Writing Assignment #121 – Knitting Needle, from 365 Days of Writing. I only remember my grandmother’s knitting needle.
Actually, I have nothing to do with knitting needles. I have tried it once, of course, but knitting is not one of my hobbies. I only think of my grandmother’s knitting needle when I think of a knitting needle.
I haven’t seen this literally, because my grandmother had already passed away when my mother was 11 years old, so I never knew my grandmother. But from the stories my mother told me, my grandmother used to regularly have a knitting needle in her ear. When I think about it, it sounds quite funny. Why would you put a knitting needle in your ear? Did she have an itch? Was there nothing more logical to relieve the itch? A knitting needle is very long. I just can’t picture it. But it seems to have really been the case. And maybe that’s why she was a bit deaf, my mother added.
Whether my grandmother was actually knitting, I don’t know. I think she was far too busy for that, because she had her own fabric shop in the front house. Born out of necessity, because my grandfather had spent 1.5 years in a sanatorium for tuberculosis. The fabric shop was in my grandfather’s name, that’s how it was in those days, even though he had nothing to do with it. I still have photos and a video of the shop. Super small and completely crammed with fabrics. But maybe my grandmother did knit in the evening, so she could sell some woolen socks in the shop. Who would know.