale and I found some yummy merino/possum wool in 5 ply and loved both the green and denim/periwinkle blue. Somehow 11 balls of both colours found their way into my cart at checkout and so I'm down 22 more coupons!!!!
I was also eyeing up some merino that was at super discount because the dye job was a bit patchy - but I didn't order any as I thought about the coupons and how I really needed to buy good quality. 

MMMmmmmm….. Possum fibre!  @kiwisavings it’s lovely stuff to knit with, isn’t it?  I completely understand its siren call, having blown all my coupons and more on it in the past.   When I was in NZ in 2018, I bought several skeins of this merino-possum sock yarn in the Rotorua branch of Spotlight:


It was lovely to knit and the socks I made have held up well.  (They get worn regularly.)

Back in Auckland, I bought four skeins of this from New Zealand Fabrics & Yarn:



It’s 5-ply/sport weight.  I could easily have bought an entire suitcase full.

- Pip

kiwisavings

@PipneyJane, the Waikiwi sock wool looks fab - I'm not sure if it is available now as it is no longer on the Naturally Yarns website. I bet that merino/possum socks are super toasty 
Have you made anything from the Touch possum wool?

PipneyJane

kiwisavings said:

@PipneyJane, the Waikiwi sock wool looks fab - I'm not sure if it is available now as it is no longer on the Naturally Yarns website. I bet that merino/possum socks are super toasty 
Have you made anything from the Touch possum wool?

Not yet, @kiwisavings.  I'm waiting for it to tell me what it wants to be.  (Well, that's my excuse. )  It is lovely and soft, though.

I forgot to mention the other wool that I purchased from NZ, as a result of that trip.  When we went to Hobbiton, I kept seeing kits for projects using Stansborough fibres "Mithril", which is spun from the same fibre that was used to make the cloaks for Lord Of The Rings. No individual balls, though. When we got back to London, I went onto https://stansborough.co.nz/shop/ their website and ordered enough to make this jumper:



It was worth every penny of the shipping cost+VAT.

- Pip

kiwisavings

wow, gorgeous jumper 
I had a flatmate in Wellington who was working in the costume department on the Lord of the Rings movie - the detail and quality of the materials was off the chart. 
A lot of the clothes were made from silk which was hand dyed and hand embroidered. She mentioned that the hobbit clothes for the actors were made to a different scale to the clothes made for the little people who were seen in the long camera action shots - this was so exact that even the button size and stitch length was different.

Gem-gem

When I was in NZ in 2016. I visit a sock shop. I think it was: 

Sock World Hokitika's - Wool Yarn and Sock Store

I bought some merino wool socks. I still have a pair left. 

kiwisavings

Evening/morning fellow forumites 

I was wondering if participating in this Fashion on the Ration challenge had helped to reduce fabric or wool stashes? I have noticed some people including Reverse Coupons in their signature and wondered if this was connected to recording their make, make do and mend projects?