Here are the Finnish Knitting Champions 2025
Inkeri Länsikivi and Ella Mahlamäki took gold
The Official Finnish Knitting Championships held in Pöytyä on Saturday broke records with 150 participants arriving from across the Nordic countries. The Kisariihi sports hall filled up with leading figures of the hugely popular knitting hobby as the third official Finnish Championships took place Saturday Sept 20th.
Finnish Champion: Inkeri Länsikivi, a seasoned competitor
The Finnish Championship title went to Hyvinkää-based Inkeri Länsikivi, with a clear result of 2:07:06 — almost 20 minutes faster than the judges’ pre-estimate in the Elite category. Länsikivi was competing for the third time and has always reached the podium, but the brightest medal had previously slipped away by just seconds. The victory was sweet. Second place went to newcomer Suzanne Di Rodi-Maukku from Hyvinkää with a time of 2:34:11, and bronze to Milla Malka, who last year took third in the sprint. She crossed the finish line sixth in 2:45:29 but scored the highest quality points among the top ten. The competition puts the greatest value on finishing time with the winner earning 75 points, while quality points (0–25) were awarded separately. Within the top ten knitters times varied widely: A time of 3:09:00, an hour more than it took Länsikivi to finish her work, took a knitter with great quality points to the top 10.
Sprint Champion: Ella Mahlamäki surprised herself with victory
Sprint series won by Ella Mahlamäki from Espoo with a time 1:16:00. The victory was taken with quality points, since the 1st runner-up Iida Nurmi clocked the fastest knitting time at 1:14:50. Bronze went to Sirpa Anneli Kiiskinen from Lahti with a stylish 1:16:15. The spread was smaller than in the Elite category as TOP 10 knitters finished with 15 minutes of each other. This year, special attention was given to stitch count accuracy — the correct number of stitches and rows — to prevent uneven tension from giving an unfair advantage in this quick knit work. The Country tube knitted in the Sprint series received consistently higher quality scores than the Farmester® Beanie in Elite series, where especially loose knitting technique led to quality deductions.
Young participants brought joy to the champion
The jury was chaired this year by Myssy Grandma Tuulikki “Tutta” Lehtinen, and the experienced team of Myssy Grandmas handled the demanding evaluations with excellence. The judging criteria were written and printed in advance and strictly followed in the name of fairness. At this national-level competition, where speed and technique were central, the greatest reward was the incredible sense of community across ages. “I was especially delighted to see so many young knitters participating. Not just us retirees, but lots of young people too — the average age was at most 40!” stated Finnish Champion Inkeri Länsikivi, 68 years. After three years of attending the competition, she was relieved by her victory: “I’m really happy. I haven’t trained in any special way this year — I’ve been knitting for over 60 years already. I knit something every day. If learning a new skill takes 10,000 hours, then let’s get into practicing!” In the Sprint top three, all three ladies were first-time competitors, and the trio from across Finland unanimously said they were all avid sweater knitters — proving Länsikivi’s theory true: Sweaters involve so much repetition that knitting speed naturally reaches championship levels. For example, Kiiskinen said she has knitted 500 sweaters in her career.
The Championships were a success — but left hunger for more
Länsikivi also praised the event’s organization, which she felt was very smooth this year. Pöytyä’s Kisariihi still has room to grow for next year. “We once again succeeded in creating a great competition experience. I calculated that we’ve evaluated roughly 100,000 standard-sized knitted items in the past decade, so we handled this smoothly under a little pressure,” smiled the Myssy entrepreneur Anna Rauhansuu, adding: “We are ambitious to further grow and develop the event, and to take it in an even more international direction. This year, too, several participants needed English-language instructions — including a Mexican woman living in Sweden who came just for this. At Myssy, together with our partners Fiskars, Prym, and Laine Publishing, we all operate in international markets. I believe this team can continue developing the event far into the future. And of course, here in Pöytyä,” she smiled.
The final results: Results
The photos of the event, phptografer Iryna Shvets: Photos
