2026 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, spends to declare, 3 t shirts for a birthday present and a pair of socks for me. I had a few days away on Anglesey and despite taking a perfectly adequate supply of socks the weather was unexpectedly warm so my thick walking socks were just too warm and I had to purchase a medium weight pair. Quite annoying as I do have suitable pairs but just not with me 😁. So that is 13 coupons spent.

@PipneyJane hope your hand feels better soon, hugs

Take care every one

Coupons remaining 45/66

Cherryfudge

@Nelliegrace , that sounds like a wonderful exhibition, and the skill behind those knitted tableaux is impressive.

Nelliegrace

I used some of my Premium Bond win this month to bid for some vintage, huckaback towels sold as tea towels. I wonder why they were never used? I shall not be embroidering them, the transfer marks wash out.

I think they are similar to the Staff Towels advertised in The Times in 1941. 2 shillings and 3 pence is worth about £7.50 with inflation, so 3 for £10.80 seems a good price. I do prefer linen towels and huckaback weave is more absorbent than plain linen.

PipneyJane

Lovely towels @Nelliegrace. Glad you enjoyed your visit to The Longest Yarn.

I’m in hospital. They admitted me on Friday for IV antibiotics. My right hand has improved - you can see my knuckles now - but I still have a large, angry lump on my wrist. (Not quite as red as before, though.) Fortunately/unfortunately the first drip cannula tissued - it was 1cm below the bend of my left elbow (!) - and its replacement is much better placed, in the prominent vein on the back of my left forearm. Except when I have a drip, I can now use my left hand freely, whereas before i could feel the needle from the cannula every time I bent my elbow and it was too painful.

Tomorrow, I’ll have an MRI of my wrist. The x-rays show a vaguely fuzzy blob above the bones of my right wrist, like a weak calcification. Apart from one inflammatory marker, all my bloods are back in normal range, so I’m not worried about lymphoma, just wondering what that damn insect injected into me. Sent my sister a photo and she reckons it is a spider bite. I do remember brushing one off my hand, two weeks ago, a few hours before I first had symptoms.

I just wish I could knit.

• Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

strewth, @PipneyJane !!!

That sounds most alarming- very glad it's responding and being investigated, and that you are in the right place to be monitored.

Get well soon- and that's an order!!

xxx

Nelliegrace

Spider, Spider on the wall. Have you no friends at all? Have you neither mum nor dad? SPLAT! Too bad!

The noble false widow spider from Madeira and the Canary Islands, put about 100 people in hospital in the UK last year. They like to be indoors in the warm.

PollyWollyDoodle

oh sorry to hear it @PipneyJane and how frustrating - enforced rest and no knitting! I hope we can help to entertain you, and that you’ve got lots of audiobooks or Kindle to keep you busy. That sounds quite painful, but it’s good that they’re taking it seriously.

Laura_Elsewhere

we think that was what lived by my bedside for some weeks a couple of years ago- I was clearing every trace of web each day but waking to find everything on my bedside covered in a revoltingly strong web.
I was becoming increasingly hysterical!! We saw it a couple of times which didn't help as it was huge and very fast..!
Eventually I woke in the small hours and spotted it, climbed out over my husband's side of the bed while he tiptoed to get the vacuum cleaner and whooosh it was finally gone!!

I was hugely relieved to have it gone, and even more relieved on reading about Pip's hand!!

PipneyJane

How large is that spider, @Nelliegrace and @Laura_Elsewhere ? The one I brushed off me was less than 5mm across.

@PollyWollyDoodle I have kindles on my phone and iPad, fortunately. I’ve read two so far, both by Mary Stewart: Nine Coaches Waiting and Airs Above The Ground. I’m wondering what to read next. Possibly an Agatha Christie, if anyone can recommend a Marple.

Thank heaven for BBC iPlayer. No need to pay to use a TV, if you have WiFi available, so I used it to watch yesterday’s FA Cup and to listen to Eurovision. Sadly the iPad is now recharging, so I guess I will have to listen to a podcast. (The power plug is in an awkward spot.)

• Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@PipneyJane ah, my spider was bigger than that- well, whatever it was, I hope its bite is fully neutralised soon!

I recommend 4:50 from Paddington if you have access to many Marples. Avoid all the ones with Geraldine McEwan as they change plot, change who the murderer is, and give Marple a total personality transplant to be a vicious, harsh, harpy with a wild sex life in her past, all completely unnecessary!

Try lowering the brightness on the iPad, as that extends battery life a bit; also if it has "optimised charging" then turn that off and it will charge much faster :)