This story reflects on the life of Claire’s ‘Nana’ and her keen love of crochet.  Her memories revolve heavily around sights and smells of the time, including noticeable brands that her Nana would use, such as Duraglit polish, Silverkrin hairspray and Toblerone.  Each item has a memory tied to it.  Her Nana could crochet beautifully and one of her most prominent memories was that of being a young child.  How her Nana could crochet a whole jumper or dresses in an afternoon as she played was like magic!  She recalled how her Nana didn’t bother herself using a pattern, so the size could be a little off, but they were always very well made.  They were always happy memories at her Nana’s house.

There was always a suitcase in the corner that went back and forth from Manchester to Ireland, where her Nana’s family was from. From Manchester, it carried sweets and biscuits and from Ireland came potatoes.  She still has her Nana’s toilet dolly sat in her bathroom to this day.

The making process meant learning from a craftswoman, the skill of crochet.  Having mastered the basics I created a toilet dolly.  This was then used to cast a block of silicone to hold the ghostly form.  The suitcase is traditionally made, hand stitched with brass fittings and fixtures.