For today’s teacher spotlight, we’re getting to know Rebecca Glazier, one of Baaad Anna’s knitting and crochet instructors. Not only is Rebecca one of our teachers, she is also the dyer behind WildWestDye yarns, a knitwear designer, the host of the Meet Up virtual knitting group Knit 1 Tea 1, a pole dancing enthusiast, and an all around awesome human being. Rebecca began teaching at Baaad Anna’s in early 2020 and teaches a broad range of beginner to intermediate classes.

Meet Rebecca Glazier! Photo courtesy of Rebecca Glazier.

Some of the fun classes Rebecca will be teaching at Baaad Anna’s over the next few months include:

• Intro to Brioche
• Beginner Crochet
• Intro to Colourwork
• Stash Busting Workshop

Knitting and Teaching Journey

Rebecca grew up in the UK and her knitting journey began when she was seven and wanted to knit small sweaters for her teddy bears. From a young age she’s always had a love of textiles, different kinds of fibres and cross stitching, and her early tries at finger knitting quickly moved to knitting and learning to crochet by the age of ten. High school introduced her to three dimensional arts like pottery and woodworking, and her late teens and 20s included delving into crochet and felting. What got her back into knitting was the arrival of a new baby in her extended family. She wanted to knit baby clothes and she noticed that while crochet patterns were somewhat dated, knitting patterns had come so far and there was lots to choose from.

One of Rebecca’s beloved teddy bears wearing a sweater she knit for it. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Glazier.

During that time, Rebecca also earned a degree in fashion and textiles in the UK, which led to a 20-year career in the fashion industry as a pattern technologist and fit specialist. Her career took her to Sri Lanka, where she did lots of lace and accessory knitting due to the hot climate. Wanting to deepen her knowledge and knitting skills, she signed up to do distance courses, learning about hand knit textiles and design.

Rebecca began teaching knitting about seven years ago during her time in Sri Lanka and after she moved to Vancouver she decided to continue teaching. Teaching is in Rebecca’s bones. She grew up with parents who were both teachers and it was an important part of her job as a pattern technologist. Sharing what she knows and teaching is simply ingrained in who she is. Anyone who has spent time with Rebecca can tell you that it doesn’t take long before she generously shares her knowledge, providing suggestions or ways to fix a problem you may be having in your knitting.

Teaching Style

As a teacher, Rebecca likes to have students learn skills while focused on a specific project. She finds that concentrating on a project can help students maintain focus and motivation since they will have a finished product at the end of the class. Her style is equal parts encouraging and patient. She never minds showing techniques as many times as a student needs to see it and tries to pace the class so that students can absorb and try new techniques before moving on to the next skill.

We asked Rebecca what tip she shares most often with her students and without skipping a beat she said, “that it’s ok to make mistakes and don’t expect to not make mistakes!”. She goes on to stress that perfection isn’t important in knitting and unless you’ve felted your yarn everything can be figured out. “It’s worth investing the time in learning how to read your knitting and how to fix your mistakes,” she says.

Design, Dyeing, and Virtual Knit Nights

Given Rebecca’s background in fashion it’s not surprising to learn that in 2020 she launched her yarn company WildWestDye, which features all naturally dyed yarns (you can read all about it here in our recent post). She also designs patterns to go with her yarns and is always up for helping knitters find the perfect colour combinations for their next project.

When she’s not cooking up a pot of beautifully dyed yarn, hosting a virtual trunk show, or designing her next pattern, you can find Rebecca practicing her pole dancing moves or hosting a virtual knitting event through her Meet Up group Knit 1 Tea 1. The knit group has been meeting for the past four years and is a welcoming, friendly, not skill dependent place for knitters to get together and share what they are working on. They meet a few times a week and you can learn more on their Meet Up page.

The Knit1Tea1 Meet Up group on Zoom! Photo courtesy of Rebecca Glazier.

To say that Rebecca leads a very yarn, textile heavy life would be an understatement and we are genuinely envious.

We hope you get an opportunity to learn from Rebecca soon! Sign up for any class with Rebecca here. You can also follow Rebecca’s knitting and yarn adventures on Instagram @wildwestdye.