2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
I have started to watch Foyles War again. (My DH and I watched them all three /four years ago). 

Today, I have started a mini project - a small tapestry for my DM - a Mother's Day present. My DM chose it last autumn. You decorate the hoop and the tapestry stays on/in it. I am sewing sprigs of lavender. 

My big project is my crocheted king sized blanket. It is 300 stitches wide. 

No new clothes spends. 

kiwisavings

That's a great show @Gem-gem
I think a few fellow forum people have mentioned the Wartime Farm program as well and I enjoyed that too.
Another programme that I found interesting was the Wartime Kitchen and Garden series - I think it was made in the 80s and it looks like it is available on Youtube. Could give some inspiration to the people following the WW2 food rationing.

dND

A spend to declare, 5 pairs of ankle socks.  My old ones are almost brittle!  I went for cotton in the end for price and convenience but I might start collecting some bamboo ones if I see any I like.  5 coupons used and signature updated. 😁 Dx

Edited because it was 5 pairs I bought not the 7 pack - I think I need a lie down. 🤣🤣

PipneyJane

@laura_lau love your story about the lady at the Stitch show, who recognises you every year.  Half coupons are allowed, since otherwise you could only buy bras in twos (a bra is half a corset, so 1.5 coupons instead of 3).   Cute hat and scarf, too.

@alicef apologies but I didn’t say earlier how much I like your needlepoint.  It’s beautiful.  Assuming I can find it, one of these days, I must finish mine.  It’s only been < cough > 36 years since I packed it in my hand luggage to bring to the UK.  < cough > It’s a picture of Simpson’s Gap in central Australia.  The reason I’ve procrastinated is that the darker green I purchased at the time, is totally the wrong colour for the eucalyptus tree leaves.

@Gem-gem your embroidery sounds beautiful.  You must share a photo when you finish it.

kiwisavings said:

That's a great show @Gem-gem
I think a few fellow forum people have mentioned the Wartime Farm program as well and I enjoyed that too.
Another programme that I found interesting was the Wartime Kitchen and Garden series - I think it was made in the 80s and it looks like it is available on Youtube. Could give some inspiration to the people following the WW2 food rationing.

Yes and yes, @kiwisavings.  I’m sure I’ve got the book for Wartime Kitchen and Garden.  Memory tells me it was made by the BBC, but I may be wrong.  I’ve bookmarked it on YouTube.  (I have the Wartime Farm DVD’s.)

dND said:

A spend to declare, 5 pairs of ankle socks.  My old ones are almost brittle!  I went for cotton in the end for price and convenience but I might start collecting some bamboo ones if I see any I like.  5 coupons used and signature updated. 😁 Dx

Edited because it was 5 pairs I bought not the 7 pack - I think I need a lie down. 🤣🤣

Cotton is a perfectly good fibre, @dND.  There’s a lot of marketing about bamboo being “greener” because it uses less water to grow than cotton, but it is actually a viscose fibre that requires a lot of chemicals to make.  Seriously, have a listen to the episode about Bedding from the BBC podcast “Best Thing Since Sliced Bread”, to hear all about the green credentials of fibres used in sheets.  Very interesting.  Bamboo doesn’t come out as sparklingly clean as the marketers would have us believe.  (No, they don’t talk about wool.  Odd that.)

- Pip

Gem-gem

 Here is the embroidery that I have sewn for my DM. I have wrapped wool round the hoop. 

alicef

@Gem-gem your embroidery is gorgeous.  I can do straight-forward things such as cross stitch and tapestry but not free form as you have done.  Though, I do adore watching the short clips on Instagram; these plus the mending reels, and the lino cut artists, are my 'go to' relaxation watching. My mum did gorgeous embroidery work - her own designs; gold work etc; she used to attend sessions at the Embroiderers' Guild in London I think. 

@PipneyJane knitting-wise, my very patient tutor is trying to teach me toe up sock knitting - never has 20 stitches taken so long achieve - and I'm not sure I've quite grasped it!

@kiwisavings Wartime Kitchen Garden - yes I remember it well, Harry Dodson gardening away and looking so fine - I think he always wore a tie!  The walled garden at the Leverton Estate is partly under cultivation at the moment I think - though not as a 'kitchen garden'.  All this talk of WW2 gardening makes me think I should hoik out my landgirl jumper and socks knitting patterns

weenancyinAmerica

I have been rereading all of the 2020 Fashion on the Ration thread. It was so much more interesting than just reading a book - I read it all the way through. Learned a lot too in the process. Going to give the other years a look as well. Especially after I remembered to highlight the URL when I stopped for the day so I could just paste it in to the address line the next time I came back to it and start up where I left off without any problem. 2020 was a very interesting year, wasn't it.

PipneyJane

@Gem-gem, your embroidery is beautiful. I hope your mum loved it.

weenancyinAmerica said:

I have been rereading all of the 2020 Fashion on the Ration thread. It was so much more interesting than just reading a book - I read it all the way through. Learned a lot too in the process. Going to give the other years a look as well. Especially after I remembered to highlight the URL when I stopped for the day so I could just paste it in to the address line the next time I came back to it and start up where I left off without any problem. 2020 was a very interesting year, wasn't it.

Yes, it was an interesting year, @weenancyinAmerica.  I remember being in the office in early March, when everyone was talking about the symptoms of COVID and we all made the same comment, “Isn’t that what we all had before Christmas?”.

@alicef - the way I learned to cast-on for toe-up socks was to use Judy’s Magic Cast-on.  It’s like doing a long-tail cast-on but in reverse.  (Mind you, I didn’t learn the latter until after I learned Judy’s Magic Cast-on.  I was only taught a cable cast-on.). If you are knitting toe-up socks, then you’ll also need to learn Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, or they’ll never fit over your heel.  HTH.

Thought I’d share you a picture from yesterday, when we went to a friend’s house to play board games.  Her dog was fascinated by my knitting:

Cherryfudge

Lovely photo! It reminds me of crocheting with a  toddler present. She decided the ball of yarn was for throwing, because that's all she'd known a ball be for.

Sarahspangles

@PipneyJane It’s hardly surprising the dog was suspicious, it’s in the same colours as he/she is. You could be knitting a replacement!