Ria Burns Knitwear & Natural Dyes

22/05/2026

This week I took a trip up to for the inaugural organised by and , in collaboration with

It was a fantastic day with engaging panels, featuring farmers, luxury designers, policy makers and everyone in between. Fabulous to finally meet so many British wool advocates IRL after many conversations online!

I took a display of naturally dyed wool yarns to showcase the harmony of British wool and natural colour. It led to some great conversations about dyeing with plants and local supply chains, which I'm sure will continue after the event.

I wore my new tee design which I dyed with homegrown madder root, and it wore so well through all weathers. I'm going to make a second version today and work on releasing it as a design.

I'm excited to try dyeing some of beautiful yarn, too!

14/05/2026

Had a knitting scratch to itch, so I whipped up this oversized boxy tee.

Knitted on my Knitmaster fine gauge using my laceweight RomneyxShetland yarn from

I'm very much a 'work it out on the machine' kinda knitter, so I'm pleased this worked out with only a small amount of adjustment.

Whilst I love the natural wool colour, I'm planning to naturally dye this one.

So, what colour should I dye it?

11/05/2026

May’s content is now live inside Seed to Skein 🌱

If you’ve been thinking about joining but worried you’ve left it too late in the season - you really haven’t.

You can still sow some seeds, buy plug plants, and grow your own colour this year.

This month I’m guiding you through:
🧶 how to dye variegated yarns
💛 my dye recipe for a zingy yellow using weld, which is ready to harvest now
🤔 a deep dive into understanding the dye categories (substantive, adjective and fugitive)
🌱 how to pinch out, harden off and plant out your dye seedlings
🧑🏻‍🌾 and a big video update from my garden – sharing my successes and failures, and my planting plan for the season

There’s also a lovely, active community forming, and two months of previous content ready for you to explore and catch up on.

Join us at seedtoskein.co.uk
Let's grow some colour together 🌈

01/05/2026

Hawthorn dyeing on Beltane/May Day 💮

Winter prunings from this tree provided the colour, extracted slowly and dyed on Shetland wool yarn with no mordant or modifier.

This will become a jumper for .of.flaws who kindly pruned the tree.

It's lovely to see it in full bloom and full of life today.

30/04/2026

Hello! I kinda forgot about posting on Instagram so am showing my face for ye old algo.

It's the time of year where there's not a lot of knit work to show, and as you can probably tell from my mild sunburn wild hair, I'm spending most of my time growing dyes for future knits, workshops and commissions. I'll be posting garden stuff more consistently on if you're interested.

I'm also working on the business in general which is very not Instagrammable. It's raising some interesting questions and should hopefully help me find a better way of working, where I can keep working on things I love and make enough money whilst doing that. It's tough out there at the moment!

Anyway, this has turned into a bit of a waffle, so I just wanted to say hi and remind you I'm still here, and am available for dyeing or knitting commissions, or workshop bookings 😊

24/04/2026

A Spring Update From The Studio and Garden 🌱

April has been a full one here - lots of time in the garden, alongside a run of workshops. A real highlight was Oxford Real Farming Conference: In The Field at Fernhill Farm, where we immersed ourselves in the world of wool and natural colour.

13/04/2026

All of the naturally dyed yarns and fleece we dyed during the In The Field last week

I can't believe it's been a week since I was setting up my van at the farm to immerse myself in the world of working with wool!

Here's a little photo dump, featuring workshops, plants, woolly crafts and some random other things 😊

11/04/2026

🎤 Ria Burns is a specialist in regional fibre and botanical colour, and their fantastic presentation details their work mapping the hues of the South West England Fibreshed using foraged plants, and revealing how local soil and water conditions shape unique colour palettes for yarn. You can hear their talk on Saturday from 14:15 to 15:15. This session is included with your festival ticket. 🌿🎨

Tickets are available now through the link in our bio for The Great British Fibre Festival on the 30th-31st May 2026. 🐑

02/04/2026

Machine Knitting Workshop Update!

Due to my studio and house needing a new roof (🙀), I'm pausing workshops at my studio for May and June, due to the inevitable noise and disruption it will cause.

If you'd like to learn machine knitting with me before July, I've got three slots available this month - the 14th, 21st and 29th. Booking is easy - just select the date you require via the workshops page on my website

These one-to-one sessions are 4 hours - plenty of time to learn the basics on your new machine, or get to grips with more advanced techniques.

27/03/2026

The magnolia in the garden has proved to be a fun photography prop for my naturally dyed neckerchiefs 😂

There's a little Spring discount available in the shop to help me have a little Spring clean - all knits are included!



(Song chosen because I saw cover it last night, and I'm still thinking about it...)

21/03/2026

My phone memories reminded me that my book came out three years ago today!

Thank you to everyone who's bought it and given me lovely reviews about it, and thank you to for commissioning it! There's a short blog on my website about it, if you fancy a read this morning 😊

Please enjoy this incredibly awkward photoshoot taken at - it's their Fibre Experience open day today from 10-4 and the sun is shining 🌞