I finished it and I LOVE IT! Love the pattern; love the yarn. This is so very beautiful.
The truest colour is in the second photo from the top.

Here were my “opening notes”:
just cast on - it will take a while because spring is here.
I ran into problems on the first set of increases. Didn’t have a clue what slk2p was. After help from the Ravelry community I learned it means: slip one, knit two together, pass over. Sheesh.
Anyway, it’s coming along nicely (though slow because I’m only knitting for about an hour or so each evening) :) …
Really enjoying this project -- great pattern and well written.

FINISHED:

Love this pattern and it’s so easy. The yarn made for a lovely soft, delicate scarf. Elegant drape.

MODIFICATION:
The only mod I did was to slip the first knit stitch purl-wise on the straight edge to give it a nice finished selvedge.

The person I made this for prefers a nice long scarf so this is how I made mine:

The first increase section was 10 leaves/increases. The main body (no increases) was 14 repeats (leaves). The last decrease section was again 10 leaves so there are a total of 34 leaves on this Saroyan. It could easily have been much shorter but, as I said, she likes a nice long scarf.

In my opinion, this scarf is best done in a solid colour -- shows off the stitches which are the star.

I will definitely make another of these.