The narrator inherited long, slim hands from her maternal grandmother, called piano fingers, and used hers for writing while the grandmother dedicated hers to knitting. The grandmother frequented the local wool shop for designs, supplies and tiny buttons. The narrator and her elder sister became natural beneficiaries of handmade knitwear and craft activities, appearing in photographs commonly wearing cardigans. Knitwear featured in seaside trips, including a 1989 journey to Bournemouth where a memorable photo captures a thick sky-blue cardigan, coordinated to a packet of cheese and onion crisps, and a foldable chair secured by her grandfather. Mobility relied on an NHS-grade buggy before a wheelchair.
I inherited my hands from my nan. Long and slim with hard but feminine nails, we called them piano fingers, though neither of us ever learned to play. While I went on to use mine for writing, my maternal grandmother dedicated hers to knitting. Decades before the Sewing Bee or Tom Daley's Instagram, Barbara would go to the local wool shop for designs and supplies everything, right down to tiny buttons.
I am wearing a classic British beach outfit: shorts, a blouse, sunglasses, and, of course, a cardigan. Its thick, sky-blue knit fastened across my chest, the cardie is colour coordinated down to a packet of cheese and onion crisps. Surrounded by a striped windbreaker and a red bucket and spade, I am sitting on a foldable chair secured in the holes my grandpa made in the sand.
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