Words and pictures. That’s all it takes to tell someone’s story, right? Well, that’s what I thought until I spent an afternoon in Sasha Torilo’s gorgeous boutique yarn store, Finzah Studio. Nestled on Lake Avenue in Cringila, it was so much more than the riot of colour I was expecting.
I learned of the local Macedonian women who welcomed Sasha to the area, their hands now too gnarled to continue with the craft but their pasts full of wonderful handmade items that they sold to make money. I ran my hands over all the yarn, some made from recycled clothes, huge balls of high-end brightly dyed Japanese wool and smaller hand-spun balls by Deidre of the Wollongong Weavers and Spinners Group. The delicious smells from the local eateries wound their way up and down the road.
I discovered that the studio is more than a place to purchase beautiful fibre. It’s more than a place to learn to knit, to crochet and to embroider. It was also instrumental in helping Sasha make it through a devastating cancer diagnosis.
“In 2022, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” she said. “I thought I was going to die. I prepared my family for it. It was pretty scary.”
“Then when I got out of hospital and I knew I was going to be okay, I was like, if I don’t do it now, I’m never going to do it…The whole thing of thinking you’re going to die makes you a little bit braver.”
As she recovered from surgery, her son Finn, who was working as a carpenter, would stop in at the end of the day, knocking down walls and building a place for Sasha to start her business. And once she moved in, the space itself helped with her healing, especially mentally.
“It was good for my mental health,” Sasha said. “It made me get up every day and get dressed and come in here.
“I’d walk in the door and I’d feel happy, because how could you not? It’s so bright and beautiful and I’m surrounded by all the beautiful things. It’s just been really, really good.”
Like many kids, Sasha was taught to knit as a child by her mum and later picked up crochet as a teenager. Unlike many of us, it was a skill she kept up and eventually started to teach to others, including someone she never expected to.
“My mum taught me how to knit. But now my mum comes to classes here because she’s forgotten how to do it all. And now I teach her, so it’s a real turnaround!”
While we’re talking, an elderly gentleman stops and waves. He’s the ‘lolly man’ and usually pops in with a small treat for Sasha but sadly for me this time he was empty handed. Sasha explained that Thursday nights are Social Nights, where for a small fee, people who no longer need intensive lessons can sit with others.
“It’s time that we can sit around and get together, and bring your projects and we talk and work on what we’re doing. It’s very inspiring.”
As we sat at a sun-dappled table in the window, we swapped stories as we crocheted, like generations of women before us. It made me realise that some things you just need to experience for yourself.
Visit Finzah Studio at 5/15-17 Lake Avenue, Cringila or shop online.
Sasha writes her own patterns. You can find them here.
Small group lessons for beginners start this week.
