Teacher Else, 47, left teaching to open her dream yarn shop: “The biggest change is that I’m no longer tired”
Else Marttinen bid farewell to the school world to open a yarn shop. At the same time, she realized that her sensitivity had made her a good teacher but had also worn her down. “In my own yarn shop, I feel I’m safe,” Else says.
In August 2022, on her first workday of the autumn, class teacher Else Marttinen stepped out of her car in the school parking lot and bumped into a colleague. The colleague asked how Else felt about returning to work after the summer holidays.
“This is my last year as a teacher,” Else replied, surprising even herself, although teaching had felt overwhelming for many years.
She couldn’t yet share her future plans with her colleague there in the parking lot. But when she went home at the end of the day, everything became clear.
Else told her husband she was going to open a yarn shop.
Else’s yarn shop, Armi Yarns, is located in Herttoniemenranta, Helsinki, on the ground floor of a modern residential building. Opened in November 2022, the shop is so dear to Else that she calls it her third child.
“I could no longer be a teacher”
Even yarn shop owner isn’t a profession Else sees herself in for the rest of her life.
“Apparently, I’m the type of person who likes to do different things and does them for a while,” she says.
After high school, Else was the most interested in art philosophy. After a couple of years of university studies, Else became a mother. Her second child was born a year and a half later.
“When I started, schools had assistants. If a child needed special support, they received help. Then the assistants disappeared. Every year began with discussions about where we can cut costs this year.”
After graduating, Else realized there were no jobs for art philosophers. By a twist of fate, she ended up as a substitute teacher in an elementary school. Else enjoyed it so much that she first studied to become a class teacher, then a subject teacher in ethics. Then she secured a teaching position in a Helsinki elementary school.
Else worked as a teacher for fifteen years, and initially, she enjoyed her profession.
“But over the years, the work changed completely. When I started, schools had assistants. If a child needed special support, they received help. Then the assistants disappeared. Every year began with discussions about where we can cut costs this year.”
“The salesperson reminded me it’s never too late”
The workload wasn’t the only reason for Else to change careers. Her own children had grown up, and Else realized that the daily life of schoolchildren was no longer part of her home life.
During the pandemic years, Else’s family home began to empty as the blended family’s four children moved out one by one. Else started knitting even more. She created a knitting account on Instagram and found a community of fellow knitters.
That community gave her the confidence to start the shop.
“There wouldn’t be customers for my yarn shop without Instagram,” Else explains.
Else recalls getting her first impulse to start a shop during the first pandemic spring. Back then, she spent her free periods in a yarn shop near the school, since the restrictions on public gatherings prevented her from spending time in the teachers’ lounge.
“I told the salesperson, ‘Wow, you have such a lovely job.’ And she replied that it’s never too late. You can change careers too.”
The idea matured over a couple of years until it crystallized during that August workday. Else told everyone: her family, friends, students, and their parents. Else says that’s how she operates: when you announce things publicly, you have to follow through.
Her husband’s initial reaction also meant a lot to her.
“He immediately said to me, ‘That’s an insanely good idea.’ He’s always supported me in everything, and thanks to that, I had the courage to start this too.”
“The decision felt right every morning”
Else describes August 2023 as the best time of her life. Throughout the previous school year, she had been saying farewell to the school world. In her mind, she had been building her dream shop: a beautiful space where customers would feel welcome, where she could meet new people and sell ecological and ethical yarns.
She had also started entrepreneurial studies, listened to audiobooks about entrepreneurship, and visited IKEA to choose shelves for her future shop.
The school year ended, and Else went on leave.
“I don’t think there will ever be another August like that. I slept in, even though I had always thought I was a morning person. For a moment, I felt really young, like when I started my studies. I felt like anything was possible.”
“There are many small businesses founded by immigrants nearby. I thought that if they can become entrepreneurs in a foreign country, then surely I can do this too.”
To support the early stages of her business, Else applied for a startup grant from the employment office. The grant is about 700 euros per month and you can receive for up to a year from the establishment of the company. Else founded her company on the same day she received the positive grant decision. Then she began looking for a commercial space near her home.
Else says she never felt anxious or doubtful about starting the business. Of course, it helped that she and her husband could initially manage on his income, which provided some security. Else says that if the children had still been living at home, the life change wouldn’t have been possible.
“There are many small businesses founded by immigrants near my shop. I thought that if they can become entrepreneurs in a foreign country, then surely I can do this too.”
She says the hardest part was mainly “all the practical little stuff,” like choosing a payment terminal or an online shop platform or arranging banking matters.
And of course, setting up the shop was hard work. Else assembled shelves and prepared the shop space. She learned to create websites and established an online shop, designed a logo, made window decals, and acquired yarns to fill the shelves.
Her husband helped her a lot, but every decision was made by Else.
“Sometimes at night when going to bed, I’d think, ‘Oh no, this isn’t going to work.’ But I decided that if starting the shop still felt like a bad idea in the morning, I would reconsider. And it never did.”
“This doesn’t feel like work yet”
Armi Yarns is just the kind of place Else had long dreamed of. The small, bright space invites people to drop by and feel the yarns. In just a few months, Else has already gained regular customers—new friends—who might visit the shop just to catch up.
Soft skeins in bright colors rest on IKEA shelves. Some of the yarns are from small brands for which Else is the only retailer in Finland.
“I sell yarns whose origins I know. You can get cheaper yarns from the supermarket, but I have many customers. We share the same values, which I hold onto firmly.”
Business has been good, and after the first few months, Else has already been able to pay herself a salary. She looks to the future with confidence, as crafts and knitting are strong trends she doesn’t believe will fade in the coming years.
“If I had been terribly uncertain about starting the business, I wouldn’t have done it. I was sure about what I wanted and believed that it would succeed.”
“When I come home from work, I’m no longer tired. And then I knit.”
Else has more work nowadays than during her teaching years. The shop is open from Wednesday to Saturday. On other days, Else manages the online store and the administrative tasks of the business. In the future, she hopes to hire a part-time salesperson for the company.
Else has been learning to set boundaries for her own work.
“In the first months, I went totally overboard. If I woke up at five in the middle of sleeping, I could start working on the online store on my phone.”
Even so, entrepreneurship hasn’t yet felt strenuous. Running her own shop is inspiring and, despite everything, feels lighter than her previous job.
“Teaching is interpersonal work, which nowadays is done in large and noisy groups. I’m quite a sensitive person, and that made me a good teacher, but at the same time, it wore me out. In the yarn shop, I feel like I’m safe.”
Perhaps the biggest change in her life is that she’s no longer so tired in her everyday life, Else says.
“When I was still a teacher, I’d come home from work tired and knit. Now, when I come home from work, I’m no longer tired. And then I knit.”
