My Story

Knitwear designer Piia Maria Pekkanen
Living in countryside has been good for me. The transformation of the nature during 4 seasons is the source of my inspiration.

Piia Maria Pekkanen

I am a Textile and Fashion Designer specialized in Knitwear. I started my studies at Helsinki University and University of Art and Design, Helsinki (now Aalto-University). Then life took me to Holland, and I continued my studies at The Royal Academy of Arts, the Hague, where I graduated at 2001 from the Textile department. After my graduation I stayed in Holland for a long time. Those years I mainly worked as costume designer for dance, theatre and music productions. I also worked for few years as freelance Fashion Designer for different brands designing Jersey, Knitwear and Light Woven collections.

The birth of my children changed my life. After a long break, I started knitting again. Knitting was my true love as a child. Now I looked at it from a new perspective as a professional designer. The spark caught fire and it’s still burning with high flame. I had found my passion. Ever since I have been knitting as much as I can. I started designing knitting patterns for craft magazines and yarn companies. My collaboration with Tekstiiliteollisuus Oy finally made me move back to Finland. 17 years travels abroad had come to an end. It was time to settle down in a small country village in southern Finland called Fiskars.

The past 5 years in Fiskars has been the happiest period of my life. I have had the opportunity to deepen in knitting and knitwear design. My book Talvineuleita was published by Moreeni in 2017. The lovely photos of this book are taken by Sanna Peurakoski. 2018 and 2019 two more books followed, now together with 9 other designers. And Pirtinkehräämö published a book called Villat meille, langat teille. This book presents several of my designs.

knitting books by Piia Maria Pekkanen
Not all of these are knitting books. I have made one sewing book as well. This book is published in Dutch and it has patterns of soft toys. The knitting book Talvineuleita was made in Fiskars.

My designs have been published in several Finnish craft and lifestyle magazines: Kotiliesi Käsityö, Suuri Käsityö, Kotivinkki, Kodin Kuvalehti, Kotiliesi, Unelmien Käsityöt, teetee and Moda. Some of my designs have been translated in Swedish and published in Swedisch magazines, Allers and Icakuriren to mention some. Now I’m publishing my designs also in English on Ravelry.

Collaboration with magazines feels natural to me. I have a small journalist in me, though I never studied media. I’ve been working now for almost 3 years for Sanoma Magazines as editorial assistant of Suuri Käsityö. My job is to edit the knitting patterns, write the sewing instructions and assemble the pattern sheets. I also edited for Kodin Kuvalehti crafts articles Yhden illan juttu, for one year.

Designs by Piia Maria Pekkanen
My designs have made it many times on the covers of Finnish craft magazines.

After all these periods and turns in life, my Blog was born. This blog is like its author. Sometimes just feeling, sensing and enjoying inspiring yarns, colors and stitch patterns, sometimes focusing on hard core technical issues. I love challenges and learning new techniques.

The photos of this blog are taken by my dearest friend, and undoubtedly the best photographer of the World, Juha Salminen. Juha has a passion for cinematography as well. He has been filming my knitwear and you can find many of his beautiful films in my posts. More of Juhas work you can find here.

In this blog I will take you along the journey of inspiration, design and knitting techniques. The story has just started. Let’s GO!

With love, Piia Maria