I have started weaving again after a long much needed break. When a person is a creative type, on occasion the creative spark wanes a wee bit. There is nothing wrong with that, it is just the natural ebb and flow of creative energy. Sometimes a person can push through it but other times it is a much better option to step away for a while. During that time away, I have pursued other creative things which has kept my creative spark alive but allowed me to start percolating weaving ideas in the back corners of my mind. I buillt and designed the lavender and herb spiral gardens. I started distilling lavender and herbs for hydrosol and essential oils. I started to design a cut flower garden and plant perennials that should be gorgeous this summer.

One of those corners in the back of my mind gave birth to the Phoebe Poppy Pocket Scarf. I started spinning mohair locks again about two years ago and sold a lot of my yarn. I did make myself the Phoebe hat but have been desiring a Phoebe scarf to match.

Originally I made an open weave piece that turned out larger than originally anticipated and it became the Phoebe Shawl. It is made entirely of Phoebe hand spun Locks and silk thread. It shines and sparkles with such a luster from her gorgeous locks with the added silk sparkle just making it even more pretty. Being an open weave allows it to move and yet still be cozy warm to wrap up in it. It is a little bit free form with unusual fringe that gives it a whimsical air of the fairies.

I had not given up on the Phoebe scarf idea but had used a fair bit of my Phoebe yarn. So I started out with my second attempt at the Phoebe scarf and decided to use my 16 inch rigid heddle loom from Ashford for this one. I started to warp it on my preferred 5 dpi reed and realized it would be a struggle if I wanted to use Phoebe’s texture art yarn for warp. I have never used handspun art yarn for warp before this project. I decided to break out my 2.5 dpi reed for the first time and it was wonderful using it with the textured art yarn. Lockspun texture yarn is by nature a bit lumpy, bumpy, and textured so the larger 2.5 dpi Reed was perfect. When I finished warping most of the 16 inches of the loom, I ran out of my Phoebe yarn. I still wanted all white, so I switched to Poppy’s lockspun pure mohair yarn for all the weft. I put a slightly longer warp on than I needed for a scarf as I was considering doing another Phoebe type hat or a wee bag to match.

Turns out I had a longer warp than I realized because of course I did not measure it when I was direct warping. And I thought a bag might be good. I finished the skein of Poppy yarn and only had a small amount of warp left so I switched to a little of Primrose’s dark red textured mohair yarn.

I did not know how long the second piece would be or how long the scarf would be because again I didn’t really measure either of them. I just kept weaving until I could not weave even one more row. The scarf turned out to be about eight feet long plus fringe….opps. And the wee bag turned out to be big bag size or something else. I decided something else and turned it into a fringed mohair collar neck warmer thing. I put some coconut butktons on it to close it and could still pop it over my head without undoing the buttons. I adore the two colors of mohair in their natural undyed color and have decided to keep the collar for myself.

The Phoebe Poppy Pocket Scarf had to be shortens somehow because who needs an eight foot scarf? In those back corners of my mind, a pocket scarf had been perking for several years. Most photos I have ever seen online or Pinterest had patterns for crochet or knitting. I had been thinking about how to do on the loom. I ended up turning the end od the scarf up about 8 inches, seaming up the edges and using a coconut buttons on each end to hold the pocket in place and closed. I left the fringe on the scarf as a decoration for the pocket edging. This effectively shortened the scarf and gave it a unique feature for where to tuck your hands when you are wearing the scarf.

It was a super fun project and after it was all done, I have decided to sell the Phoebe Poppy Pocket Scarf as I am unexpectedly in love with my wee fringed collar. The Phoebe hat and the Fringed Mohair collar look fabulous together. I look like a wooly creature from the neck up and am super warm as well.