KNITTED WITH LOVE & CONSCIOUSNESS

BY LEILANI GOODALL

Icame across Milla’s work on Instagram (@yarnmaster666) a few months ago and have been absolutely obsessed with it! Milla specialises in crochet hats- and after being easily influenced to get one myself, I can vouch for their durability and trendiness!

After meeting Milla I can also vouch for the talented creator behind these sustainably knitted accessories! We caught up with her to talk about it. Introduce yourself.

Hi I’m Milla Mäntylä from Finland!

I came to Raglan one and a half years ago with my local boyfriend. I make crochet and knit clothes and accessories!

Now I’ve been making mostly hats but want to expand and create different things.

How did this come about?

I’ve been knitting and crocheting on and off all my life I guess, that’s something Finnish people learn at school too. I started to do it more here during lockdown and I didn't know that many people from here; it was and still is something I love to do just to relax and turn my brain off!

I started to crochet hats for myself and then people actually wanted to buy them! Then I started an Instagram page for them - it’s so cool that someone other than my mom started to follow it!

I wanted to create cool things for people like me, who care about this planet and still want to play with their style without buying new things.

What do you love most about your work?

The best thing about my creations is that everything is made from recycled materials! All the yarn and even the hooks are second hand. I believe you can get super cool things without harming the environment. They are also unique, as I can’t go and buy the same yarn again haha; never know what I can source! Shout out for Xtreme Zero Waste and Lions Op Shop for their crafty selections.

What’s next?

This year I want to slow down more and take care of my garden and crochet under my feijoa tree.

I would like to push out more different accessories and when the winter comes, maybe bigger pieces too. I am keen to do some markets as well and perhaps there’s a shop in Raglan who wants to take my hats in ;)