Brass Knuckles

 

As you might guess from my blog title, I don't consider myself much of a "fashion girl," but in my clothes-loving heart, I want to be part of that club. So I read Who What Wear's compilation of 21 Things Only Fashion Girls Understand with a sense of delicious expectation. Sadly, I only "understood" 2 things on that list, both related to high heels ("Wearing shoes that may also function as torture devices" and "Riding bikes while wearing heels, because, duh, so cute"—and technically I don't agree with the second half of that one, because I only ride bikes while wearing heels because it's easier than packing a change of shoes). But one thing I noticed on the list stuck with me:

"The fear that your first-knuckle rings are always going to fall off."

I confess, even as a wannabe fashion girl, I'd never heard of first-knuckle rings until I read that article. 

I'm not big into rings, one main reason being that they don't fit on my fingers. I was blessed with huge knuckles that dwarf the supposedly fleshy part of the base of my fingers, causing rings to be annoyingly loose once they're on...assuming I can fit them past my knuckles at all! I can only wear rings on my little and index fingers—and rings on my index finger usually end up getting taken off because I keep scraping my face with them.

But when I recently replaced my jewelry armoire with a hanging bag with see-through pockets, suddenly my ring collection was front and center, and I found myself wearing rings a lot more. Today, while trying to find brass jewelry to punch up the necklace that was built into my shirt, I pulled out a ring that fit too loosely on my little finger, I remembered the concept of the first-knuckle ring, and slipped it onto my middle finger instead. 

Whoa, instant magic! My fingers might have thwarted me from wearing rings in the traditional way, but these bony hands were just built for first-knuckle rings! I loved the asymmetry of rings placed haphazardly all over my hand! I loved the mix of metals! And yes, I spent the whole day fearing that the first-knuckle ring was going to fall off, but it was totally worth it.

I might never succeed at being a "fashion girl," but I think I can see being a "ring girl" in my future.