I can now offer the Starling Handbag pattern in Italian.  The translation was completed by crafteemom (crafteemom on ravelry), who volunteered her time.  I've updated the Starling Handbag Ravelry page and my free downloads page to include the new version.

I am so excited about being able to offer the Starling Handbag in French and German.  The translations were done by two amazing people, Ambre and Laura, who volunteered their skills.  I've updated the Starling Handbag Ravelry page and my free downloads page to include the new versions.

This is actually part of a bigger project.  I completely redesigned and recoded my free downloads page.  The updated look and feel is accompanied by a completely new delivery engine that should eliminate the problems some people had trying to get my downloads.  

I figured if I was going to release the writstlet pattern soon, I had to update that page to work for everyone or I would drown under  the "I can't get the pdf" emails once it's out. :)

You may have already seen this over on CRAFT's site, but just in case you didn't, I designed a crochet pattern for them ... this cute crochet heart scarf.  

I know I'm not giving you much lead time if you want to make one for V-day, but it's a quick crochet, so you could make one tonight if you don't have anything else planned.  Grab some yarn out of your stash, put on The Princess Bride, and get stitching!

Woo hoo!  Check out my Intarsia 101 tutorial on CRAFT Magazine's site.

Things in our home sometimes get names that make no sense.  It's a part of our language shorthand that we understand, but when you think about it, is unexplainable.  That weird place is where the name "face cloths" comes from.

These small squares of fabric were made to be used in place of paper towels for most of the things we use paper towels for.  I suspect the name "face cloths" refers to their use as dinner napkins, but I'm just guessing.

They are made from a queen-sized sheet I got at Urban Outfitters years ago during a 50% off sale.  I thought I'd use it as a purse linings, then I thought I'd use it as an actual sheet, but I never ended up using it for anything at all.  I've been saving it to become face cloths, it seems.

Here's the quick and dirty tutorial:

1. Cut cotton fabric into 12" squares.  I used my cutting mat, rotary cutter, and clear ruler.  So fast and easy to cut square with those tools.

2. Trim all 4 corners.  I cut them so the deepest part of the cut was about 1/4" from the corner.

3. Fold over 3/8", then 3/8" again to hide the raw edge.  I just eyeballed this step.

4. Sew a 1/4" hem on all four sides.  I used my fancy 1/4" seam foot for the first time on this project.

We do use them as dinner napkins.  We will also pile unwashed or washed vegetables on them during dinner preparation, or use them as spoon rests, and they are great for wiping all the cauliflower crumbles off the cutting board so you can cut other food without coating them in cauliflower crumbles.

I bought a small $1.50 trash can at Daiso (the Japanese one yen store in town) and put it next to the dirty clothes basket to hold the dirty face cloths.  They don't really get that dirty, though.  Anything supergross that needs to be done still gets done by a paper towel that I can throw away.

They fit in the same washer load as all the towels, so they don't make me do any extra loads of laundry.  So far, I'm really happy with them.

Episode 6 - Finishing touches: three rows of single crochet at the top of the bag and attaching the granny straps.

Here are tutorials for some of the techniques mentioned in this post:

• seamles single crochet
• weaving in the last end
• granny straps
• sew a lining for a crochet bag
• sew a lining into a crochet bag

That's everything.  Let me know if you need any help!  And definitely send me pix if you make a Hex Tote.

Episode 5 - Row 4 of a half hex motif when you join it to the tote.

See chart below.

Episode 4 - The first three rows of a half hex motif.  Make 4 half hexes.  

Visit planetjune.com for a magic circle tutorial (for right and left handers).

See the chart below.

Episode 3 - How to join a corner hex.

The two corner hexes are 3 and 17 in the chart below.

Episode 2 - How to crochet row 4 of a hex motif and how to join as you go.

Here's the chart for Row 4.  You definitely need to watch the video if you aren't familiar with joining as you go.

This is the tricky part - making a 3-D object assembly chart.  Here is the clean chart so if someone has questions, I can direct them to a numbered hex.

Black numbers are full hexes.  Red numbers are half-hexes.  Half-hexes will be covered in a later episode.

You don't have to attach your hexes in this order.  Connect them up however you'd like.  I do suggest that you lay your hexes on the floor and arrange them before you start assembling your tote.

Be sure to move one edge's hexes to the other edge before you settle on the final placement (meaning, move 24, 25, & 26 over to the left edge -- and 7 & 14 to the other side's bottom edge) to make sure there are no color conflicts.

Or, you can just put them in a pile and connect them one at a time by pulling the next one out.  It 's a granny hex tote, not brain surgery.  You don't have to over-think it. :)

Here is the ridiculously overly-noted chart. :)

Red lines are the side and bottom folds.  

The colored painted lines are where hexes match up.  The colors don't mean anything in particular.  I used different colors so you could see what matches up where: pink to pink - blue to blue - green to green - and gold to gold.

The blue stars under Hex 3 and Hex 17 are where the bottom corners are.  I will cover this in the next episode, but for those of you that want to attempt this ...

Hex 3 and Hex 17 are folded in half and the bottom edge is not attached to anything when you crochet Row 4 (as you can see since there is no colored painted line along the bottom edge).

I had trouble attaching the corner hexes, so don't feel bad if you have to wait for the video to get it.  It's tricky.