'It is a wonderful gift to be able to knit'

Gary Ray Smith was first taught to knit aged five by his grandmother. Now the 61-year-old grandfather says over the decades "life got in the way" of doing something he really enjoyed.

The former railway worker picked up knitting needles again in 2015, when his first grandson Arthur was born.

"I knitted Arthur a baby blanket and that's how it all started," he said. "Then, during lockdown my daughter persuaded me to start an Instagram page and YouTube channel and that is when things really took off."

During the pandemic thousands of people started to watch videos of Ray Smith knit blankets and clothing and he soon became known as The Knitting Man. He now has tens of thousands of followers on Instagram.

He said he knits "all the time", even when he is out walking or out for dinner.

"My wife jokes now and calls herself 'the knitting widow' but honestly it's everything to me. It's a wonderful gift to be able to knit," he said.

He knits in a "painter style", he said.

"I don't necessarily work with any plan, I make it up as I go along, sort of 'off-piste knitting'," he added.

"On my YouTube channel I teach people how easy and simple it can be to knit because it looks more difficult than it really is.

"They are only stitches so you just take a stitch at a time and take it easy."

His unique knitting patterns, including jumpers and blankets, are bought online by fans across the world and he has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram.

Ray Smith, from St Ives in Cornwall, had previously worked in the railway and then signage industry while raising four daughters but he said he always wanted to be a full-time knit designer and artist.

Ray Smith's knitted clothing, prints and paintings are on display at a exhibition in Brighton.

He designs all of his knitwear on a fictional, painted character called Claude who was inspired by his wife's late grandfather.

"The Claude paintings have become so popular now too that I don't get time to knit as much, they have taken on a life of their own," said Ray Smith.

Ray Smith said after he paints his patterns and designs onto Claude, the pattern gets transferred onto a large piece of graft paper.

"Every square on that graft paper is a stitch and then I start knitting but a jumper can take anywhere between a year to two years to finish," he said.

Daniel Marsh, owner of Indelible Fine Art in Brighton, said people have come to the gallery from all over the world to see Ray Smith's work.

He said: "I think the fact that Gary couldn't follow his passion for knitting and art until later on in life, because he was busy supporting his family, is really inspiring.

"Knitting is sometimes not portrayed as a typically masculine thing to do, so the fact that Gary has been able to encourage others to try it is great and challenges normal stereotypes."

The exhibition, Beyond St Ives, is free and on display at the Indelible Fine Art gallery, Brighton until April 2026.

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