This project was inspired by my holiday at the seaside.

On holiday in Lowestoft I went into a charity shop and discovered that someone had donated their entire collection of hand made knits. Of course I purchased them all. Priced £3.99 each, bargain! I then began to wonder about the maker, the person who knitted the woollens. Do they live in Lowestoft? Have they been to the same places as me? Do they still knit? Why did they give them all away?

So I decided to use the cardigan as a canvas to depict my holiday and snapshots of the British seaside. There’s a cone of chips, the ones enjoyed on a blustery seaside day where the vinegar and salt collect in the bottom. A bowling pin to represent those days were the weather is too cold to do everything else but to stay indoors. A collection of pebbles and rocks to represent my daughter’s precious collection of valuable gems. Seagulls; young and old, the stealers of chips.

On the back of the cardigan I’ve designed my own tea towel of Lowestoft, highlighting famous sights and scenes. The towel is folded and twisted giving the cardigan a sculptural shape within its twists and folds. The front of the cardigan features me as a model on the front of a knit magazine wearing one of the jumpers bought. The knit magazine contains easy patterns which is relevant to me as I’m not a knitter, even though I was taught the basics at university, definitely a novice. The arms are decorated with the sentiment ‘wish you were here ‘ a phrase often inscribed on postcards written to relatives that’s maybe not always truthful.

On the front of the cardigan are playing cards for the game Old Maid, were you have to find the pairs of playing cards. The loser is the person left with the old maid which is set up as a negative outcome . My card is of a independent woman and if left with it I would say that’s a win, a person who is perfectly happy with their situation in life. The other cards are my take on the key players in a deck of cards. Playing cards in a rainy caravan have always been part of my seaside holidays. The brooches have been are a memento, with little price tags attached. Something to spend your holiday money on.

The Charity Shop Knit is a nostalgic piece of hand embroidery in a soft sculpture form.