Meet Shadow from Felt Fusion – "Scrumpy"

We just adore knitting socks over here – there's nothing as cosy as a pair of handknits on your feet! – and even better if they're in gorgeous colours! So we just had to ask the wonderful Shadow of Felt Fusion to collaborate with us on our 2025 Socktober yarn – something fun and autumnal to celebrate this special month.

Enter "Scrumpy", a delightful combination of golden yellows, foresty greens and warm reds:

Check out Scrumpy

Shadow's woolly journey started in 2007, when she needed a creative outlet after being at home for several years, bringing up her 3 boys. After discovering the wonders of wool with woolly nappy covers, she taught herself to knit with the help of a book and knitting friends. The natural progession was then to start dyeing yarn in 2013, and she has been steadily developing her dye techniques and bases ever since!

We took the chance to have a little chat with Shadow about her business, how she creates her striking colours, and what inspired “Scrumpy”.

I'd love to start at the beginning of Felt Fusion! Can you tell us a little more about how Felt Fusion came to be and what brought you to dyeing yarn (and making soap)?

I started dabbling with fibre crafts when my children were young and I was at home with them full-time. I taught myself to needle felt and wet felt initially and the hobbies developed into a small business so I could create a small income and have something fun for myself. At that point I was part of a couple of small online communities connected to cloth nappies, which my children used, and I discovered wool nappy covers, which I would have knitted by other small businesses (work at home mums), in beautiful hand dyed yarn.

I learnt to knit and started building a stash from indie dyers - mostly from abroad as there weren't many UK dyers at that time. And that then developed into dyeing yarn myself and adding that to the business - the rest is history.  My youngest son is now 20!

As for soap - as someone who has always embraced natural products I learnt to make soap for our family about a decade ago. After giving some to family and friends and being asked for more repeatedly, I decided to take the plunge and develop new fragrance options - my default bar is citrussy - and then go through the rigmarole of testing, certification, etc.  It's quite a long and involved process and was a steep learning curve.

You have a beautiful selection of British wool blends that you dye on - some of them spun by us! What's important to you when you select your bases and what draws you to working with British wool?

I think the most important for me is how the yarn takes dye, colour is my thing ultimately and was the main reason for choosing white for my scrummy blends. Natural fibres are extremely important to me, mainly for the breathable-ness, whether that be the cotton t-shirts I wear, or my wool duvet. I love wool and other animal fibres, and all of their luscious properties, but appreciate that blending with other fibres, such as nylon for longevity in socks, can be useful too.

British wool is important from an ethical point of view, I think it's important to use it, so we don't lose it! Having built my business on superwash, mainly merino wool, I do struggle a little to sell my British blends, because my customer base tends to lean towards the softer merino, however I love the 'wooliness', the more rustic squish, of British spun British wool and will keep dyeing it. I'm moving my Super Duper sock sets over to my Talamh blend because I love it so much. I am a sucker for other fibres too, but I don't think we have many camel and yak on our little island! I'm making plans for big changes in 2026 and hope to do more to support the British wool industry.

Your colourways are so joyful and fun – a lot of variegation, almost self-striping, and really unique colour combinations. Would you walk us through how you create a new colourway?

Colourway inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. I have many, many colourways inspired by pictures, or songs even, that my lovely customers have sent me.  Some are from the well known films, tv programmes, etc. and I've recently dyed some from songs that get stuck in my head at my weekend job. I even have a colourway from a girls dress I walked past in a shop.

As for creating them, I tend to be quite literal and pick out as many colours that I think would work from a picture, or I might search meanings behind things and use colours that I connect with them. Sometimes I'll dye a colourway just because and then whatever comes into my head becomes the name. I have, on occasion, asked my children to name colourways. That doesn't always go quite so well; having three boys, I've been dyeing 'Snot Cake' for years lol!

I'm entirely self-taught. I didn't look up more than how to fix dyes. I've been 'winging it' for about 13 years now I think. I use many different techniques, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone use my main one, so that's my little secret! 

For Socktober 2025, you've dyed a stunning autumnal colourway named "Scrumpy". What's the main inspiration behind this colour and its name?

Scrumpy was inspired by a gorgeous autumnal picture that the John Arbon team chose! A picture of crisp apples in an orchard. The name seemed obvious and came to me before I'd dyed it - scrumpy being west country cider made from local apples! I picked out colours from the picture and blended a couple of new dye colours to go with some I have already and then allowed the dyes to work their magic in the pans. Some colourways I control each colour carefully, others, like Scrumpy, I allow to merge more and create new shades.

Last, but certainly not least: With Socktober coming up, I'd love to hear if you have a favourite sock pattern (or two) that you'd think would work really well with "Scrumpy"?

Tricky question - I'm not really a big sock knitter if I'm honest. I use sock yarn for all sorts of things, including my jumpers, shawls I fancy creating for my shop, scarves, etc. I do only wear wool socks, but the knitting is more a means to an end for socks for me whereas I'll knit a shawl for the enjoyment of the process.

I have a very basic pattern in my head, just for my feet, using either Talamh sock or Exmoor sock. I tend to knit my socks whilst standing on my stall at events, so keeping it simple is important, so I can chat with everyone and put them down as needed. Most of my colourways are quite busy, so I do think simple is often best; a vanilla sock, or perhaps a pattern with a slip stitch that lifts a colour occasionally, but I would probably steer clear of anything too complicated that would get lost in the yarn. Busy yarn for simple knits! 

Thank you so much, Shadow, for taking the time to chat with us! You can find Shadow over on her website and Instagram, and our latest collaboration “Scrumpy” is available now. 

Check out Scrumpy