Marina Skua on her new pattern and Appledore collab!

We’ve loved collaborating with the fabulous Marina Skua on the new, limited edition shade of Appledore Aran and Appledore Tops, ‘Fallen Leaf’. It perfectly encapsulates this time of year and we are so thankful to Marina for designing it with us. It also looks incredible worked up in her latest design, the ‘Beechmast’ sweater. We caught up with Marina to chat about her inspiration behind both her pattern and ‘Fallen Leaf’.

Can you tell us a little about yourself for any folks who don’t know you?
I’m a knitwear designer and dyer based in south-west Wiltshire, and I love using British wool in my work, and try to work with fibres that are as local as possible. In my design work I like to take inspiration from plants and nature, as well as a bit of design history. I also have a podcast on YouTube where I talk about my work knitting and dyeing, as well as personal ’slow craft’ projects where I spin, weave and sew a bit as well as knit.

I love making clothes as a way to express ourselves as well as connect with local materials and fibre producers.

What was your inspiration behind your beautiful shade of Appledore Aran ‘Fallen Leaf’?
Last autumn, I drove down to the mill to begin the process of designing the colourway. It was a lovely day with low, golden sunlight, and all the autumn leaves were lit up beautifully. After sitting in the office a while, I noticed that a beech leaf had hitchhiked in with me on my boot. I put it aside, and got working on a few potential recipes for my colour.

I knew that I wanted to aim for something warm, comforting and glowy, but not too lurid, so included lots of yellow, pink and brown, with green or blue to tone  it down a bit. I tried loads of permutations, but the very first colour I blended turned out exactly the shade of that little leaf and I knew that had to be the one!

We had a blast making a colourway with you, what did you think of the process?
It was really fun! Blending up already-dyed fibre was an interesting test of my colour theory, because even though the way the colours combine ought to be the same as when mixing dye, somehow the fibres play optical tricks – I found I had to blend up my little samples with the carders, hand-spin a few grams as a sample, then put it aside for a while and come back and look at it again later to be able to see what colour it actually was.

It was a nice challenge to have to be quite precise with the proportions of each shade that went into the colour blend so that it could be replicated on a larger scale in the mill. I also really enjoyed getting a sneaky peek at the recipes for the rest of the Appledore range; there are some unexpected colours in there!

You’ve used our Appledore range a few times now, is it one you enjoy designing with?
I. Love. Appledore. I used the DK initially for my Scrumper Waistcoat, in the shade Dufflin, which somehow walks the line between tealy neutral and magical oil slick. Then I used Sweet Coppin, a kind of moody mauvy brown, for the cardigan version of Scrumper.

The tweedy, rich colour palette is beautiful, and I’ve found the yarn to wear incredibly well – it doesn’t pill and looks better with every wash. I was so excited when I heard an aran weight was being added to the range, because it knits up nice and fast, is toasty-warm (I’m a very chilly person!) and shows up textured stitches beautifully.

Tell us about your stunning new pattern!
This jumper has been a joy to work on – I’ve included a lot of my favourite details and features in the design. I have loved a good autumnal orange for a long time, and so thought I needed a pattern that felt really ‘me’ to go with it.

First of all, I knew I needed cables, because the yarn is just perfect for them. And I really love combining areas of textured moss stitch to contrast with sleeker stockinette, and really enjoy strong diagonal details in my knitwear. So I thought I would include columns of cables on the front and back, but instead of having them run vertically, I shifted them diagonally to form a V shape and create something a bit more dynamic and, hopefully, flattering. I created a few different cable stitch patterns before settling on the one that made it into the design, because those cables had to be just right!

I called the design ‘Beechmast’, which is the name for the strange little nuts produced by beech trees, to compliment the inspiration for the yarn and celebrate the fact that I genuinely love beeches!

What do you like most and least about this time of year?
Just now, in mid-November, we’re reaching the end of the part of autumn I most enjoy, where the leaves are beautiful, and the sunlight is low and warm (when it shows up). This year especially it feels like the trees have been giving us a last hurrah of beautiful colour, almost to compensate for the disappointing summer we had. For the last few weeks we’ve been having the most amazing spooky mist, and I love the atmosphere it brings, especially when walking in the woods.

Do you have a favourite warm drink and snack to keep you cosy in these chilly months?
Mulled wine is the stuff of dreams, and I wish it were popular the whole time the weather is cold, rather than just round Christmas. However, drinking mulled wine all day is a poor idea if I want to achieve things and not make repeated hideous mistakes in my knitting, so I like to mull apple juice fairly regularly to keep me warm and happy. A bit of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and clove simmered with the juice in a pan is lovely.

Snack-wise, I like to make savoury flapjacks or oat cookies with loads of nuts, seeds and cheese. I have an insistent sweet tooth, and these feel like enough of a treat without caving to its constant demands for sugar.

What have you got planned for the rest of the year?
In December I’m releasing From This Land: A Westcountry Collection. It’s a capsule collection of knitting patterns designed using yarn that’s been produced entirely in the South-West of England – wool grown on small farms, spun in local mills. The collection is made possible by a bursary from South-West England Fibreshed with the aim of celebrating the natural colours and qualities of the yarn we have in this part of the world, and raising awareness of small producers who are working in an environmentally beneficial way.

I’ve been working on the collection, visiting farms, designing, knitting and writing, for over a year, and I can’t wait for it to be out it the world! And after that, I rest a bit, and spend some time in the deep dark of winter learning how to use my new (to me) floor loom to make my own cloth.

Where can folks find you?
My website is www.marinaskua.com and I’m on Instagram, YouTube and Ravelry as @marinaskua.