Ronja Hakalehto: Knitting at the Edge of the Arctic Circle
There are two things that never fail to amaze Ronja Hakalehto’s international Instagram followers. The first is the reindeer that occasionally amble calmly along the road in front of Ronja’s car. The other is the snow — particularly how early it arrives and how late it melts. When summer flowers are already blooming in her followers’ gardens, Ronja may still be skiing on the surface of a frozen lake.
Although Ronja sometimes finds it amusing how extraordinary her everyday surroundings can seem to others, it also offers perspective: it helps her see with fresh eyes the things she might otherwise take for granted.
“Every now and then, I wonder whether it’s boring to share a photo of the forest for the hundredth time. But then people thank me for the post and say it’s brought a sense of calm to their day. It’s a lovely thought — that through social media I can give someone else a moment of peace.”
Ronja, 34, is an internationally acclaimed Finnish knitwear designer who lives in Taivalkoski, Koillismaa: a sparsely populated, rugged region in the northeast of Finland, close to the Arctic Circle and right on the edge of Lapland. There she shares her everyday life with her husband, their three children, their dogs and their sheep.
The eldest of the children is eight and the youngest just one year old. In addition to being a full-time knitwear designer in her own company, Ronja teaches a knitting group at the local village hall, and her husband — who works as a wilderness guide and professional fisherman — is also self-employed. Combining work with family life demands some juggling; according to Ronja, she is “in the whirlwind of the busiest family years”. Above all, however, she lives a full and happy life surrounded by nature, in a profession she could never have imagined for herself.
The Coolest Job in the World
When Ronja’s mother was expecting her first child, her husband bought her a sewing machine as a gift. His idea was that the future mother would start making clothes for the children.
“My mum responded that she certainly wasn’t going to sew anything at all. So my dad had to learn to sew himself, as he’d already bought the machine,” Ronja recalls with a smile.
Under her father’s guidance, Ronja later tried her hand at sewing. The family lived in Eastern Finland, in a small village called Vehmersalmi with about 2,000 inhabitants and no clothing shops. So it made sense for Ronja to make her own clothes: such as transforming her father’s old jeans into a skirt for the school spring festival. Ronja also learned to knit at school, but her true love for the craft only ignited later — at the same time as love in general.
“When I met my husband 16 years ago, he heard that I could knit and asked me to make him a hat. I’ve been knitting ever since,” Ronja says.
This was during the rise of craft blogs, and through them, Ronja began to understand the variety of things that could be made with knitting — not just traditional woollen socks, but also stylish, modern garments. Ronja had dreamed of becoming an artist and studied visual arts, but during her studies, knitting began to draw her in more strongly. She started her own blog and began sharing her work on Instagram.
At the time, the couple was living in Helsinki, but the big-city life began to feel stifling. They moved to the countryside, and Ronja began studying crafts at a local folk college. In Taivalkoski, where they ended up because of her husband’s work, Ronja gradually realised she could make a living as a knitwear designer — which she describes as “the coolest job in the world”.
“I didn’t have a job waiting for me, and I was expecting our first child. I thought this was the time and the opportunity to try my wings,” Ronja recalls. “A couple of years after our firstborn, we had a second child, and alongside being a stay-at-home mother, I knitted and designed whenever I could. When the children started daycare, I founded a company and began working as a knitwear designer full-time.”
In the Peace of the North
This morning, Ronja woke up the children and sent the older ones off to the small village school in the school taxi. With the youngest, she fed the sheep before taking him to daycare. After that, Ronja continued her day in her studio, which has been renovated from the old barn on the family’s property. Ronja calls it her “woman cave”.
In addition to the stunning natural surroundings, Ronja says the very best thing about living in the north is the peace and quiet.
“I’m probably a bit of a hermit by nature. What I enjoy most is knowing that when I go outside, I’ll be completely on my own.”
Spending time outdoors is important to the whole family. They go fishing and take hiking trips, where they grill sausages and brew coffee over an open fire. In the middle of the forest, they have a small wilderness hut that’s easy to visit even with children for short trips. In winter, they ski and go dog-sledding.
“The changing seasons are also hugely important to me — I can’t imagine life without them. Spring in particular is absolutely incredible here in the north. At the beginning of May, the lakes may still be frozen and there can be snow on the ground, but by the end of the month, we’re already doing gardening. It’s unbelievable how much can happen in just one month.”
In winter, daylight is scarce: in Koillismaa, the shortest days are only about three hours long. There are no streetlights in remote areas, and everyday life is lived with the help of a headlamp. In return, however, there are magnificent northern lights and star-filled skies.
This nature-oriented way of life aligns closely with Ronja’s values, which include sustainability and moderate consumption. Living in the countryside also allows her to keep her beloved animals. The family has four sled and hunting dogs, and four pet sheep that act as lawnmowers during the summer. In addition to tending the landscape, Ronja says, they tend her mind.
“Sheep are incredibly calming animals. Dogs are constantly bursting with energy, but sheep are just wonderful to hug and scratch.”
Naturally, as a knitter, Ronja is interested in the origins of wool and how it’s processed. At the moment, her everyday life is so full that there’s no time for spinning, but she has donated wool to friends and members of her knitting group who are learning to process it.
“I’ve always been drawn to a traditional way of life. There have always been sheep on this property, so it feels right that we have them too.”
Ronja enjoys visiting the city now and then, but she wouldn’t want to live there anymore. Her strongest memory from the years in Helsinki is a constant sense of rush.
“It was unbelievable that even though buses ran every couple of minutes, you still somehow felt like you were always in a hurry to catch them. And even though you were constantly surrounded by crowds, I was much lonelier there than I am here. Here, even if you just go to the car repair shop, people interact in a different way.”
Although the family doesn’t have a nearby support network of relatives, life in a small village is communal, and neighbours are happy to help. One of the few downsides of living in the countryside, however, is that yarn shops aren’t around the corner, so colour choices for knitwear usually have to be made on a computer screen.
“I recently read my diary from when I was sixteen, where I’d written that ‘sixteen years of my life have been wasted in this small place.’ But looking back, I’m grateful that I got to grow up close to nature, and I hope the same for my children,” Ronja says.
Creating Worlds
Ronja’s knitwear is united by a certain earthiness. In terms of materials, rustic wool is a perennial favourite. Ronja feels that her work has something traditional about it, yet is firmly connected to the present day. She draws inspiration from nature and her home region.
“When I go out skiing, for example, my notebooks start filling with ideas as soon as I get home.”
For Ronja, knitting is also closely tied to a sustainable lifestyle. She strives to design timeless garments that will bring joy for years to come.
“When you take good care of a knit and repair it when needed, it can become a garment that lasts you a lifetime. I also always hope the piece is versatile — that it works just as well in the city as it does in the forest.”
In March this year, Ronja’s second knitting book Unfolding Landscapes – 17 Knits for the Road was published by Laine Publishing. Its theme is a road trip, taking the reader to different parts of northern Finland, where Ronja travelled with her family in summer 2025. Photographs were taken in places such as the island of Hailuoto in the northern Baltic Sea, or in the Hossa National Park, and her children also appear as models.
“The idea is that these are travel knits you can just pull out of your suitcase and wear. There’s, for example, a large shawl that can also double as a child’s blanket on the road,” Ronja explains. “Whereas my first book was perhaps a bit more poetic, I wanted this second one to have more edge — in the colours, the knits and the images.”
In addition to knitwear design, Ronja is also a skilled photographer who has taken all the photos for her books herself. She received her first DSLR camera as a high-school graduation gift, and her studies in visual arts also included photography and image processing. At the time, she didn’t imagine it would become part of her profession, but today, thinking about the overall visuals of images is one of the most inspiring aspects of her work.
“I love creating worlds through images — thinking about the direction of the light, or how different clothing materials bring out the knit. Just changing a hat or a pair of trousers can completely transform the image.”
And yes, those hats — stylish felt hats are a recurring style accessory in Ronja's photos. Where does the love of hats come from?
“It’s simply because I’m very lazy about doing my hair. Just put on a hat, and it always frames the face beautifully,” Ronja says with a grin.
TEXT: MAIJA KANGASLUOMA
PHOTOS: RONJA HAKALEHTO
This feature was first published in Laine issue 15.
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Ronja Hakalehto: Unfolding Landscapes – 17 Knits for the Road