Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
"Nothing bad can happen. It's only knitting after all... and it's fun!"
Lucy Neatby
I feel the person that most influenced me in my knitting journey, or at least the one who kick-started and kept my engine running, and my passion motivated is Lucy Neatby. She is the one who encourages us to 'knit fearlessly', and to 'make your stitches smile'. She is the subject of my first 'inspirational' entries to this blog.
I can honestly say, that if it weren't for Lucy Neatby, I probably wouldn't be knitting today... I had learned the basics of knitting beginning in my teens, and had 'dabbled' a bit throughout my twenties. I had completed a hat or two, perhaps a scarf, and a dreadful cable sweater, one that once it was off my needles, I immediately gave to my roommate. (He stated that he loved it, so I though it would have a much better home with him, rather than I).
I don't really know what drew me to her, but I can tell you how I came about learning of her... it really wasn't that momentous. I've been a nurse for many years. Earlier in my career, I had started a new position on a new unit. If I remember correctly, about five of the women on the unit at the time were pregnant... you see where this is going? Needless to say, I wanted to try my hand at knitting again, and baby clothes are quick to make and SO cute! To see some of those projects from that first year, here's a link to my Ravelry page. (Jon's Ravelry Projects) As I was searching for projects, I started stalking my various libraries for information that pertained to knitting and patterns, and that's where I discovered Lucy. She has a series of DVD's that were carried by my local library, and I became a true fan.
Her DVD's are not presented (chronologically) as a series of progressively more advanced techniques. In fact, one of the last ones that she made was specifically geared to the "Brand New Knitter". But even with that one, her inimitable style and humor comes through and you feel as if there weren't anything you couldn't do...
For the research of this post, most of what I'm typing here is from my first-hand memory of watching her DVD's and following many of her patterns. If you ever read this Lucy, and I've gotten something incorrect, please let me know, and I'll rectify it readily.
Lucy was a merchant marine in England, and then transplanted to Canada, eventually landing on Tancook Island in Nova Scotia. As of 2020, (stated in a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbG61gdcm-g) she had lived there for 28 years, so that calculates out to about 1992 as her approximate arrival in Canada. Also from that video Lucy was inspired by Jane Whitten (an artist), whom I feel now I need to also research.
Lucy has been teaching since 1995, and her experiences while teaching led her to making those DVD's. Subjects that had been prevalent in her knitting classes, became the subjects shown on her DVD's. Here is a list of her DVD's in order of release, to the best of my knowledge: (not all are pictured, unfortunately)
She has since moved on to primarily YouTube for her videos, and her previous website lucyneatby.com has also moved to https://littlebarnstudio.ca/; this is where you can find her numerous patterns and tutorials. She has sales of patterns, but more interestingly, she also has tutorials that are specifically geared for the pattern that you've just purchased. I feel that her driving force, is to enable other knitters the courage to challenge themselves. One of her classes that she teaches through Craftsy, is called: Fearless Knitting. (https://www.craftsy.com/class/fearless-knitting-empowering-techniques-for-every-knitter/)
Even before discovering Lucy, I'd created a goal for myself to 'learn something new' with each new project. Once I found her, there was a whole new world to explore. Not only because she encourages you with 'standard' techniques, but she introduced me to techniques I'd never heard of, and yet still made me want to explore them and learn how to perform them. One of those unique subjects is that of double-knitting. (It is the DVD #9 in the picture above) This is the technique that really inspired the "Ah-Hah" moment(s) in my life. It's those moments that make me want to share that excitement with others. I find nothing more engaging than seeing someone 'get it'; you can see their eyes get big, and they say something like: "Ohhh! Now I understand! That's how that works!... Wow!". That makes me smile. (Thank you for that Lucy..)
I titled this post as "The Woman of Colour" for a reason... The first time I saw Lucy on one of her DVD's, she had this shock of bright pink & purple hair, not at all what I would've expected considering the subject matter. She also has no fear of colour when you look at her patterns, which personally I find refreshing. I have a tendency to grab as many colours as possible when I'm getting ready to start a project.
This is a section of one of Lucy's blankets (I actually think it's one of her first) called the "Cape Spear Blanket". It is double-knit, and it's about lap sized. Many of her subsequent ones are circular (or more accurately octagonal) in shape. One of them you can see in my gallery, here. And don't fear, although Lucy makes lots of blankets, she also has much more manageably sized patterns. I hope that sharing a little bit of inspiration from her can show a little of what I aspire to.
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