As a child in Aberdeen, Sylvia Watts-Cherry learnt to knit around the age of eight. She continued to knit until the late 1980s when she discovered machine knitting! In 2016 Sylvia sold her family’s business and took up her needles again to keep busy.
Sylvia said: “I wanted to meet people during the daytime and decided to enrol on to the Hand Knitting and Crochet course at South Thames College to improve my hand knitting skills. I particularly liked the fact that the classes emphasised the positive contributions of knitting to wellbeing and mindfulness. I was using knitting as way of relaxing and keeping calm, so these were important to me. From the first class, our tutor Ruth empowered students to design their own work rather than use bought patterns. I knew how to knit but had never tried to design from scratch. I learned about the importance of knitting tension swatches and how to translate the gauge into how many stitches and rows to cast on. The confidence I gained from being in the class allowed me to begin to produce my own knitwear. Having a designer as a tutor, I was able to obtain support and bounce ideas. I also met some wonderful people, who I now count as friends.”
Sylvia started posting her designs on her Instagram platform and in June 2018, she was approached by researchers from the Channel 4 TV programme, Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas to submit a Christmas jumper design. She was shortlisted in the final with three other knitters to appear in the show.
She continues: “Although I didn’t win, I was smitten with designing knitwear. Since the competition, inspired by colour and texture, I’ve been dreaming up my own designs, many of which are drawn directly from the colours and symbolism in indigenous African textiles and artefacts. My identity is important to me and I like to draw influence from my Nigerian/African heritage and Scottish upbringing in my designs.”
One of Sylvia’s designs, The Nubian Queen, which was designed for the Vogue Knitting Live festival in New York, went viral on social media. This brought a lot of attention and opportunities including launching the Nubian Queen kits in New York in January 2020. Sylvia now has a huge Instagram following and her own website where she sells her patterns for downloads.
She said: “I am now working as an independent designer and have designs featured in publications in the UK and US including PomPom Quarterly and Knit Now magazines, and Warm Hands, a book collaboration between Jeanette Sloan and Kate Davies, as well as publishing my own patterns via Ravelry, a platform for knitters and crocheters.”
Sylvia is a fantastic example of the journey that Adult Community Learning can take you on.
If you'd like to check out Sylvia's designs, please see below for her Instagram and website details:
Instagram: @withcherriesontoptoo
Ravelry: WithCherriesOnTop
Website: www.withcherriesontop.com
