2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere

PipneyJane said:

I have two spends to declare.  After work on Monday, I drove to Hobbycraft and bought a skein of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sock yarn in the Wood Pigeon colourway, as a gift for the colleague who lost everything when the block of flats she lived in burnt down.  She’s a knitter, so as well as knitting her a pair of socks - finished this week - I’ve made her up a sock knitting kit.  (Now to figure out how to get it all to her.).



I’ve included a darning needle, several stitch markers, one of those coil-thingies that you can use to hold your needles together, as well as DPN’s, a DPN case and a crochet hook.  2 coupons spent on the yarn.

- Pip

Pip, I think you’ll find that actually you collected the wool from the WRVS emergency supplies, and so they don’t come out of your coupons.
Your poor colleague- it gives a bit of an idea of how awful it must have been to be bombed out during the war- and of course then it might not have been possible to by replacements for so many things!

CapricornLass

Hi, I have a spend to declare - 3 coupons on another swimming costume.  

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

PipneyJane said:

I have two spends to declare.  After work on Monday, I drove to Hobbycraft and bought a skein of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sock yarn in the Wood Pigeon colourway, as a gift for the colleague who lost everything when the block of flats she lived in burnt down.  She’s a knitter, so as well as knitting her a pair of socks - finished this week - I’ve made her up a sock knitting kit.  (Now to figure out how to get it all to her.).



I’ve included a darning needle, several stitch markers, one of those coil-thingies that you can use to hold your needles together, as well as DPN’s, a DPN case and a crochet hook.  2 coupons spent on the yarn.

- Pip

Pip, I think you’ll find that actually you collected the wool from the WRVS emergency supplies, and so they don’t come out of your coupons.
Your poor colleague- it gives a bit of an idea of how awful it must have been to be bombed out during the war- and of course then it might not have been possible to by replacements for so many things!

It was very sweet of you to organise it with the WRVS @Laura_Elsewhere.  Much appreciated.  Yes, this is the closest thing to having been bombed out.  While I don’t know the full details, when she told me she said that they’d lost everything.

The present arrived this morning.  I got a really sweet note from her via Teams.  She loved it!  Things have been really tough and it made her day.

- Pip (I’ll adjust my coupon count.)

Gem-gem

A small spend to declare, 160gms of cotton yarn bought. I had to show a lot of restraint when I visited the haberdasher's near to where my DM used to live. Also bought a 2.5mm crochet hook. 

thriftmonster

alicef said:

I've just popped in to mention a book just published - it is called 'Recreating Vintage 1940s Knitwear' by Linda Ivell. The introduction is a wonderful essay on wool and knitting during WWII and rationing.  There are 18 patterns covering a variety of stitches and techniques. I've put in a request to our library to add to stock.

Thank you for this - the book might just have slipped into my basket and arrived here yesterday. It's fabulous and chapter 2 has great charts on resizing patterns. I can see me knitting so much from it

alicef

I'm so pleased you like the book, @thriftmonster.  I have a long project list on the go BUT I love the look of the 'Economy Jumper'  and as I have been gifted a stash of R0wan Summerlite cotton, I have added this knit to my extensive to do list - unlikely I will start before the New Year though!

Gem-gem

Two more baby blankies finished, made with: a) cotton that I had unwound from one of Mum's unfinished projects b) from a bundle of wool that I spent an evening detangling and rewinding. So zero cost to me and no coupons spent These will be swapped with a neighbour who likes making things with 'bits of wood'. 

No new spends / coupons used. 

Reading a lovely fiction book, called The Woman With The Map - it is set in 1940's and in 1974. 

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, I have spends to declare. I splashed out on some yarn to make Christmas presents but I really didn't need it, it was definitely a want not a need, oops. 200 gm of chunky and 150 gm of dk so 7 coupons spent and  58.5 remaining. Then I had a look at my stash and it's quite big now. I remember when I first joined this thread I had hardly any yarn but having discovered yarn in the cs I seem to have accummulated quite a lot so I had better get on with making something with it 😂. I will keep you posted 😁.
For the past few months I have been attending cake decorating classes. They were not what I really wanted but they were free so I persevered however I will not be returning in September but there are a couple of other classes that look interesting. One is called heritage crafts and seems to cover knitting, crochet and embroidery. I am thinking that I might be able to learn to read a crochet pattern which will be useful 😁. The other is about repurposing fabric which I think might be fun so I think I will have a go at that as well if they don't clash 😁. They might not be right either but as they are also free they are worth a try 😁.
Take care everyone
58.5/66 coupons remaining

Gem-gem

@Liverpool_Anne, when I did a cake decorating course as part of my college course we practised piping and decorating tin cakes with mash potato before moving onto cream because it could be scrapped off and dallied back into the piping bag. 

I visited a charity shop at the weekend and saw three balls of wool that looked tempting but I reminded myself of all Mum's old wool I am storing and kept my purse firmly shut. 

Today, a crochet website said that they are going to send me a free 50g ball of wool so that I can make the third bag in the set of patterns. I hope that this will be coupon free.