The first present my grandmother Helen gave my grandfather Theo, which he received in the post for his 17th birthday, was two knitted vests and a knitted cardigan. “The first thing I thought was, ‘How long does it take to make three? Three!’” Grandad recalls. He’s almost as astonished now as he was then. My nanna tells me she didn’t plan to make so many: “I just kept on knitting them. I didn’t say, ‘I’m going to make three.’” She “just” started and then she “just” kept going. “In Guyra, what else do you do? You just keep knitting,”
