Today I'm talking you through my latest joyful craft projects including my plans for a weaving project using a blend of hand-dyed British wool fleece and flax I am planning to spin together.
At the moment, at the beginning of 2025, I am trying to focus a little bit more on meaningful craft projects that I enjoy. After a year of knitting to (a lot of!) deadlines, I am looking to inject a little bit more fun back into my making. At the moment, that is looking like a lot less knitting and a lot more spinning, weaving and other creative activities…
Continuing my joyful crafting plans with some plans for hand-spinning some hand-dyed British wool fleece and flax fibres.
Hand-spinning british wool and flax
I’m continuing my joyful crafting journey with plans to hand-spin a mix of hand-dyed British wool fleece and flax fibre. Spinning my own yarn is such a rewarding process and this project feels particularly special because of the natural fibres and plant-based dyes I’m using.
So far I have 3 different types of British wool fibre and the goal is to spin them all together to create a yarn which I can weave into a fabric for some sort of garment.
The fibres
1. British wool fleece hand-dyed with woad
First up, I have some Shetland Teeswater fleece from Fernhill Farm that I hand-dyed using woad I grew in my old garden. While woad is best known for producing blue dye, I used an exhaust bath to dye this British wool fibre which resulted in a really lovely, warm peachy tone. I've actually written a blog post on the salt extraction method for dyeing with woad If you’re interested in learning more.
I've been flicking these locks with my hand carder into fluffy clouds for spinning. The shorter, snarly bits will be saved and put aside for a future craft project.
2. British wool fleece hand-dyed using onion skins
I also have a batch of the same Shetland Teeswater fleece that you might recognise from my video series on fibre processing. These locks were hand-dyed with onion skins from onions, mostly grown in our old garden and supplemented with some from our Riverford Veg box, which resulted in a golden orange.
3. Shetland Romney hand-dyed using onion skins
In addition, I have some batts of Shetland Romney fleece from Fernhill Farm which have a lovely, antiqued gold hue that complements the colours of the other fibres beautifully.
I plan to blend all of these British wool fibres together and spin them into two different yarns, one for the warp and one for the weft, for my weaving project.
4. Flax
I'm also planning to incorporate a lot of flax into the mix which will add a bit of texture and durability. Fibre enthusiasts will know that flax behaves quite differently from wool. Unlike wool, flax has no stretch and is best suited for weaving rather than knitting. It’s the fibre used to make linen which is obviously a very light and breathable fabric perfect for warm-weather garments.
I sourced my flax from Flaxland, an amazing company based in the Cotswolds. They’re one of the UK’s leading flax growers, and when I’m ready to try growing my own, they’ll be who I go to to get my seeds.
Processing the Fibres
Lately, I’ve been busy processing my bundle of flax fibre, carefully sorting by length - of which I have a variety. I’ll put aside the long ones, but I’ll be blending shorter flax fibres with the wool fleece for at least one of my yarns. I still need to decide whether flax will be in both the warp and weft yarns, but I love that everything in this project, from the fibres to the dyes, is locally sourced and sustainable. It is exactly the creative work that I love.
Once I’ve finished processing the woad-dyed fleece and the flax, I’ll weigh everything and begin spinning. I'll create a fine yarn that I can weave into a special sunshine fabric for a joyful handmade garment.
Weaving with my new floor loom
This project will be my first on my new floor loom! If you’ve been following along, you’ll know it was something I picked up while visiting Anton of the Raw Wool Company last year. I’ve already started experimenting with a test warp using some alpaca yarn and have been documenting my progress on Patreon.
In my next video, I’ll be winding this warp onto the loom, which will be my first attempt at indirect warping. It’s a completely new setup for me since I’m used to weaving on a rigid heddle loom, but I’ve had some fantastic advice from fellow weavers, and I’m excited to get started. I’m not aiming for complex patterns, though, just the ability to create wider woven fabric while making the process all the more enjoyable and efficient.
My recent knitting projects
I'm wearing my Welanna Cardigan
The knitted cardigan I’m wearing in my podcast video is Welanna; a design I created for Making Stories Issue 11.
Welanna is worked flat from the top down, with compound raglan increases for a comfortable fit. It has a deep V-neck which transitions into a boxy, slightly cropped body with some unusual, yet stunning cables running down the centre of the back. The swooping cables are repeated on the big sleeves that flare out rather dramatically.
If you would like to make your own Welanna using my hand-dyed British wool yarn, Mendip 4-ply, I have some yarn and pattern knitting kits on the website. The kits are available in a variety of my hand-dyed shades and provide you with all the yarn you need for your chosen size plus a PDF copy of the knitting pattern.
Find the Welanna knitting pattern on my website
Find the Welanna knitting pattern on Ravelry
Opula - my knitting project
The one knitting project I am working on right now is Opula, one of my own knit designs inspired by the flowing, sinuous lines of Art Nouveau.
I’ve been knitting up this one at a fairly chilled pace, keeping it enjoyable and now I'm almost at the bottom of the body so, considering it’s a fingering knit, I’m pleased with the progress. I’ve opted for a rather moody, low-contrast combination of my hand-dyed Mendip 4-ply yarn in the shades Sage and Night on the cloudy base. The original Opula was designed to have elbow-length sleeves, but I'm knitting the long-sleeved version which I'm really excited about.
A little tip for knitting with hand-dyed yarn: alternate your skeins as you transition from one to the next to avoid colour blocking. I do this gradually, increasing the number of rows with the new skein to create a seamless blend.
Find the Opula knitting pattern on my website
Find the Opula knitting pattern on Ravelry
A (slightly smaller, but very sweet) finished object
A rather fun recent knit I worked up quite quickly was a project for my little boy's bear. Hubschrauberbär (don’t ask) was feeling cold so got a custom raglan cardi.
It was enormously fun to freehand something quick, and not worry about pattern writing or grading. I’m not usually a fan of all-over garter stitch, but for little makes like this it’s perfect (and you don’t have to worry about finishing any edges!).
I used three strands of Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift – two in Flax, one in Cornfield.
My ‘Out of the Dark’ Makealong
I've spoken about this a few times now, but Opula is also my craft project for my 2025 Out of the Dark MAL. If you're new to this, Out of the Dark is a makealong I run every year to get us from the depths of winter on 1st January to the Spring equinox on 20th March where there will be far more daylight, sunshine (and joy!).
Anyone can take part; all you need to do is create something using any of my spinning fibre, hand-dyed yarn or knitting patterns and post about it on Instagram using the hashtag #OutOfTheDarkMAL2025 or on my Patreon chat and discord server. There are some wonderful prizes for a few crafters who will be picked at random, which I am really looking forward to, but it’s so inspiring to see what everyone is creating.
The focus of this crafty endeavour is all about creativity and community so, If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I’d love for you to join in. I have so much fun scrolling through the posts and seeing how skilled everyone is. It really is great to see all the beautiful craft projects makers have shared so far - if you haven’t browsed through the hashtag yet, I highly recommend it.
Find out more about the Makealong on my website
Post-Unravel fibre drop
I exhibited at Unravel in Farnham Maltings last week, which was incredible! I dyed a huge amount of spinning fibre for the event and luckily for you spinners - and other crafters who like my hand-dyed fibre - who couldn't make it to the yarn festival, there was some leftover. While my Patreon members got early access, there are still a handful of braids available on the website.
If you’d like early access to future hand-dyed fibre drops, my Patreon subscribers get 24-hour priority access to shop updates, plus access to exclusive content like monthly videos, Zoom calls, and discount codes. It only costs approximately £2 a month and your support helps keep my podcast and creative work going. If you’d like to join, you can find all the details here.
Stay connected with all things Marina Skua.
If you’d like to keep up with everything I’m working on between podcast episodes, please do subscribe to my newsletter. It’s the best way to stay in the loop about events I’ll be attending, shop updates, new product releases, publications, and additions to the website. You also get a 10% discount code with your next order.
I’ve also recently added an events page to the website, where you can see all the upcoming places I’ll be. Whether it’s events I’m attending, talks I’m giving, or markets where you can come and squish some hand-dyed British wool yarns or just have a chat in person.
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And if you’d like even more behind-the-scenes content, you can join me over on Patreon. As I've mentioned, subscribers get access to loads of extra perks, and I’ll also be documenting my progress as I learn my way around my new floor loom which I’m really excited to share!
See you next time.
