Knitting since she was eight years old, Lucy Fisher felt it didn’t really keep up with the times.
“I’ve always thought that knitting hasn’t really evolved and I think this is key to connect with the younger generations, so I began to wonder how I could make knitting more appealing to the youth and came up with a business idea,” said Lucy.
Knitting has been part of the young entrepreneur’s life since she can remember.
She reminisced: “I remember my grandma used to knit my toys little outfits and I loved them so much that she bought me my first knitting kit for my birthday so that I could learn to knit too.
“My grandma, mum and auntie have taught me all I know – we’re a tight-knit family if you pardon the pun.”
Eager to set up her own knitting business, Lucy took the plunge in January last year and entered her idea into the RGU Startup Accelerator, which enabled her to make Knit It a reality.
She also received £10,000 funding for knitting tools and tutorial website in the Scottish EDGE Awards – Lucy was named the winner of the Creative Edge and Young Edge category.
Lucy said: “Since then I have been on a whirlwind of a journey, having great success in business competitions and I have been able to launch my business with the aims to inspire more young people to start knitting.”
Lucy, who graduated with a Masters degree in architecture, is an architectural assistant by day and a knitting entrepreneur by night.
She said: “I currently invest all my free time in the evening and weekends working on my start-up and usually spend any spare time knitting up a gift for my friends.”
In November, Lucy launched her first product called a KnitPic Kit which lets you knit your loved ones by transforming a photo into a knitting pattern.
She explained: “We send out a kit with all the goodies you need to knit it including a personalised guide booklet, written pattern, chart, yarn and bobbins – all you will need is your own needles.
“Customers simply upload a photo, choose their colour scheme and complexity – it’s a really personal gift and ideal for the knitter who has everything.
“The KnitPic Kit can then be turned into a cushion or a framed masterpiece.
“Our kits have plenty of yarn to make both sides of the cushion and we have free sample patterns for the back on the website.
“So far, our customers have loved the product leaving five-star reviews and we have had orders from all across the UK and even in the USA.”
Lucy says that KnitPic Kit patterns use only knit and purl stitches to make them straightforward.
She added: “All you have to do is pay attention to colour change – this is where the chart comes in handy, so that you can visually see what is coming next.
“We also supply a traditional written pattern, and we find most people like to use both.”
In addition, to make the process even easier, Lucy created a range of useful videos to guide her customers through every step of the process. The tutorial videos can be found on Knit It’s YouTube channel.
Lucy added: “The KnitPic Kit project will take approximately 20-30 hours to complete – it’s a nice knitting past time that will occupy plenty of evenings during lockdown.
“Our customers also say the most exciting part is watching the face appear row by row and they find it hard to put down.
“Knitting is also stress-relieving and therapeutic – so we’ve been able to create something that people can enjoying during lockdown while stuck indoors and make special thoughtful gifts for their loved ones who they maybe cannot visit.”
When the KnitPic first launched, Lucy was amazed with the influx of request for pet portraits, too.
“So understanding how important our furry friends are to our customers, we decided to add KnitPic Pets – a new colour scheme designed to cater for the realistic shades of pets rather than our more abstract and pop art designs,” said Lucy.
“Although we have yet to receive a parrot which I look forward to making a pattern for.”
The small Aberdeen business also offers a KnitPic Commissions service for people who are not confident in their knitting abilities.
Lucy said: “As we were developing the idea we spoke to so many people that loved the concept but couldn’t knit.
“So we decided to make it possible to order a KnitPic whether you are a knitter or not.
“Our hand-knitted bespoke commission can be customised to your exact specification and we also frame them too.
“They really are a unique piece of art.”
Lucy said her biggest source of support was her family – in particular her mum and grandma.
She said: “This is our passion project and they have always supported and encouraged me to keep going.
“Since starting this business, I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my grandma who has knitted lots of prototypes.
“And my mum is always there to bounce ideas off – she has helped to write our business plan, listened to countless practice pitches and is the pillar that has held the business up.”
Visit www.knit-it.co.uk for more information and to place an order
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.