2020 - My first summer with MYO

In the spring of 2020, I was sitting in my friend's apartment in Åre, which I had been allowed to rent temporarily for a month. I had managed to go to the village just as the covid pandemic broke out, and got sick myself and couldn't move anywhere for a while. Outside the window the spring sun was shining and the snow was better than ever as I sat inside, trying to understand different instructions for crocheting a basket. Because I had decided that the crocheted basket would be one of MYO's first products in the category that we now call DIY kits.

It's strange how life sometimes chooses a direction for you, if you just let it come. Actually, I was very happy with my previous life in Stockholm; I lived in a cozy apartment in Aspudden, climbed, raced, worked at an exciting music startup that had its office in the middle of Södermalm. But I was quite stressed and had a hard time relaxing in the evenings, which was probably the main reason why I started crocheting. I received a bamboo cloth as a housewarming gift from a friend, and became curious to make more of them myself; which resulted in a whole pile of rags when I then got "hooked". To my great surprise, people were really impressed when they saw the rags, and the other simple things I eventually started crocheting. For me, crocheting was the very simplest method of crafting, which you can enjoy without hardly needing to focus. There the thought arose; if others could try this in a simple way, would they think it was just as fun?

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Just when these thoughts arose, and before the pandemic started, I lost my job in Stockholm and decided to go to Åre to breathe a little. When I then sat there in the apartment, with a lot of yarn and crochet hooks everywhere, my friend Anna (our current AD) and I started sketching MYO's future logo. For some reason, "Åre, Sweden" ended up on the logo and voila, it was decided! I was going to start a company, and it was going to happen in Åre. A couple of months later I had registered the company, started filming the first products and rented our first office in the village - a small room in a shared office, opposite the Creperiet.

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MYO's first DIY kits

I had no idea how much TIME it would take to produce everything required to even put together some salable products. After first choosing which yarns to use, I continued with the instructions - it felt easiest, because at least there I had a clear vision of how I wanted them to be. Simple and clear with video and pictures, no classic "crochet language" (because I can't do it myself either - simple solution, haha!).

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‍This summer I produced four products: A crocheted basket, a flower pot, a laptop case & a dishcloth.

First I filmed the instructions for Instagram, purely to test how it would work and to learn how to edit them. But on Instagram you can't pause or rewind, so it soon became clear that I also needed to make them for Youtube. But it only happened a little later.

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The written instructions were actually quite difficult to do. There wasn't much space in a folded A4, which was still the most reasonable option considering both the budget and the environment. But thanks to our awesome AD Anna, it still worked, and quite quickly we found a format that worked quite well and could later be used for more products.

But then this with the yarn! While everything was still in the development stage, and there was no money left for anything, I decided to roll the skein myself until I knew how big the rolls needed to be for each product, and had time to test it. We only had two sizes for boxes that all the kits were packed in (and which are now called GIFT BOXes), which put

Out in the world (or to Öland anyway!)

Sometime during June, my good friend Anton got in touch and said that he would like to take my kits to a summer gallery that he and his mother had on Öland. Of course I said yes, and started preparing the material. There were many hours of yarn spinning & Netflix in the office, but still enough kits that there was something to sell. Then I packed everyone in my little campervan, and headed down to Öland.

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In Finland a little later I found the same arrangement with a couple of potential dealers, and for some unknown reason I packed kits at our farm in Naantal on August 11th together with our old labrador Roope who is no longer here. Then I broke a fourth winding machine - and decided it was time to get help from the yarn factory. After a conversation with Lankava, it became clear that in the future I would be able to buy the 330g rolls directly from the factory. And can say it was quite a relief!

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Lankava finished 200 rolls of each color and thickness for EKO Large, Medium & Mini, and I picked them up from their head office in Kauhava on the way home to Åre, and then took the ferry from Vaasa to Umeå. After the visit to the factory, I had 300kg of garni my little Caddy, and still had room to sleep! Tjoho :D On the way home I also had nice surf in Salusand for a few days, south of Umeå, but the yarn got under the bed. Once back in Åre, the yarn was moved to a small warehouse outside the village, but I realized even then that MYO's warehouse would not remain in Åre any longer than was necessary, for the sake of transport.

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Aren't one a little crazy still?

I have asked myself a number of times. Perhaps. I think it's quite fun with challenges and I'm triggered by solving problems, otherwise I get bored.

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My dream with MYO has always been to create something that shares the joy of creation, so that more people can share in the feeling of success, and that is 100% what drives me forward. When I was younger, I crocheted a little with my mother and grandmother, and knitted the occasional pair of rag socks, but never really got into it again as I found all the instructions too difficult to read and boring. MYO's purpose therefore became, first and foremost, to solve that particular problem, and make everyone feel included in the creation, regardless of what level they are at.

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When the feedback from those who bought the kits after the first summer felt positive, there was a reason to keep figuring out what else you could do with yarn. Time and time again we have solved problems during these three years, and it's amazing how everything has developed - and that I even got Salli involved in this (spring 2021) I am so damn grateful for. The first summer was a fun challenge but probably quite lonely anyway. It's more fun to be two!

3 years of MYO have gone by fast, yet it feels like we've only just begun.

Thank you for joining us on our journey, I hope it will be many more years! <3

/Oona

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