Scarving for Details

My big leap of... something: Look what I made!

So, Kathleen Francis at Grosgrain Fabulous posted the amazing mini scarves below (go check out her design):

Photo of her design from her blog.  Cute, right?

Inspired, I designed my own crochet pattern for something similar. Hurdles to overcome:

1. I've never created my own crochet pattern before
2. I hadn't crocheted in over a year
3. My visual/spacial skills don't exactly rock

Reasons I decided to move ahead anyway:

1. What else is therapy good for, if not teaching courage?
2. I'm much worse with a sewing machine than a crochet hook, so the other method was out (sewing machines and I equal enough curse words to damn me to seven hells).

The outcome:

Seems I'm REALLY happy with the outcome...

I'm still figuring out how to get the pattern on paper in a way that makes sense to other people, and may eventually sell it if this happens. In the meantime, if you want to make your own I have a couple of tips:

1. Big soft yarn! These things sit right in the sensitive nape of the neck. The first one I made was with regular old yarn, and too itchy and inflexible.
2. I used a double crochet stitch. This, plus the big yarns, makes for a 45 minute project. Those of you more used to crochet may have less difficulty.
3. If you use smaller yarn, again, focus on the soft factor. I'm making a strawberry inspired one right now, with much small yarn, but it's still silky soft on my skin. Smaller yarn = be prepared for longer work time.
4. If yours ends up prettier than mine, let me down gently. I'm still so surprised I even figured this out at all! :)

For now, I'm crocheting till my hands blister, making these as gifts, and for my Etsy shop.

Husband made me feel like a star for the day, taking photos of my work, and the outfits I used to showcase the scarves.

I do NOT look firmly entrenched in my 30's here

So excited I finally got these crafted, finally started an Etsy shop, etc.

And I did my first linky party! It's here, at Flamingo Toes.