Yup

Ever since my recent experience as a test audience for Jenny Doh's awesome crochet workshop at The Makerie, I've been itching to crochet. Though I don't have much experience, I'm generally pretty good at following instructions, so I've getting my feet wet through online tutorials. I've made a few small things like flowers and doily shapes, but I decided that I was ready for something a little more detailed as soon as I spotted this crocheted skull tutorial by Shara Lambeth Designs.

Well, as it turns out, I grossly overestimated my ability to follow instructions. It's not like I didn't ready them ... I saw that she was using finger-weight yarn and I knew her hook size. But I figured that I could just make a test version with my thicker yarn and use a slightly larger hook to get the same effect. And I also figured that her note about crocheting more tightly than usual didn't apply to me, since I tend to crochet on the tight side anyway. I used to be so good at following directions, but I have apparently become some kind of crochet scofflaw.

Shara's super cute pattern makes a necklace-sized skull, which she also adapted to create a skull garland. My skull, however, is much, much larger. As I was working my way through the rows, I started wondering how large it was going to be. When I was about half-way through, I showed it to L and he echoed my curiosity about just how big it would become. By the time I finished my row of double crochets around the outside, my dainty, necklace-sized project had become about 8" tall. I still have some fine-tuning to do on my end, clearly, although the pattern was easy and the result was pretty darn cute. With my scaling issues, I think I could stitch a few finished skulls together to make a fun scarf. Or, if I happen to wake up one morning and find that I have tripled in size, I think I may be able to wear it as a necklace. An oversized necklace, but a necklace nonetheless.