About me - Story of Meiju Knits

 

Hi!
I am Meiju, a professional knitwear designer from Helsinki, Finland.

My knitting journey began in the 80's. My grandmother knitted a lot. Before I was born, in the 1950s and 60s, she wrote knitting patterns for domestic homemaking magazines. My grandmother taught me my first stitches, and that’s how my knitting adventure began.

As a teenager, I designed my own sweaters, but I only took a few notes for myself; I never wrote down full patterns. I enjoyed counting stitches and solving the small math puzzles that knitting presented. During my university years, I forgot about knitting, but I picked up the needles again when I was expecting my first child. I knitted some garments by following patterns, but I always ended up modifying something. One day, I bought some yarn but couldn’t find a suitable pattern—so I started designing. And there I was again, designing knitwear just like I did as a teenager.

I created more of my own designs and started writing patterns, initially as a hobby in the evenings alongside my day job. Gradually, the hobby grew into a small business. In 2013, when I was on maternity leave with my third child, another mother in the park asked me about my knitting. I told her that someday I would write a knitting book. I had forgotten about that conversation until years later when circumstances changed. I decided to leave my day job and try my wings. It was a scary leap, but shortly after, I received a book contract and embarked on a new adventure as a knitting author. Contrasts – Textured Knitting was published in 2022.

Since then, my passion for knitting has continued. I have been working as a craft producer for the media company A-lehdet, overseeing and tech editing Beloved Patterns magazine, and managing and tech editing knitting and crochet patterns for Kotivinkki and Ihana magazines. The dream of having my own online store had been simmering for a long time, but the lack of time was always an obstacle. Now I finally got the right help to establish the store, and here we are!

My grandmother knitted a lot. Before I was born, in the 1950s and 60s, she wrote knitting patterns for domestic homemaking magazines. My grandmother taught me my first stitches, and my knitting adventure began.

As a teenager, I designed my own sweaters, but I only took a few notes for myself; I never wrote full patterns. I enjoyed counting stitches and solving the small math puzzles that knitting presented. When I was studying social psychology at university, I forgot about knitting, but I picked up the needles again when I was expecting my first child. I knitted some garments by following patterns, but I always ended up modifying something. One day, I bought some yarn but couldn’t find a suitable pattern—so I started designing. And there I was again, designing knitwear just like I did as a teenager.

I created more of my own designs and started writing patterns, initially as a hobby in the evenings alongside my day job at Statistics Finland. Gradually, the hobby grew into a small business. In 2013, when I was on maternity leave with my third child, another mother in the park asked me about my knitting. I told her that someday I would write a knitting book. I had forgotten about that conversation until years later when circumstances changed. I decided to leave my day job and try my wings. It was a scary leap, but shortly after, I received a book contract and embarked on a new adventure as a knitting author.

Knitting has always been inspiring to me because there is always something new to learn and discover. Writing each pattern is a little adventure in itself—how can I translate the idea in my head onto paper in a way that makes it easy to follow and enjoyable to knit? Since I worked for a long time as a social psychologist, I have always been interested in the usability of knitting patterns and how to make them more understandable. All my patterns undergo technical editing and/or test knitting to ensure quality. My patterns have been praised for being well-written.

I hope my patterns bring you a knitting adventure and inspire you to learn new techniques. My patterns also include links to technique videos on my YouTube channel, so you're never alone if you encounter any difficulties. I answer pattern-related questions weekly!

Happy knitting!

Meiju

 

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