Flower scarf (w/ pics and tutorial)

Ok, here is my very first craftster project post!! Now - with a tutorial!!

I saw a scarf like this from Minette and they wanted $104 for it. *choke* (you can see it here: on=1&keywords=minette" target="_blank">http://www.fashionvault.com/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_descripti on=1&keywords=minette). For about $20, I made one myself. My hope is to do them in many colors and give them as gifts. And sell them. And make more for all the seasons - I'm doing snowflakes now.

This is how I made it:

I looked all over for flower patterns and most of the ones I found I doctored up to make work for my purposes. If you know how to do pansies, they'd look nice. I can't do pansies to save my freakin' life. The come out ruffly! Anyway, flowers that work well for this don't have a lot of open work spaces. Fat, thick flowers work best.

#1 - for the round-petal flowers:

Crochet thread and hook size 5; whatever brand you like is fine, but get mercerized cotton. You can make the middles a different color than the rest if you like.The directions below point you in the direction to do that. I didn't make the middles a different color on this particular scarf, but I will for the next one.

Starting with center color, ch 5.

Round 1: 15 tr in 5th ch from hook. Join to top of starting chain.

Round 2: Sc in same place as sl st, * 3 dc in next tr, sc in next tr. Repeat from * around. Join and fasten off if you are using a different color for the middle and petals. If you are using the same color for the whole thing, continue without fastening off.

Round 3: Attach other color to any sc, ch 3, * 2 tr in next dc, 3 tr in next dc, 2 tr in next dc, dc in next sc. Repeat from * around.

Round 4: Sl st to 3rd tr of any tr group, ch 4, tr in same place, * 5 d tr in next tr, 2 tr in next tr, holding back on hook the last loop of each dc, make dc in each of the next 5 sts, thread over and draw through all loops on hook (cluster), 2 tr in next tr. Repeat from * around. Join and fasten off.

for the round flowers, I simply made your basic crochet round

Chain 2.
rnd 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sl st in first sc, to join.
rnd 2: ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
rnd 3: ch 1, (sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
rnd 4: ch 1, (sc in ea of next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.

if you want to make a larger circle, follow the instructions below, for additional rounds.

Additional Rnds: For each new round, add 1 extra sc stitch to the number of sc stitches between increases (an increase is done by making 2 sc in one stitch). For example, round 5 would have 3 sc between increases then round 6 would have 4 sc between increases and so on.

For the pointy-petal flowers

Begin with the basic circle from above.

first petal:
row 1: ch 1, hdc in same st as joining; 2 hdc in next st; turn

row 2: ch 1, 2 hdc in each hdc, turn

(For hdc dec, [yo, draw up lp in st indicated] twice, yo, and draw through all 5 lps on hook

row 3: ch 1, hdc dec over first 2 hdc, hdc in next hdc, hdc dec over last 2 hdc, turn

row 4: ch 1, hdc dec twice, turn

row 5: ch 1, hdc dec, fasten off

Some of the flowers are happy accidents, but went something like this:

Start with basic round

row 1: [ch 5, sk 1 st, sc in next st] around

row 2: [ch 7, sc in 3rd ch of the 5-ch sp] around, fasten off

After I made all the flowers, I took a tapestry needle threaded with a complimentary color to the flower and made simple in and out stitches in whatever pattern I thought looked nice.

When I made about 30 flowers, I overlapped them slightly and hand-sewed together with matching thread. Viola! Scarf is done.

Next time I will:
- use a different color for the center
- be more careful working stitches and ends in because the way I made it, the back of the flower has to look as nice as the front

Happy hooking!