Summer is upon us, and that means some garden time! Join me for a look at some of my recent knitting, weaving and spinning projects, as well as a little garden tour and some calming flax processing at the end.
A finished weaving project, updates on my spinning project, new knit designs and a little flax processing.
It’s been a while since I filmed anything, as I had to take some time off for health reasons. But I’m back, and there’s so much to catch you up on! A bit of everything this time: a bit of knit design, the results of weaving experiments on my floor loom, spinning progress, more flax tow processing and a secret knitting project in the works.
Let's talk about all things craft.
The handspun handknit I'm wearing
Regulars to the blog will probably recognise the handspun handknit cardigan I’m wearing today. In my last podcast, I said if I weren't wearing this cardigan in the next one, something had gone wrong. Well, I'm delighted to show that it's off the knitting needles and can confirm it is every bit as lovely to wear as I’d hoped.
This is my Mistland Cardigan, and it's such a satisfying knit. A boxy body and simple drop shoulder are complemented by lacy sleeves that are especially enjoyable to knit. The lace pattern repeat is simple enough to get into a flow, which is exactly what I want when knitting.
The original sample was knitted for a knitting magazine in a soft pink which wasn't really a 'Marina' colour. So, I made a second version in a natural, undyed grey handspun yarn. I spun the yarn a couple of years ago and still have about 120g left. It was a slow spinning project, so it’s nice to be able to stretch that effort over more than one craft project. I’ll likely pair what’s left with another handspun down the line.
The handspun yarn itself is a mix of Bluefaced Leicester, Shetland Teeswater, a tiny bit of Zwartbles, and a good dose of alpaca and angora, which is where all the glorious halo comes from. I usually prioritise durability over softness when choosing yarn to craft with, but this blend has such a beautiful, fuzzy texture that it feels like a treat to wear.
And while I don’t believe in keeping my handknits for special (I wear my knits hard, although perhaps not if I'm gardening in the middle of the rose bushes), this knitted cardigan is already starting to pill a little. So, I think it might be reserved for days when I want to feel a bit prettier and put together.
Find the Mistland Cardigan knitting pattern on my website
Find the Mistland Cardigan knitting pattern on Ravelry
My recent weaving project
Back in September, I picked up a Dryad folding floor loom and recently completed my first weaving project on it - a woven scarf, which was an experimental test to get the hang of using the floor loom. It was great to try out different warping techniques and see what else I could do as opposed to that with my rigged heddle loom.
I used pure alpaca yarn in natural shades, basically creating a sampler of different twill patterns. The warp was a single colour, while the weft colours changed regularly, using a two-over-two twill with different pattern variations each time.
I did make a mistake when I set up the warp initially, and spaced it too far apart. It’s one of those lessons where next time I know it's worth the effort to unpick, respace, and start again - even if it pains me to start a craft project over. I also found the decision fatigue of trying out too many different patterns made this weaving project feel like a bit of a chore. So I’ve learned that when I want to relax and enjoy the process, it’s better to weave long stretches of the same thing and just let myself settle into it. Same goes for my knitting, really.
If you'd like to see the weaving process, I documented making my woven alpaca scarf over on my Patreon:
My current spinning project
As has been the case for a while, I've also got a spinning project on the go.
In a previous blog, I had just finished a marathon hand-spinning project consisting of 300g of my signature Skua fibre blend, in which I ended up with roughly 1700m of 2-ply handspun yarn ready for a weaving project.
I've since dyed up a pleasant peridot on my Feather blend to use alongside the moodier Skua handspun and have been steadily spinning the sleek, lustrous wool top into a fine, lightweight yarn to be used as the warp. The two handspun yarns will then hopefully be woven as a herringbone, to become fabric that I’ll make into… something.
Both Skua and Feather are my own fibre blends created with Wingham Wool Work, using 100% British breed fibres sourced from UK farms.
Skua is a joy to spin, combining Dorset Horn, Teeswater, Manx Loaghtan, Jacobs, and Cheviot to create a rustic, textured fibre with grip that’s full of character. Feather, on the other hand, is much softer, made mostly of long wools and intended to be spun finely. It’s a blend of Wensleydale, Teeswater, Bluefaced Leicester and moorit Shetland to give it a balance of strength and softness - the result is truly lovely.
Tour de Fleece is on at the moment, although I’m not formally taking part as structured challenges don't usually work for the stubborn part of my brain that resents being told what to do! Still, the extra spinning content on my Instagram feed has definitely inspired me to spin more. I’ve got 300g of my hand-dyed wool top waiting for me to spin up, so the motivation is appreciated.
Find my natural Skua blend British wool top on the website
Find my natural Feather blend British wool top on the website
Shop update
Take a look at some of the new hand-dyed spinning fibre I've got left, plus some brilliant new handmade wooden buttons and sets of stitch markers by Tom Dyson.
New drop of limited edition British wool spinning fibre
I've added a small batch of hand-dyed spinning fibre to the online shop recently after my pop-up at Wool on the Exe. As I type, there are still a few available online if you fancy it. If you want a closer look, I went through some of the remaining limited-edition colours and the British wool bases on the podcast.
My lovely Patrons got early access 24 hours before everyone else, to help spread out the traffic a bit. So, if you’d like a guaranteed look at future hand-dyed wool tops, I'd love you to join me on Patreon. As well as early access to shop updates, Patrons get access to exclusive content like monthly videos, Zoom calls, and discount codes. It starts from just £2 a month, and your support helps keep my podcast and creative work going. If you’re interested, you can find all the details here.
Any British wool spinning fibre not snapped up straight away by Patrons then goes out to my newsletter subscribers, so if Patreon's not for you, that's the best place to hear about new things. You can subscribe to my newsletter here.
New big buttons and stitch markers by Tom Dyson
I’ve been waxing lyrical about Tom Dyson’s beautiful handmade wooden buttons for ages, and I’ve now added a new size to the shop. His 15mm yew and laburnum wood buttons have been hugely popular, so I’ve added 20mm ones in the same wood. They’re perfect for chunkier knits, which I know will be useful when knitting season rolls around.
I also asked Tom to make stitch markers in the laburnum and yew woods. These natural wood stitch markers come in sets of six on bulb-shaped pins. They are super lightweight and simple; you can use them as lockable markers or progress keepers, or slide them on your knitting needles between stitches.
Shop all handmade wooden buttons by Tom Dyson
Shop handmade wooden stitch markers by Tom Dyson
My knitting projects
As well as all the other craft projects I have on the go, I've also got a couple of things I'm knitting...
A secret knit design in Baa Ram Ewe
I can’t show you what I’m knitting yet, but I can show you the British wool yarn I'm knitting with. The lovely folks at Baa Ram Ewe got in touch and sent me some new British yarns to try, and I surprisingly fell for a really chunky one.
It’s called Natural Meadow, and it's a gently twisted single-ply chunky yarn that reminds me of Lopi yarn. It's a British Suffolk wool yarn that's a little fuzzy, slightly rustic, and has a nice tweedy look. I’m knitting a new design for a knitting publication and am using the shade Sea Holly, which is knitting up lovely so far. Baa Ram Ewe recommend 8mm needles, but I’m using 6mm to get a slightly more structured, less airy fabric that's actually less dense than you might expect for a couple of needle sizes smaller.
My red knitted cardigan design
This knitting project has been on my needles for a long time, but it'll eventually be a knitted cardigan with a saddle shoulder and moss stitch panels across the top that flow down the sleeves. I’ve finished the body, and the sleeves are on hold while I work on other things, like the aforementioned secret design!
This knitted cardigan design includes (perhaps predictably for those who know my knitting style) moss stitch panels that will narrow and widen with shaping, creating a kind of pinchy, swoopy effect, and I’m using cables to cross over the outer edges. I charted the design in Stitch Mastery and shared the entire process, from swatch to stitch planning, in a video for my Patrons. So if you're interested in the knitty gritty of knit design, you might want to sign up for that.
The yarn I am using is Rauma Finull, a 100% Norwegian wool yarn, in colour 4120, which is a deep red with beautiful depth. It was a gift from my lovely friend Diana, who saw the colour and immediately thought of me.
Watch the Patreon video with my early cardigan design process here
My flax tow processing project
You might remember I’ve written before about working with flax tow - the shorter, waste fibres leftover from flax processing. I originally got a big bag of pre-made Flax tow from Flaxland in the Cotswolds, and now I’ve gone one step further and started processing the raw flax myself.
It’s time-consuming and makes a lot of mess, but it’s an incredibly satisfying process that I've been enjoying immensely. This time, I’m processing the whole flax myself and generating the tow as I go.
The fibres get shorter and shorter until they’re about the same length as a typical wool staple, and I'm processing it all and sorting it into lengths to add to my existing collection. When I have a decent chunk of time, and the weather is good, I’ve been setting up in the garden so I can make a mess processing the flax fibre without having to worry about hoovering.
There’s a snippet of me processing flax in my garden at the end of the video if you’d like a peaceful watch.
Watch the video I made about processing flax tow for spinning here
Garden Tour (and plans for a craft studio)
For those of you who enjoy the garden updates, I've included a little tour in the podcast video. I’m going to be sorting the back garden, which I haven’t shown before because, to be honest, it’s a bit horrifying! There’s a big old outbuilding full of asbestos back there, which we're planning to tear down to make way for a proper new craft studio for me to work from.
I’m so excited about the prospect of moving out of the spare room and into a dedicated workspace. Somewhere I can keep all my wool, dye pots, and British wool spinning fibre without tripping over them. I’m sure I’ll immediately outgrow it, but it’ll be brilliant to have a bit of separation between home and work. I'm really looking forward to 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. Subscribers get loads of extra perks, like early access to limited edition spinning fibre drops, membership in my exclusive Discord group and even (depending on your tier) free knitting patterns and discounts each month!
See you next time.
