When I moved to Oulu to study, I could already kind of knit. By “kind of knit” I mean that I had successfully figured out how to make many a scarf, headband, and a few hats. I probably started knitting in very late elementary school or middle school. It is something I saw my grandma doing, but I didn’t know many others that did. We certainly didn’t learn how to knit in school, something that is taught in Finnish schools as part of käsityö or “hand work”. Some of the stated objectives of käsityö in the Finnish curriculum are to develop motor skills, creativity and industriousness among students. The curriculum also states that the significance of käsityö is in long-term innovative work projects and as a self-esteem booster that offers satisfaction. It also helps the students value themselves as makers. 

In high school, I had a few friends who knit and during college at Gustavus as well. I didn’t really see people of all ages knitting though until I lived in Oulu. There, Finnish classmates were knitting during lecture and would easily produce lovely mittens and hats. What I was most impressed by though, were the socks. So many different patterns and colors. There is something so practical about socks. 

My first birthday in Oulu, my university-assigned friendship family gave me a hand-made pair of blue and white socks that looked like high-top tennis shoes -- laces and all! The following winter I received another pair of handmade socks from another friendship family I had developed through my original friendship family. They are multicolored with pink and orange stripes. I still have both of these pairs and wear them in all of my boots during the fall and winter, or all seasons if my feet get chilled. When I visited my friend Jenna in Chicago a few winters ago, she immediately offered me a pair of socks her grandmother had knit to borrow as my house socks for the visit. Many of my Finnish-American friends receive hand-knit socks as a gift from their relatives that last for years. Knitting is not only in the school curriculum and as presents for family and friends in Finland, it has also popped up in many creative places like Finland’s Heavy Metal Knitting Championship in Joensuu in 2019 and Finnish olympic athletes knitting things like scarves and blankets during the games. 

To master the sock, I knew, like with Finnish, it would take practice. The bonus of knitting socks in Finland and having a solid base of Finnish is it allowed me access to patterns that I wouldn’t have had access to only speaking English -- cute patterns! After figuring out the vocabulary needed to knit (truly different than the words I was using daily in Finland), I started collecting patterns and spending a lot of my free time trying them out. During the summer at home between years studying in Oulu I played around with how to make a heel using various techniques for socks knitted top-down. I figured that starting with small baby socks was a good way to practice without having to commit to the longer process of an adult-sized sock. At the beginning, I made a lot of little socks that when inverted on my finger kind of looked like little loon finger puppets. As I familiarized myself with the ratio needed to make a more well-fitting sock, they began to take up a more useful form. The next year in Oulu I did a lot more knitting, although I never did end up knitting in class. I took my projects in progress various places with me like on visits to my friendship families’ houses and on trips to visit other friends in Finland. I would also do lots of knitting at my apartment while watching Finnish shows on my computer or listening to radio. I was able to make and give pairs of socks to my friends at university and also my friendship families! 

Since living in Oulu, I have made a lot of pairs of socks. Some for me, some for family and some for friends. Each pair is a bit different. Hand-made socks add a layer of coziness that can’t be found in store-bought or perhaps I only have this perspective because I now know the process of creating hand-knit socks and so everytime I wear a pair I or someone else made for me, I can have appreciation for the process. There is definitely something to be said about sticking with something to the end. Once you have one sock completed, there is still one more to make -- and it has to be more or less the same!

I appreciate the mobility of knitting as well. I often knit while being a passenger in a car or other public transportation, while out on a walk, waiting in a long line, or while waiting for an activity to get started. I even knit while wandering through Ikea once! If you are familiar with where you are in a pattern or have printed it out, you will never run out of batteries and it is a great screen break for your mind and brain.

To knit your own socks and other Finnish patterns, I recommend the patterns available on the websites for Novita, Kotiliesi, Lankava, and Taito.  Here is a beginning vocabulary list that will help you decipher Finnish patterns:

neulominen / neulonta - knitting

neuloa - to knit

(villa)lanka - yarn

puikko - knitting needle

malli - pattern

koko - size

tiheys - gage (tightness)

nurin - (n) - pearl

oikein - (o) - knit-wise stitch

silmukka - (s) - stitch

kerros - (krs) - row

To learn more about Finnish knitting, consider taking a class with us! Email us at luumuabc@gmail.com for more information. Happy knitting! 

-Elizabeth “Helvi” Brauer