2019 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Laura_Elsewhere · 4 January 2019 at 12:55PM

Welcome vintagegal - everyone's welcome in here (we're not fussy, oops, I mean we're very inclusive!) - and if you can knit something as demanding as a scarf you can knit anything... I've never knitted myself a scarf because I can't take the mind-numbing tedium. They take soooo long, doing the same thing, argh... so if you can stick that, you're well on the way to knitting anything you like!

If you are tempted by online shopping, what about combining that with trying charity-shop shopping and browse the Oxfam online shop?

No coupons for buying second-hand clothes or shoes! Whooo!

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/second-hand-clothes

jackieblack · 4 January 2019 at 6:32PM

Yesterday I bought some jute shopping bags... not sure how/if to count them?

Also, what about items bought as gifts?

Actually, that’s two questions!

Thanks

RicardaRacoon · 4 January 2019 at 7:02PM

jackieblack wrote: »

Yesterday I bought some jute shopping bags... not sure how/if to count them?

Also, what about items bought as gifts?

Actually, that’s two questions!

Thanks

I think everyone of us has different rules to this. During the war every item bought would of course have counted, including towels, bedding, curtains... Although I could think of jute being free of coupons as there isn't really much you can make with it...

In my case I don't count gifts nor yarn bought to knit gifts or something for charity. I assume the people I knit for gave me the yarn and charity knitting is socks-for-soldiers...

I also don't count towels as my aim for the challenge is to think about clothes more. I didn't thought I'd buy any household fabrics at all last year, but then ended up doing up my bedroom and buying towels and bedding and kept that out of this challenge.

CapricornLass · 4 January 2019 at 7:52PM

First purchase of the year - two long-sleeved t-shirts, described as items for layering on the label! I'm going to have to replace an existing one anyway, as it seems to be running to holes now, but I wear a lot of these as base layers now that I;m retired.

So, 10 coupons?

PipneyJane · 4 January 2019 at 8:50PM

Sayschezza wrote: »

PipneyJane keep an eye out for the event held in Chatham dockyard each year called ' Salute to the 40's '.

I love following this thread but I know I couldn't keep to the challenge. Cheering you all on though.

Thanks Sayschezza, I will keep an eye out. DH’s best mate* lives down that way, which makes it quite a do-able day out.

I may hav screwed something up completely... You know that list of knitting projects I want to fix/finish/sew up? Well, I completed the first one on New Year’s Day. It was my most recent project, knitted out of hand-dyed Gotland wool. I had multiple problems with the yarn - the dye bled everywhere, even after trying the Citric Acid Soak suggested by the Knitmore Girls. Every time I knitted, my hands turned blue.

Unfortunately, the citric acid treatment may have made the yarn a bit more vulnerable to felting. I normally machine wash my jumpers using the wool cycle and cold water. Never normally have a problem with them. Given the dye issue, I washed the jumper by itself this morning, hoping the rinse cycle would take care of the dye. (The water in the machine dutifully turned blue.)

Please take a look at the photos on the project link. If you zoom in on the unwashed jumper, you’ll see that the yarn is a little hairy. Right now, it looks more like mohair and I’m praying it hasn’t shrunk too much. When I removed the jumper from the machine, it was this fury lump. Stretched it back into shape - and hopefully size - and removed two handfuls of loose fibre from the front and and back. I won’t know until it’s dry whether it will fit me or even vaguely resemble the way I’d planned it to look. (I designed it.). I do know it will be hand-wash only from now on.

I will post a photo of the jumper, once it’s dry.

I have had a similar experience twice before, when I machine washed something that had previously been hand washed in Euclan, a no-rinse wool wash. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that once this happens, the jumper will shrink to toddler size if machine washed again - that was what happened the first jumper. I can only assume that the Euclan is at fault, since I regularly wear and machine wash a jumper knitted in the same yarn as the first one that shrank (which was knitted out of its leftovers).

- Pip. (I am not a happy bunny.)

*aka his “Brother From Another Mother” of BFAM. They’re like non-identical twins separated at birth. I have been delegated big-sister-bossing-rights from BFAM’s sisters.

PollyWollyDoodle · 4 January 2019 at 9:19PM

Oh Pip, it looks gorgeous - what a lot of work has gone into that. I really hope it turns out ok, I am a bit of a novice on washing/treating yarn so I can't offer any suggestions. Although I am very lazy and don't usually hand wash anything, if I had put that much effort into knitting something, I don't think I would ever put it in the machine!

Laura_Elsewhere · 4 January 2019 at 9:32PM

Pip, are you even remotely within reach of Telford? Because if you are, I have a Shetland Woollie Horse, which is an amazing wooden frame with every angle adjustable so you can put a washed, still-wet jumper on, and gradually move the pieces another hole along every so often, so after an hour or so it's a heck of a lot bigger than you thought possible...

If nowhere near here, then I suggest you block it, and keep returning to move the pins a little further and a little further...

And it will be no consolation but... I really, really commiserate with you... xx

Laura_Elsewhere · 4 January 2019 at 9:36PM

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

Although I am very lazy and don't usually hand wash anything, if I had put that much effort into knitting something, I don't think I would ever put it in the machine!

I machine-wash almost all my hand-knitted woollens, but by "machine-wash" what I mean is that our machine has a brilliant "rinse" cycle which is all the woollens need, so I pop them in for 19 minutes of completely-cold water and a 1400rpm spin cycle, then hang them to dry, or block them.

Wool felts when it's shocked - and wool gets shocked by agitation or temperature-change and almost always if it has both.
If you don't touch it, you can (incredibly!) boil wool without it felting - but if you stir it or let the water bubble, or change the temp abruptly, it will shrink. If you handwash your woollies lovingly in hand-hot warm water and then run the cold tap to rinse them thoroughly, it can shrink.

Some wool will shrink if you look at it wrong, but by and large most are fine in cold water...

PipneyJane · 4 January 2019 at 9:46PM

CapricornLass wrote: »

First purchase of the year - two long-sleeved t-shirts, described as items for layering on the label! I'm going to have to replace an existing one anyway, as it seems to be running to holes now, but I wear a lot of these as base layers now that I;m retired.

So, 10 coupons?

Yes, 10 coupons. I hope you get lots of wear out of the new ones.

- Pip

PipneyJane · 4 January 2019 at 10:06PM

Laura_Elsewhere wrote: »

Pip, are you even remotely within reach of Telford? Because if you are, I have a Shetland Woollie Horse, which is an amazing wooden frame with every angle adjustable so you can put a washed, still-wet jumper on, and gradually move the pieces another hole along every so often, so after an hour or so it's a heck of a lot bigger than you thought possible...

If nowhere near here, then I suggest you block it, and keep returning to move the pins a little further and a little further...

And it will be no consolation but... I really, really commiserate with you... xx

Thank you. Sadly, not near Telford, or I’d suggest we meet up for a knitting/sewing session. I do like the sound of your Shetland Woollie Horse, though. Where did you get it?

Every time I go into the kitchen, I give the jumper another tug. I think its nearly back to its original size so hopefully I’ve dodged the shrinkage bullet, but it’s still quite fuzzy. It seemed to relax once I’d had a go at it. It looks about the same size as it was in the photo but that had a lot of “give” in it, while I don’t know if it still does. I’ll see once it’s dry.

I used the wool cycle on our washing machine. It has a 600rpm spin cycle. I am wondering, though, whether the machine needs servicing/replacing. It’s not making strange noises or anything like that but I do think the wool cycle isn’t as gentle as it was in the past. I have nothing to base that suspicion on.

Thank you for the information about the causes of shrinkage/felting. I remember seeing old advertisements for “boiled wool”. I’ve always wondered what that was like to handle and whether boiling it made the plies meld together.

- Pip

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2019 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

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