My ugly scarf

I'm done! My ugly scarf is finished! Kind of. It's so ugly that I think I'm going to add some knitted flowers to it to make it wearable. Because ugly scarf plus ugly flowers equals totally chic, I'm just sure of it. I don't know if this is normal or not for beginners, but I started out with 15 stitches across and it somehow turned into more than 30. So then I had to pare it back down, but of course, it's not even so it's very crooked and lopsided and...ugly. And it all looks like the wrong side of a sweater, not like knitting, which confuses me. Am I purling, rather than knitting? I think the girl in the yarn store meant to teach me to knit, but maybe I mixed it up and am purling instead?? I'm going to study my DVD today to figure out how to purl. I really want to be able to make little knitted stuffed animals for the kids, but am I naive to think I can actually do that? They look so tiny and complicated. Check these out: http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/flowers.php.