I'm full of creative energy now the days are getting longer, and I have quite a few big multi-stage textiles projects in progress. I'm making exciting plans for weaving cloth with hand-spun yarn on my floor loom, which I'm just beginning to get used to.
Embracing spring crafting with slow making, hand-spun yarn and lots of creative energy
There’s something magical about spring and these longer days have given me a surge of creative energy. Winter is great for cosy crafting, but now the new season is here, I feel like I have 400 ideas bouncing around and lots of craft projects to work on. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, it’s exciting - not stressful.
For me, this season is all about slower, more process-intensive crafts that feel nourishing. I’ve been weaving on my floor loom, knitting up handspun yarn, spinning precious British wool fleece, and finally making progress with craft projects I’ve been working on for months, even years!
My recent knitting projects
I'm wearing my Opula Sweater
The knitted jumper I’m wearing in my podcast video is Opula; a knit design I created inspired by the flowing, sinuous lines of Art Nouveau design.
You might recognise this as my knitting project for the Out of the Dark MAL, which I hosted throughout the beginning of 2025. It’s one of my own designs, knit in my hand-dyed Mendip 4-ply yarn in the shades Sage and Night on the Cloudy base.
I took my time knitting this one, although maybe a bit too much time, as I finished it just a day before the MAL ended! The pattern offers elbow-length and full-length sleeve options, and as you can see, I went for the long-sleeved version. I have added a bit of extra length to the sleeves (I have unusually long arms), but if you’re average-armed, the pattern specs will suit you perfectly.
I knit a size 2, and I love how it fits with just a little positive ease for a close fit and a lovely silhouette. If you’d like to make your own Opula using my hand-dyed British wool yarn, I have some 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 Opula knitting pattern on my website
Find the Opula knitting pattern on Ravelry
Mistland - my knitting project with handspun yarn
This one has been a rather long-term craft project, but I've been knitting a Mistland Cardigan using a glorious handspun yarn I spun a couple of years ago. It’s a bit of a “kitchen sink” blend of angora, alpaca, Bluefaced Leicester, Shetland, Teeswater, and a hint of Zwartbles; all undyed and beautifully soft. It's such a joy to knit with.
Mistland’s plain, boxy body paired with airy lace balloon sleeves makes for a really wearable piece. The lace pattern on the sleeves is fun to knit (and I say that as someone who usually groans at the thought of knitting sleeves). If you’ve dabbled in lace knitting before, I'd definitely recommend adding it to your list.
I think this knitted cardigan is going to be a very wearable piece in my handmade wardrobe. The undyed, neutral grey is perfect for me as my clothes can be busy and colourful - even if that colour is a predictable 'Marina' palette - so a grounding neutral will help set other pieces off without me looking like a visual mess!
Find the Mistland Cardigan knitting pattern on my website
Find the Mistland Cardigan knitting pattern on Ravelry
New products on the website
Spring Mystery Boxes - a surprise bundle of hand-dyed spinning fibre and British wool yarn
The mystery boxes are back! Much like my Winter Mystery Boxes, there are two options for the Spring Mystery Box. You can choose between a hand-dyed yarn box or a hand-dyed spinning fibre box.
Each box includes four hand-dyed colourways inspired by the natural world waking up. They're an invitation to slow down, embrace the start of a new season, and create something beautiful.
The base for the fibre boxes is my solace blend, a dreamy, fluffy blend of Dorset Horn, Cotswold, and Shropshire. The yarn box contains my Mendip British wool yarn, available in either 4-ply or DK.
If you'd like a sneak peek at the mood and palette, head over to my Spring Mystery Box mood board. I won’t spoil the surprise, but it’s all about celebrating the vibrant, earthy tones of spring.
Disclaimer: I’m not sure how many are going to be available at the time you’re reading this as they are limited edition and the Winter Boxes sold quickly!
Find the Spring Yarn Boxes here
Find the Spring Fibre Boxes here
Making Stories and the Passant Sweater
If you’ve heard the sad news, Making Stories is closing down. It’s bittersweet, but I’m delighted to have the penultimate release, Issue 13 (Confetti and Rainbows), in stock. I’ve also restocked Making Stories Issues 11 and 12 which feature my Welanna Cardigan and Hedgebind respectively.
Issue 13, however, is a joyous edition packed with beautiful knitting patterns, including the Florafetti Slipover by Juliette Pécaut, a fun, embroidered knit design with serious shoulder action.
It also features Passant by Eliza Hicks, a stranded colourwork sweater designed in my Mendip 4-ply yarn. It’s boxy and cosy, with a checkerboard colourwork pattern and tiny loopy fringe at the hem and cuffs. I got the chance to wear the knitted sample at Unravel yarn festival and absolutely loved it. It's super fun, and so cosy and comfortable to wear.
If you’d like to make your own Passant using my hand-dyed yarn, I have a couple of yarn knitting kits on the website. These include the original colourway Eliza used in her sample which is a dark green and a sort of greeny yellow colour and then I’ve added a neutral version with just the natural grey and white. If you want to put together your own colour combination, I've added a discount code in the listing description so you can create your own knitting kit.
Find my Passant Sweater yarn knitting kit on the website
Find Making Stories Issue 13 on the website
Find Making Stories Issue 12 on the website
Find Making Stories Issue 11 on the website
My recent handspun project
After six months of spinning, I finally finished my marathon handspun project; a very fine 2-ply yarn using my signature Skua blend. This fibre combines Dorset Horn, Teeswater, Manx Loaghtan, Jacobs, and Cheviot fleece, and was the first blend of British wool I created in collaboration with Wingham Wool Works. It’s a mix that brings all the qualities I most love in wool for spinning together.
I dyed the fibre in a colour I call Highland and the process of spinning was a true labour of love.
My plan for this spinning project was to spin everything before plying it together in one go, aiming for a more consistent yarn. I started by spinning the fleece onto four smaller bobbins, then plied it all onto one enormous bobbin. It’s been a project six months in the making, so finishing it feels like such a relief!
However, if you're a spinner, you may well know that if you leave singles to rest for too long, in my case 6 months, they lose a lot of twist - where does that twist energy go? That's what I'd like to know. How can yarn lose twists when it’s sitting on a bobbin?
As a result, the plying process was a bit fraught, with breaks here and there. I’d hoped to use it as warp for a weaving project, but its fragility and number of knots have me hesitating. For now, it’s on the back burner until inspiration strikes, perhaps as warp as intended, but we’ll see!
My recent weaving projects
My first project weaving with my new floor loom
I’ve started my first weaving project on my new floor loom which is incredibly exciting! I’ve been documenting the process in a mini-series on Patreon, and I’m currently working on Episode 3 which will be all about weaving. This piece is a skinny scarf in natural alpaca colors, full of different patterns and experimenting with what I can do. I’m testing out a 2-over-2 twill setup and learning a lot along the way.
There’s such joy in learning the loom and making little tweaks. It's been a super fun process for me, working on low-stakes projects, even when I’m itching to dive into something grander. With materials as precious as handspun yarn, it feels important to get it right.
You might think that all the creative freedom of making it all up on the fly is super fun, but I've actually found it exhausting having to make all the decisions so frequently which puts me off working on the project. I suppose it's good to know that’s how my brain works and those sorts of improvised craft projects are not for me.
I’ve been enjoying getting to know my floor loom, though and making little tweaks to the set up. I'll be working on a few more low-stakes weaving projects, even though I’m itching to start weaving cloth - which my skua handspun yarn will eventually become. It may be boring for now, but with materials as so inherently precious as handspun yarn, it feels important to get it right and do it justice.
Join me on Patreon
Blending fibres and planning a new weaving project
Speaking of precious, my basket of golden orangery fibre from Fernhill Fibre is also capturing my creative attention. I’ve been dyeing the fleece with plants - woad, onion skins, and rhubarb root to be exact - and I plan to create two different yarns, splitting the fibre for warp and weft. I’ll be blending that British wool with the Flaxland flax fibre I've been processing recently, which I chatted about in my previous podcast blog. I’ve also done a separate video on how I’ve been processing the flax tow, which is the waste fibre you get from processing the flax.
These multi-stage craft projects are something I love. Processing the fibre, spinning the yarn then either knitting or weaving and sewing the fabric are all separate projects for me to enjoy. The whole creative journey, from raw material to finished piece, is so satisfying to me. I'm looking forward to blending up those fibres so keep an eye out for the next video in that series.
Spring really has filled me with creative energy and I am excited to have too many craft projects and lots of possibilities too. Stay tuned to see what I decide to do with my fine hand-spun fibre as I have many ideas about where I can go with it.
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.
For more casual life and crafting updates, you can follow me on Instagram, where I’ve been posting a bit more frequently, or join me on Facebook if that’s your preference.
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.
