Here is my most shameful admission as a crochet designer; Ms March was my first new pattern in years, I mean years. Really, can I even call myself a designer in that case? But with that admission comes one more, I haven’t shared my past designs with you either.

This is the first step to course correction in my design business. I am going to introduce you to my first ever collection and give you a little freebie from it.

I used Caron Simply Soft Brites for this collection. But I did not have any definition what I wanted the collection photos to convey at the time so I just had the models wear the items without a sense of styling to fit the attitude of my handmade accessories. I have come a long way since then.

But from these first photo shoots I learned that when you use friends as models you get the best photos. They are more genuine in their reactions when they are playing dress-up with a friend.

I like playing with Sculpey clay. It’s one of my crafty things and this set has handmade buttons on the hats. This was the first time I made buttons. I have others I made with my Esteemed Lacey collection and I think I will continue to make clay items to accessorize my accessories. What other creative mediums do you incorporate into your main craft?

Mesh Scarf Pattern:

• H Hook
• Worsted weight yarn of your choosing
• Yarn needle

Ch 225

• Row 1- double crochet (dc) in fifth ch from hook (counts as first dc and ch space), (ch 1, skip next ch, dc in next ch) repeat to end. (113 dc, 112 ch)
• Row 2- turn, ch 4, dc in second dc on Row 1, (ch 1, skip ch, dc in next dc) repeat to end. (113 dc, 112 ch)
• Repeat Row 2 two more times
• Join with sc to borders.

This was the middle of the scarf. I used three different borders I found on MyPicot.com. I found it was easier to create the border first and then crochet the scarf center.

MyPicot.com was a wonderful source when I first started crocheting seriously. It taught me so much about reading patterns. Really a fabulous resource.

Okay so there you have it. My very first collection. Stay tuned for my second collection which had a little more focus. Even though this is ancient history in my crochet journey sometimes you need to look back to see how far you have come and how far you still may need to go.