In the dark cold months of 2023, I finally did it: started an informal and inclusive ‘knitting club’
for my research community – the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires
(ANEE). Now, roughly a year later, we find ourselves in the lucky situation that we have been
able to purchase some equipment and crafty fun thanks to a grant offered by the University of
Helsinki International Staff Network. In 2025, we open the doors, hoping that others will join
us!
As a student, I realised that knitting with peers is a great way to destress and zone out while socialising and nurturing your mental and other wellbeing. I started knitting clubs in Copenhagen and Cologne/Bonn respectively, and after moving to Finland, I realised that there were also fellow knitters to be found amongst my new colleagues.
We soon started to talk about starting a knitting club here too, but the pandemic and other things made it difficult to put words into action. Previously, I hosted my knitting clubs at my dorm kitchen or apartment, but this was not feasible here. In an attempt to adapt to my own and my colleagues' situations, simply meeting somewhere at campus seemed the best option.
Since then, we have met on a monthly basis in the ANEE premises – a convenient, familiar and informal setting for a social initiative framed as a knitting club but by no means demanding that people engage with yarn (or anything crafty) in order to come and hang out for an hour.
The main idea behind the Helsinki based knitting club is that it is good to occasionally take a break and just hang out for a while – with or without your favourite craft. Some might already have (too many?) ongoing projects, and prefer to bring one of them along; others might not have one, or have forgot to bring it in. For such occasions, we kept some sad specimens of leftover yarn in the office, and they recently came into good use!
After the conversation slung down memory lane onto the path of childhood hobbies, we came to talk finger crocheting techniques. Few minutes later, we were fishing for such archived and dusty old knowledge in the mysterious memory-pools that are our minds, and not long after, we managed to get it right!
Shortly after this meeting, the University of Helsinki International Staff Network – established to promote integration and wellbeing of international and internationally minded staff in 2022 and joint winners of the 2024 Maikki Friberg Award – opened a call for applications. We responded and were rewarded with a small grant for purchasing equipment for the knitting club (THANK YOU!).
That we now have things like yarn and threads, needles and hooks, a sewing kit and some embroidering fabric, but also other crafty and relaxing(?) activities – colouring books, origami, scratch sheets, pearls, etc. – for all to use, will surely inspire people to share and learn new techniques, but also lower the threshold for trying out new things. Perhaps even finding a suiting hobby or crafty activity, that can help one survive the often stressful rollercoaster that is academia.
There is no craft-pressure (only encouragement ), so if hanging out and getting to know new people in this setting sounds fun, DO TURN UP! And remember, that if you do come, you are more than welcome to bring an ongoing project along, but we also have some stuff here that you are very welcome to check out and make use of.
For the spring of 2025, we will meet casually in the ANEE coffee area (directions below) for one hour every two weeks, rotating between Thursday and Friday afternoon:
Hope to see you there!
Directions: To get to the ‘ANEE coffee area’, enter Fabianinkatu 24 A (from the Fabianinkatu side). The ANEE premise is on the ground floor, but to get in you need to ring the doorbell at either side of the staircase/elevator.
Contact: For questions, please write/call Lena at lena.tambs@helsinki.fi / +358 504063911.