Sweetheart Tote

Hi everybody. Welcome to our live event. My name is Brenda Kaby Anderson, and I'm very excited today to show you how to make the sweetheart tote. That is this bag here. It's a pretty ample size tote bag.

It's like got a cross body strap, which is what I love because I have kind of slopey shoulders and if it can't cross over my shoulder, it just falls off my shoulder, um, but you could definitely convert this to a shoulder strap if you just like to have a little strap over your shoulder, um. You know, it's very customizable um but this is just a cheerful piece. It's got all these different bright colors to it. It's different on both sides, slightly different on both sides, and then it has this little rainbow stripey, um, kind of rounded handle. It's kind of like a noodle shaped handle.

That's something that I haven't really done much of, but it really makes a nice structure for the handle or the strap, um, so I'll be walking you through all of these techniques. Um, we're gonna be starting with the heart square, um, which of course can be used for all kinds of things. I am hoping to make myself a granny square sweater with this heart shape, um, motif at some point because I think it would be so cute. Um, but today, just the bag, um, I'm very excited to see that there's lots of you guys here and you're, um, popping into the comments and we started off so kindly from Laurie H saying hello and assuring me that she's there watching, even if she can't catch me live, um, she watches me later. That was so nice to read your comment.

Thank you, Laurie. That means a lot to me, um, and we've got a good morning from Carol. And Belle watching from Massachusetts, um, oh, and she always tries her best to come to my classes. Oh, you guys are so sweet. And we have a hello from Olivia from Southern California.

Um, hi, Olivia and Barbara from Maine. Hello, welcome everybody. I'm so glad you guys are, you know, stopping in chatting and saying hi already. Um, so I mean, obviously this is a live event, as you probably noticed if you guys have any comments, um, if you wanna say hi like other people are doing, that would be awesome. It's so nice for me to know that you guys are out there watching.

Also, if you have any questions about what I'm doing, or if you have helpful tips for other people um who might be watching this as well, definitely put those in the chat. So, um, yeah, we can make this a live interactive event here. OK, so, um, first I want to comment or let you guys know that the sweetheart to pattern is free and available for you guys. You can go ahead and click the download, um, link in the description and, um, you know, if you wanna do it later, it'll be available later too that you don't have to do it right now. It might help you though as you're watching this to be able to kind of um go through the pattern with me, uh, especially when we start working on the heart shaped square.

Um, but just know you can always rewatch this video later too, you know, no problem. So, um, so there's that you're gonna need that for this, uh, project. Also, um, there are some sort of like live, uh, or some, uh, photo tutorials is what I was trying to say, photo tutorials in your pattern that are kind of gonna help you guys out with like any of the little tricky things because we're gonna be doing a couple of unusual techniques in this pattern, um. Uh, the most importantly, the one that we, uh, are using to create this lining on the inside of the bag here. If you take a look on the inside of my sample, you can see we have like this t-shirt lining here and it's been crocheted into the bag.

So is this the absolute fastest way to make a lining? No, it's not the fastest way to make a lining. I just, the fastest way is to use a sewing machine and. Sew up a rectangle and insert it and sew it in. Um, but I did this for those of you who are not big fans of sewing, sewing by hand, or you maybe don't have a sewing machine, or maybe you just want to try another interesting way to create a lining.

This, it was fun, um, and it does, you know, takes a little bit of time because you have to crochet your way around some fabric first, and then you incorporate that into your bag by crocheting it in place. So you're not actually having to sew any part of this lining. Um, which is cool because I know that there are many crocheters out there who are not big fans of sewing. They really rather just crochet the whole thing all the way through and not, and not do any sewing. Um, so this is for you.

Although this is not a completely non-sew project, you are going to have to sew the handles into your bag, but that's pretty minimal. So, and I'll walk you through all that. Don't worry. Um, it's not anything complicated. All right, um, let's see.

Oh, Alexandria's watching with their one year old. Awesome. That kid is gonna be such a good crafter. All right. All right.

Thanks you guys for chiming in your comments. OK, so let's talk about the materials you're gonna need for this project. So as you can see, there's lots of different colors. Um, there is what I call the main color, which is the sort of creamy off white color, and then there are, let's see, 123456 contrasting colors. Sorry, I just pointed in the air.

I know that this purple was the 6th 1. So we've got all of these contrasting colors here. Um, and you know, you don't, so the, the a white color is, um, about 300 yards, and then there are two hearts that I use twice, so a pink heart here and a green heart here and then if you turn the bag over, we've got pink here and green here as well. And then the other four colors are just used once. So once with the tea turquoisey kind of color with the yellow color, the orange, and once with the purple as well.

So that's what I used in my uh sample, but I really hope that you guys, you know, go stash diving, see if you have anything that'll work already. Um, you can certainly make all of the hearts in matching colors, you know, you could do like red, red, pink, pink, or you know, like really be your own designer and choose the colors that you like. You don't have to have, you know, as many colors as I'm using here. I just thought that they looked really nice and then once you get to the handle, I'm using all of those colors and kind of striping them in order, but if you chose other colors for these, then you can just adjust this and as long as you have the right amount of rows, then you're fine. You don't need to worry about having a specific number of colors if you don't, if you don't want to follow um what I have here.

Um, the exact yarn brand and color numbers and all that stuff is all in your download. Um, but this is a 100% acrylic, and it is a chunky weight, or a bulky weight. So that's a CYC number 5. So this is a little thicker than Um, that, you know, most prevalent in the United States anyway, thickness of yarn, many people use it for Afghans and, and so forth. That's the number 4, this is the number 5.

So this is a little bit chunkier. Now, there's probably going to be at least a few people out there wondering, well, can I just Use my worst at weight yarn. I mean, I already have that. Um, and of course you can, and you will just end up with a smaller bag. So, once you do up one square in your worst of weight yarn, just know that when you put 4 squares together, that's gonna be the size of your bag.

No, granny squares or these heart squares, they're like building blocks so you can absolutely adjust, you know, you can add more squares to it if you want to. You can really, you know, I don't want you to worry if you've got yarn on hand and you want to use that, just use that. It'll be fine. If you end up making smaller squares, you can do 3 across and 3 down to maintain that square, um, that square shape of the bag, sorry. So there's lots of options for you here.

I would recommend though either using acrylic or acrylic wool blend or wool. You could do a much of cotton, but the thing that I'm a little bit worried about, especially in this chunky way, is that it might get kind of heavy, that your bag might get a little heavier than than you like. So just, you know, use your own judgment after you do one square and then decide if you like the yarn that you chose. All righty. Um, OK.

So, we talked about the yarn. We also are gonna need two size hooks. So, the first hook, this is a 6.0, which is a J size hook. Um, and that's what I use for Pretty much all the crochet parts of the bag except for when we are um crocheting into our lining fabric. So that's this t-shirt fabric.

When we work into that, you're gonna need a much smaller hook because we're gonna be poking holes through the t-shirt. So this is a 3 millimeter hook, which is like a smaller D-sized hook, um, but really, You just need a hook that is large enough to bring the yarn through your lining fabric, which, and we'll get into this when I start showing you how to do this part. And you need something that is at least big enough to bring your yarn through, but it helps when you can make your hook fairly small because when you're poking those holes through your t-shirt, then you know you're gonna be able to pierce through it much easier if you have a smaller hook, especially if the head of your hook is just a little bit pointy that also helps. So you may want to try out different styles of hooks, you know, just to see what works the best for that section. Another thing I want to point out is if you happen to have a rotary cutter and you have a skip wheel blade, so that is a special blade for a rotary cutter that has little points on it, and as you run it along your fabric, it pokes little holes in it.

That is a great way to. Make the holes in your lining. I'm not gonna be doing that today because I didn't want people to feel like they had to go buy a tool, especially for that um so I'm gonna show you how it can be done with just this hook, but um, you know, it is a little bit harder on your hands. It's not like just like normally crocheting into fabric. You do have to kind of poke it through.

So, if you have issues with um your hands cramping up, or um if you just want to make it a little quicker, if you happen to already have that skip wheel blade, then definitely try that out because that is gonna make your whole process of making your lining much quicker. It's gonna make it a breeze. So, All right. Let's see here. Looks like I'm running a little behind.

We've got a question. Can you use number 6 yarn? You could, but it's gonna end up quite large, um, but maybe you don't mind that. Or if you have a number 6 yarn, maybe you just want to do one panel which would end up a little bit bigger than one of my panels, um, and you could make a slightly smaller bag. So I mean, I think the best way to know if your yarn's gonna work is just do one square and think about like how is this gonna work if I make 4 squares or should I just use 2 squares, you know, like 1 square on each side, um.

You know, there's, and we'll kind of be, we'll get into those other options as we start working on this project, but I don't think that a number 6 will completely translate into this. This is the number 5. Number 6 is gonna be thicker. It's gonna make your bag heavier and larger, um, so just be aware of that. All right, let's see.

Oh, Brat's mom's here. Good to see you again too. Um, they're from the southwestern Chicago suburbs, awesome, not too far from where we live, and Vicky is saying hello from Washington state. Um, we've got some uh some encouraging comments. You guys, thank you so much for everyone chiming in.

I really appreciate it. OK, so let's start by making the heart square. So the heart square is gonna start out with the heart in the middle, which is this, which I'll show you how to make in just a second, and then we're going to create the white background around it. We're going to be stitching into that. So you know this is something that could be useful for other Valentine's Day projects.

It would make really cute elbow patches on a sweater or a little coaster or something like that. So even if you're not interested in making the full square. Um, you know, it is kind of fun to make, to learn how to make the heart. All righty Oh, I didn't talk too much about the t-shirt lining. Let me just back up for just a second.

The t-shirt lining is just really an old t-shirt that you might have, you know, maybe it's just a little used and you don't really want to wear it as a t-shirt anymore. It could have a print on it or not a print on it doesn't really matter. Um, it just needs to be a functional piece for the inside lining of your bag. So it also needs to be large enough that you can cut out one continuous rectangle that is the size of this bag doubled, OK? So, um, and I'll show you, you'll understand a little more about that when we get into the cutting it out part, but I just wanted to mention that since that's one of the materials you'll need.

OK. So now we're gonna start out with the, the heart. We're gonna work from the center out. So you're gonna go ahead and create a slipknot, however you like to do that, and we're gonna start by chaining 13, so 123456789, 1011, 12, and 13. Then we're gonna put A stitch marker in the 3rd stitch or chain from the hook, so 123.

The reason we're doing that is because later on we're gonna be stitching into this and it just makes it a little bit easier to explain what chain we're working into later. So we, we've got 123, and that's a marked stitch and then we're going to make a double crochet into the chain right after the marked chain, OK? And we're gonna be working into the bottom of our chain. So, If you take a look at your chain, there's all these little V's going like this, that's the top of your chain, and then if you roll it over, so the V's are touching the table, you'll see all of these little horizontal dashes, that's the um that's the part of the chain that we're gonna be working into. OK, so we're gonna start out with a double crochet in the 4th chain from the hook.

So we yarn over. And then we're gonna insert our hook, yarn over, drop a loop yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over, and pull through 2. And we're gonna make another one in the next chain, so yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up, yarn over pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2. So, so far, we have that this is like a chain 3 right here, and we marked the bottom of the 3rd chain right there. So that's gonna count as a double crochet, and then we've done 2 more double crochets.

And now we're going to do something that I called a center double crochet decrease. So, and it's worked over the next 5 chains. So we're gonna yarn over. Insert into the next stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop yarn over, pull through to and stop, and then we're gonna work into the next stitch. yarn over.

Insert into the next stitch yarn't over, pull up a loop yarn over, pull through 2 and stop. So we've got two partially made double crochets there. We're gonna do that again, but we're skipping the next chain and working into the following chain. OK, so this chain's not gonna get anything worked into it. So we're gonna yarn over, skip the next chain, go to the next chain.

Make part of a double crochet here. You're an over pull through 2 and stop, and then we're gonna make another part of a double crochet in the next chain. So you're over, insert, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2. Now you should have 5 loops on your hook, and then we're going to yarn over and pull through all 5 like that, that draws them all together. Then we're going to make a double crochet into each of the next 2 chains.

So yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up loop, yarn over pull through 2, yarn over pull through 2, and then we'll do another one. You're an over insert, you're an over pull up, you're an over pull through 2, you're an over pull through 2. OK, so you can see that center double decrease has just taken all those stitches and combined them into one, and that is what's creating this sort of V shape at the bottom of our piece right there. Now, we have 1 chain left, and we're gonna put 6 double crochets into that chain. So that chain's right here.

So you're an over insert, you're an over pull up a loop, you're an over pull through 2, you're an over pull through 2, so that's 1. And now we're continuing to work in that same chain. There's our 2nd double crochet. There's our 3rd double crochet. And now, at this point, we're gonna start wrapping around to be working across the bottom.

So, we've got 3 in there so far. I'm gonna pull this beginning yarn tail over to the side now. So that I can crochet over it. And I'm still working in that same last chain, and I'm going to do 3 more double crochets here. One, To And 3.

OK. So we just kind of worked those 6 double crochets all the way around like that. And now we're gonna continue across the bottom of our foundation chain. And we're gonna do 4 double crochets in a row. So, One Each, each into the next chain, OK, to.

And 4 And now we've reached that chain that we never worked into. Remember how we skipped that chain at the middle in the middle of that big crazy decrease we made? There, that's the chain that's right there, and we're gonna do 2 double crochets, and then a chain to, let me just double check, make sure that's right. Might be a chain one. I'm looking at my, I really like to stitch um from a chart because it just helps me keep my place a little better.

Let me pull that out here. Here we go. OK, so, oops, there's a 11 chain there. So we're gonna do 2 double crochets, chain 12 double crochets, all into that chain 1 space, which is right here. OK, so we're gonna do 2 double crochets, one.

And 2 A chain one And now 2 more double crochets into that same chain 1 space 1. 2 And now we're going to continue working across the bottom of our chain of that foundation chain and make sure that you don't accidentally skip this first stitch. So I just kind of take that last stitch that I did and push it over to the side just to make sure I'm not skipping anything. Now I'm going to do a double crochet into each of the next 4 stitches here. So 1.

To And 4 And we've ended right next to that stitch marker that I had you guys place. And now, in that chain, right there where we had marked it, we're gonna place 5 double crochets. So I'm gonna remove my chain. And it might be a little snug to get into that chain the first time, but after you get in there once, then it should be a little bit easier. So one.

2 3 For And here's the 5th 1. And then we're going to make a slip stitch to the top of this, um this the stand this uh double crochet here which is really secretly three chains. So we're gonna find the top chain right there and we're gonna make a slip stitch into it. Now you can slip stitch underneath, you know, the two strands this way. I like to go straight down into.

The middle of that chain, and I end up with two strands on the top and one on the bottom, and that seems to hold very well, but you can do that however you like. OK? So, we just slip stitched and joined at the end of our round. This is what our piece looks like so far. Now, we're going to do round number 2.

So we're going to start by chaining 212, and that's going to count as our first double crochet. And then we're going to place another double crochet in the same stitch as that join that we made. So it's right here. That's the same spot where we did our last, our joint at the end of the last round. So we're going to yarn over, insert yarn over, pull up, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over pull through 2.

So now we've got a chain 2 and a double crochet. And then we're going to, we're right here in the chart. And then we're gonna do another center, uh, center double crochet decrease right here over the next 5 stitches. OK. So, here's the next stitch.

So, we're, we're gonna be starting out, making a partial double crochet. So, we yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up, yarn over, pull through to, and stop. You yarn over insert, you're an over pull up, yarn over, pull through to and stop. Then we skip the next stitch, which is right here. And then we do that same partial double crochet in the following stitch.

So, you're an over insert, you're an overp pull loop, you're an over pull through to and stop, and one more time in the next stitch. OK, so at this point you should have 5 loops on your hook, and we aren't over, pull through everything. And then we are going to start working our way around this part of the heart. And in the next 6 stitches you see here, we're gonna be placing 2 double crochets in each of those next 6 stitches. OK, so there's there's gonna be an increase in each stitch.

So here's a double crochet in the next stitch, and then a second double crochet in that same stitch. So that's 1 2 And 2. 3. And 3. For And 4.

5 and 5. 6 And 6, OK, so we just did. We worked into the next 6 stitches and we did 2 double crochets into each of those, and then we're going to work 6 double crochets, 1 into each of the next 6 stitches. So here's 1. 2 3 4 5 6 And now we are at that chain 1 space in the bottom of the heart there, and we're gonna do 2 double crochets, chain 12 double crochets into that chain 1 space.

So, this is what we did last time we got to the bottom, uh, tip of the heart there. So, there's our 2 double crochets, chain one, and 2 double crochets into that same space. All right, so we've got 2, chain, 12. And now we're going to do 6 double crochets, one into each of the next 6 stitches. I'm gonna slide this over so I don't miss my first one, which is right here.

So one To 3 4 5 6 And then into the next 5 stitches, we're going to be working 2 double crochets, OK? So, There's the first one. And there's the 2nd 1, so that was stitch #1. 2 and 2. 3.

And 3. 4 and 4. And here's our last stitch, 5 and 5. OK. And now we're going to join to the top of that chain too with a slip stitch, just like that.

And then we can cut our yarn. And just pull that right through. And I'm gonna go ahead and just weave in my ends real quick, just to get them out of the way because there's no point in letting them get in the way. So I am going fairly quickly, I mean at least it feels fairly quickly, um, through this, but just know you can rewatch it, you can, um, you know, rewatch it multiple times. It helps to watch it when you're looking at the chart or the instructions if you're an instructions person.

Um But I do have a lot to cover here, so I'm not, you know, I'm not taking quite as much time as I would normally like to because I'm just trying to make sure that I have enough time to explain all the different steps. Whoops. All right, so there's that first yarn tail. OK. Wondering if any of you guys are planning on making Valentine's Day projects for people.

If you guys have things in mind to let me know. I'm curious. OK, so here's our heart shape, and now we are going to start on the bottom tip of the heart. So we're just gonna turn that upside down like that. And we're gonna grab our main color.

And I'm gonna pull this darker color in here just so that you can see a little better with the white. All right, so I'm gonna start out with a slipknot on my hook. And I'm going to start at the very bottom tip of the heart, which is right there. There's that chain one space. I'm gonna work into the back loop of that chain one.

So, instead of going underneath both loops or into the space here, I'm just inserting underneath that back loop. So I'm going to insert yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, and pull through 2, and that's going to count as our first single crochet. Now we're going to create another single crochet right next door, a single crochet, and we're still working through that back loop. We're going to be working through the back loop all the way around the heart. Now we're gonna do a half double crochet.

And next, a double crochet. So we've got 2 double crochets in a row. So here we have single, single, half, double, double, and now we're going to do a treble. So we yarn over twice, insert, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2, you over pulled through 2. And then we're going to chain 21, and 2.

We're going to be at the corner here of our um of our square. So now in the next stitch we're going to do two treble crochets. So yarn over twice, insert, yarn over, pull up a loop, yawn over, pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2. There's the first treble and let's repeat that. yarn over twice, insert.

Pull up a loop, you're an over pull through 2, you're an over pulled through 2, you're over pull through 2. And now we're going to work. Uh, double crochet here in the next stitch, double crochet, another double crochet in the next stitch. And then a half double crochet. So, half double crochet is where you yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, and pull through all three.

And then we have a single crochet here next. And then we have 3 slip stitches, 1. 23, so these are all worked into the, you know, separate stitches. And now we're gonna do a single crochet. And now we're going to do a half double crochet.

And then a double crochet in the same stitches are half double crochet, so we yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up loop, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2 for our double crochet. Then we chain 21 and 2. And now we're going to do 2 double crochets right here in the next stitch. There's the first one. There's the 2nd 1, and then we're gonna do um one more double crochet into each of the next 3 stitches.

So 1. To 3 And now we're gonna do a treble to together. So we're gonna yarn over twice, insert. Yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2, and stop. And then we're gonna do that again into the next stitch.

So you run over twice, insert. Yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, pull through 2, yarn over, pull through 2, and now there's 3 loops on our hook, and we yarn over and pull through all 3. And then we're going to do uh another treble stitch in the next stitch. Oops, I got a yarn over twice. Here we go.

OK. And now we're gonna do a double crochet in each of the next 3 stitches. So 1. 3 And then we're going to do 2 double crochets in the following stitch, so 1 and 2. Chain 212, we're at a corner here.

And now we're going to do a double crochet in the next stitch. Here's our double, and then a half double crochet and the same stitch. Just like that. And now we're gonna do a single crochet in the next stitch. And then we're going to do a slip stitch in each of the next 3 stitches.

So 1. To 3 And then we'll do a single crochet. The stitches are getting taller here, a half double crochet. A double crochet. Another double crochet.

And then we've got a treble crochet right here. 1 and 2 and 3. And another trouble crochet in the same stitch. 1 and 2 and 3, and then we're gonna change 21 and 2. And we're gonna do a treble crochet into the following stitch.

123, and then a double crochet in the next stitch. And a double crochet into the following stitch. And then a half double crochet. And a single crochet. So, this is the last stitch that was open.

And then we're gonna end with one more single crochet into the very first stitch that we worked into. So that one now has 2 stitches in it, OK? So, it looks kind of like a square. It's a little pointy here, but it's going to get better on the next round. OK, so now we're gonna do a slip stitch in that very first stitch we did.

That's just gonna join our work. It's not gonna count as a stitch, and then we're gonna change 21 and 2. That's gonna count as a double crochet. Then we're going to make a double crochet into each stitch around, um, and then at the corners, it's gonna be a little different. So, let's double crochet across to the next corner.

So one double crochet per each stitch. And we're working under both loops now. The only reason we worked under the back loop before was just to kind of maintain a nice, that nice line of unused loops around the heart. OK, we've gotten to the corner, then we're gonna do 2 double crochets. And then chain 21 and 2, and then 2 more double crochets, all into that chain 2 space.

There's our 2nd set of double crochets. We've got 2 double crochets, chain 22 double crochets. That's what we're going to be doing at each one of the corners. I'm going to move that to the side just to make sure I'm not going to miss that next stitch, and we're going to do a double crochet in each stitch across. To the next quarter.

So this round is a lot easier, you know, the other, the previous round, you really have to pay attention while you're working that round. You'll notice though that there's a pattern, you know, with the stitches getting taller and shorter and taller, you know, um, it's just gonna be one of those things. The first couple hearts that you do, you're just gonna have to pay close attention and then after that you might um kind of be able to start remembering what comes next. I know it sounds like a lot when I went through all that, but you do have a chart and you do have the written instructions, and you do have me in this video. OK, so we've made it to the next chain to space.

We're gonna do two double crochets. And then a chain 2, and then 2 more double crochets at that chain 2 corner there. And then we're gonna do double crochets all the way across. OK. Almost there.

All right. Here's our last regular double crochet into a stitch. Now we've gotten to the corner. We're gonna do 2 double crochets, chain 22 double crochets. So, 1.

22. And 2 double crochets here. 1. 2 And now we're going to work a double crochet into each stitch across. Be careful not to miss that first stitch right after you work into the corner.

It's very easy to miss that stitch. All right, couple more stitches here and then we'll end up at a corner. We're getting pretty close to the end of our round actually. There is our chain to space. So we're gonna do 2 double crochets, And 2, a chain 212.

And 2 more double crochets 1. 2 And then we're going to double crochet our way across to where we started. All right. That was our last double crochet. We're gonna make a slip stitch into that first, the top of that first double crochet, which was really a chain too.

So the the top chain of the chain 2. So we'll just make a slip stitch there. And then cut our yarn. And then you can go ahead and weave in your ends. Um, I found it just as simple to weave in my ends at this point, um, or you could cut that longer and you can use that as a yarn tail, but it comes out right in the middle of the square, which I find kind of annoying.

So I just woven my ends and then when I stitched all my squares together, I just grabbed another piece of yarn and you might be thinking, well, what, Brenda? Hang on a second, I thought there wasn't going to be sewing here. You don't have to sew your squares together. You can crochet them together. So if you're used to doing it that way, you know, you could certainly do that.

You can do the zigzag, zigzag join method or you could do like a slip stitch, you know, just put the wrong sides of your squares together, um, and slip stitch them together, you know, or a single crochet join if that's how you want to do it on the um. Creative crochet corner website, there's lots of tips on how to join squares over there. There might be some on Craftsy as well. Um, I'm guessing that there are, so there's lots of different ways to join your squares. If you do not like to sew, you do not need to do it.

I just end up, um, whip stitching my granny squares together most often because I don't mind whip stitching and it lays so nice and flat and it gives you a chance to really make sure that you're kind of like getting all your corners perfectly aligned, um. I don't know it just it doesn't seem like a problem to me, but I know that there are those of you out there who are like, yeah, I really do not like doing that. So you can go ahead and crochet your squares together as you like. Um, so you're gonna need a total of 8 squares and in the pattern I do, you know, tell you how many of each color to make and all that sort of thing if you want to follow my color plan. That's great.

Um, so you'll get all 8 of your squares finished, and then you're going to sew them together or crochet them together however you like. I will demonstrate doing a whipstitch here because this is how I constructed my bag. So, we're just going to imagine for a second that these two, That these two heart squares are going to represent each 4 squares. So just imagine this is like um 4 squares here and 4 squares here and then we're gonna seam the bottom of our bag, but this is also just to kind of show you how you know how to whipstitch squares together, but the reason I'm putting the the two bottoms of the hearts pointing at each other is because this is going to be the bottom seam of my little tiny bag that I'm making here in my demo. Um, if you were working on full, full size bag, um, this is what your piece would look like, like this, you know, a very long rectangle, and in the pattern directions I have the um the piece all laid out photographs so you can see where all the hearts go, you can see which ones are right side up and upside down and so it'll all, you know, match up.

Um, but yes, I'm just gonna show you guys how I just quickly do a little whipstitch between these two pieces. And you can see yours together however you like as long as you, you know, get your rectangle together in the configuration that it shows in the patterns so that would be um two heart squares actually let me just show you what that looks like. Uh, let's see here. Here we go. So, it'll look like this.

So once you stitch all of those squares together, then you'll be ready for the next step. OK, so I'm just gonna be doing a little whip stitch just to demonstrate, I'm going underneath both loops of each. Uh, edge when I'm doing my whipstitch. Like that. I'm just catching that and going around and around and around.

It's very simple. I find it to be nice and sturdy and this is, you know, a tote bag that I'm imagining I'm going to be carrying my library books around in. So I want it to be nice and sturdy and strong, and I don't want things to get all stretched out. So I'm keeping my whipstitch fairly firm. If that makes sense.

I'm not pulling it so tight that it's gonna just gather together the edge, but. I don't, I also don't want it to get stretched out. So I'm keeping that in mind as I'm stitching. All right, I made it to the opposite corner. And I'll just weave this in real quick, get it out of the way.

And then we're going to talk about the lining. OK. So when you cut out your lining, you first, you're going to make sure you have all 8 of your hearts stitched together into that rectangle that I showed you, and then I fold my rectangle in half. OK, so it'll look like this, except just ignore the fact that there's a lining on the back of this, but you've got 4 squares here, a folded edge on the bottom, 4 squares on this side, OK? Then you're going to take that and place it on your t-shirt.

And the fold will go along the side seam of the shirt or you know, however this works out. You can, you don't even have to use a t-shirt um you can use, you know, just yardage fabric that you buy at the fabric store. You just want to look for a fabric that is not going to shred, so not a woven fabric a knit fabric is much better, so you could. Um, I would definitely use a t-shirt fabric, or if you have one of those little skip wheels, um, you could use a fleece even, and that would be very sturdy. That would work as well.

You just wanna make sure, um, you know, that you're, when you poke the little holes that it's not gonna shred. So that's why it has to be a knit. OK, so, if you had, if you're doing the large size bag, you would place your T-shirt, or you would place your bag right along the side seam of your t-shirt. Here's the side seam of my t-shirt here, like that. And then you could just go ahead and cut that square out.

There are pictures of this in your pattern, um download as well. So you're gonna be cutting through two layers of that t-shirt when you cut this out. Um, I'm just going to be doing a mini bag here, so I'm gonna place it along the folded edge of my t-shirt. Um, 00, and before you do this, even before you sew things together, I would recommend blocking your piece because it's not going to be nice and flat. It's gonna be a little curly and a little wavy, and you really should steam block it, especially if you're using acrylic, if you're using a wool, you should do a nice wet blocking.

Um, OK, so here is my folded. Rectangle folded edge of my t-shirt and I'm just gonna cut it out. You don't need any seam allowance. You just wanna be sure that you're not gonna be cutting any of the strands of your, uh, crocheted fabric. You just have to be careful.

So if you're worried about that, you can trace it out. Um, beforehand, before you start cutting, and I'm sorry for these super tiny scissors. I forgot to grab my fabric shears. Oh, you know, just have to snip, snip, snip. We'll get there.

OK. So, here is my rectangular piece that I just cut out using my, you know, stitched together bag pieces as a pattern. Yours will look much bigger if you did, you know, all full, you know, the full amount of squares. Um, and now we're going to start crocheting into the edge of this. And so this is a little more like an art than a science.

You don't have to worry about how many stitches exactly you have around the edge. It's all gonna work out fine. Uh, yeah, I know that's probably hard to believe for some of you, but I, I promise, um, let's see here. I got a big tangle. OK.

So in order to start stitching around our lining, you can really start anywhere and you just can begin with a slipknot on your hook and find that smaller, sharper point to your hook, and this might take a couple of tries um before you get the right hook and shirt combination here. But you can start anywhere you like. I usually like to start somewhere sort of near a corner, and you're just going to be using your hands to poke the end of that. Um, hook right through your fabric, yarn over and grab that, uh, grab that yarn, yarn over and pull through to. And then, basically, we're making single crochets around the edge, and then we're gonna chain one between each single crochet, because that's gonna help us, help the edge um lay flat.

So we're just creating those single crochets, we're just eyeballing it. It's really like, maybe a little more than a quarter of an inch down, somewhere around 3/16 of an inch. You know that sounds very specific. It's like more than, more than a quarter of an inch, um. But less than 3/8 of an inch, let's say.

Oops, I forgot to do a chain between my stitches. I'll do that. So chain, so every time you're working through this, you're doing a single crochet, and then you're just chaining right after that. And when you get to the corner. You're just gonna work into that same spot a few times?

So, you know, this is the part where if you happen to have a skip wheel, you can just go ahead and use that skip wheel and make stitches, you know, like little tiny holes for your stitches to go into all the way along the edges of your piece. So you can see here, in order to make this lie flat and make that corner, I stitched into this 3 times, and I'm making those chains in between each of those single crochets. OK, so you're just gonna continue. Working all the way around the edge of your lining piece, just creating those single crochets and the chain ones between them and that is what it is gonna give you um something to stitch into as you're um gonna add your um your lining into your piece. So I already did that here.

Oh, I didn't quite finish it, so, um. At the very end. When you get to where you started, then you can just go ahead and do a slip stitch. To to join that and then you can fasten off. Like this, OK?

And then you can weave in those yarn tails and get them out of the way. And I know there isn't like a lot of fabric to weave them into, but don't worry about it. It's fine. Just try to get through those yarns. Like it's good if you can split through your yarn actually.

So using a slightly sharper tapestry needle is actually a benefit because it's gonna kind of create that friction and drag and keep your tails from popping out later. OK. There we go. OK, so then you'll have a nice rectangle that's got an edging all the way around it. You're gonna place that on the table with the side that you just looked at while you were stitching, facing up, and then you will place your bag on top of that, also facing up.

And then you're gonna go back to your regular crocheting hook. The one you were using to make all the pieces. And then you're gonna go ahead and start at any corner, really. And I just start with this uh slipknot on my hook. You can also pull up a loop in the corner.

It doesn't matter how you do it. But you're going to, um, here I am just starting with that slipknot on my hook. I'm gonna go through that stitch at the corner, and then a stitch right behind it from the lining, and I'm gonna make a single crochet stitch here. And actually before you just start going around, I would recommend, and this is in your directions as well, um, to pin your pieces, you know, at the corners and then somewhere at the halfway point probably just so that you can make sure that you know it's gonna be all lined up. All the way around the edges for you as you're stitching.

Because you are not gonna have the same number of stitches in your lining behind as you are here, unless some kind of miracle occurred. Um, but you're just gonna be always stitching into the next stitch in the edge in front and then whatever happens to be behind it. So here, here's the next stitch, and I'm just pushing it through that fabric behind. Doesn't matter if you accidentally go through, go through a stitch twice in the lining or skip a stitch in the lining. It really doesn't matter.

What matters is it's gonna look neat and tidy from the front. And then the lining is going to be attached to it as you go. So you're gonna crochet through both layers every time you stitch. OK. So let me show you what the back looks like.

So we've been crocheting into it and that's what's attaching your lining to your fabric. OK? So let me show you on the full scale version. So, I've been working on this piece, getting it all attached. You can see it's attached almost all the way.

I just have a little ways to go here. So we're just continuing to work all the way around and I do want to point out when you get to a corner you can add extra stitches into the corner. So each stitch at the corner, you know, if there's two stitches the uh sorry, it's a chain 2 at the corner, each of those chains can get 2 stitches placed into them or however many you need to in order for that corner to kind of lay flat. It doesn't have to be a specific amount, you know, you may want to just take note of what's working for you and then do that on every corner. And when you get to a seam, here's a seam between my squares, you could just kind of poke your hook through wherever it needs to go.

You don't need to worry so much about like specific stitch counts or anything here at this point because we're just working on getting those two fabrics together. All right. We have almost reached where we had started on this bag. Few more stitches here. And then I'm just going to do a slip stitch in that very first stitch that I did to join it.

And then at this point, you can fold your bag so that the lining is, you know, facing itself, so it's on the inside of the bag, and then we're going to just do a slip stitch seam down each of these edges. So I'm going to chain one and then I'm going to look at this from the other side. It's going to make it a little easier for me. But you can, you can single crochet. They edge together if you want.

I am going to be doing a slip stitch because I want it to be really sturdy. And I'm just going through both layers here and doing a slip stitch through both layers. To attach them together. And just check and see it, you know, you could probably pin these together so that your seam is gonna hit in the same spot on the front and in the back, so, you know, you know it's gonna be laying nice and flat. And by pin I mean you can just put a st throw a stitch marker in there halfway down.

So you may have noticed this one has a black lining in and I. I do do make a little comment about um when choosing your t-shirt, it's better if it matches the. You know, the background, the main color, um, but I also, you know, I was like, well, I, I just wanna use a t-shirt that needs to be used up. I don't wanna go buy, you know, buy something, but you could certainly go to the thrift store and look for any color t-shirt you like, um, but I wanted to show you what it looks like when you're using a color that does not blend in. You can kind of see these little areas in the granny square where there's a hole, you know, you can see that black coming through it doesn't actually bother me actually it really doesn't bother me surprisingly at all, um, but I, I think that that might bother some people to see that extra that color peeking through so.

All right, we made it to the bottom corner, and then you're just gonna fasten off, and then you'll join your yarn at the top corners of the remaining side that needs to be stitched, and you're gonna do the same exact thing. You're just going to be doing a slip stitch seam right down that edge. Then to finish off this section of the bag, you're going to do a slip stitch edging. This makes the very top edge of your bag have a nice stiffness to it. It won't get as stretched out and it also looks really cute.

So you'll just pull up a little loop of whatever contrasting color you want to use. For me, I use the purple, and you're going to make a slip stitch underneath that back loop. Of each stitch around, so that's what I'm doing right here. I'm placing my hook underneath just the back loop. Of each stitch around.

And it makes that nice, you know. Nice little detail edge there to create that little purple edging, um, and that's it for this part of the bag. So, the other thing we should talk about is the strap. And I don't have time to create um the whole thing before your very eyes, but I did already make one here, and I want to show you what this looks like. So, um, I know this looks a little crazy.

I, I really wanted to incorporate those stripes into my bag, so I started out working back and forth and turned rows. It's worked across 6 stitches, so this is just simple single crochet worked back and forth and turned rows. It's very simple. And then after you've worked 14 rows, then you're gonna do 2 rows of color number 1. And when you, when you do that, just make sure you have, you know, like, maybe about 6 inches or so along this edge, um, and then cut that off.

You do not need to cut off the lighter color. Actually, I'm gonna show you. I'll just show you a few rows of this so you can see how this works. I'm not gonna be able to do the full 14 rows before we do the color change, but I wanna make sure that you guys understand how you can carry your yarn up your strap, because it's gonna make weaving in the ends a little easier. OK.

So we start by change 7. And then we work 6 single crochets across. I'm gonna bring this in here, so this is a light color here. All right, there is our 6 single crochets, chain one, turn. And then 6 more single crochets.

We're just gonna keep on doing this. So imagine we're just completing our 14th row in the main color. I know there's only 2 here, but let's just imagine. And then, we're going to bring in color number one. I mean, yeah, so this this is the main color, and this is contrasting color number one.

So to switch to a new color, I always complete that last color. And then I yarn over with the new color, bring that through, and then I pull on the old color until that loop disappears, like that. And then I'm ready to chain one and turn and then work single crochets across. Just like that chain one and turn. And then work those single crochets across again.

So this, in this, in the striping pattern that I use in my strap, I do 2 stripes of each contrasting color and then I do 4 stripes in between of the main color. So once you, once you do, once you complete that um first stripe going back and forth in color 1, you can cut your yarn. And then you can bring up the main color like this. And you just create a little bit of a float, and that's fine to just be hanging off there. Then we're gonna chain one and turn.

And work 4 rows of. The single crochet. In the main color, and then you can switch to the next color. So here's 2 rows. And you're always going to be switching color on the same edge because they're all, you know, you're doing even numbers of rows here.

So every time you add a strand of another color, you're going to be adding it on this edge of your piece. OK, so every time you're switching, you're always on this same edge. So that kind of can help you keep track. So that's only 2 rows, so we would do 2 more rows, then we would bring in the next color, do 2 rows of that, fasten off the next color and the whole time we're just gonna leave this main color attached throughout the whole strap and every time you know you work those contrasting colors, you drop that main color while you're doing that and then you bring it up for the next time you need the main color so you'll get these long floats around along one edge. Which you can see here.

This is what it looks like. So here's, there's a float right there. There's a float right there so that's why we were working the orange we just kind of carried it from this section so we needed it on the next section, OK? And that's just, you know, that's perfectly fine because we are going to be creating a like kind of a cord strap or like a noodle shape as I described it, um, and the way that we do that. first we're going to stitch all the areas that are in color, so like these contrasting colors.

So you would you would take whichever piece is shorter and lay it down and it's going to be on the inside of our little sausage roll here, and then we're going to just roll this up like that. We're just rolling it up nice and tight, and then we're going to use a yarn needle to do, I should have threaded this first actually. That's OK. There we go. So we're gonna use a yarn needle, and we're gonna stitch just the section, because we've got a yarn tail right there to stitch with it.

And that way, and we want to tuck that float on the inside, so we're not ever gonna see that float. So we're just doing some little whip stitches along the edge. And then we'll push that lighter color in. And weave it back and forth a little bit before we cut it off. So one of the yarn tails from the contrasting color is just gonna be hanging out in the middle.

So we just take one of the yarn tails, bring it down to the middle, and roll it up into this here I'm gonna learn from my mistake and thread this first. There we go. And then we roll this up nice and tight. And we're gonna make sure that we push that yarn float. To the inside so we're not gonna see it.

And we just use this yarn tail to sew this into that rolled up shape. So you might be wondering like why are we making this rolled up shape reda? So first of all, I thought it was cute, like looked like a little piece of candy to have it all striped like that, um, but also when you roll something like this and stitch it, it gives it a lot of strength, much less likely to stretch out. Than if you just have this strap. So you can see here, this is quite stretchy right here, but after you've rolled it, I'm pulling really hard and that's as much as I can stretch it.

It makes a huge difference. So, um, you know, this was my solution. Sometimes when I'm designing something I think to myself, is this worth buying another material? Like I could have bought some kind of nylon strap or webbing to put on the back of my my strap and then you'd have to sew it on and you know, I just was trying to. I'm always kind of trying to figure out like what would make this actually something that's fun for people to make and not just kind of, you know.

I don't want there to be a part where they're like, well, I finished most of it, but then I really did not want to do this one part, so it's just sitting in my timeout box for a while. Um, so I'm always thinking about that when I'm designing projects because I want them to be fun to work on. I want them to be fun to make. OK, so you can see I just moved on to the next color. So you're going to just sew every of, you know, every bit of the contrasting colors first, and then once you've finished that, you can start with a new strand or you know, like a yarn tail or something, and you will roll up.

The main color section and just do a whip stitch there. When you get to the section after you've been, you know, working on, let's see, do I have a yarn tail here? I do. OK, so I started doing that on this end so I could show you what it looked like. And Here we go.

OK, so I just finished seaming this little section here, and now we've come across. Now this pink should already have been stitched. Sorry, so let's just imagine that that was already stitched together there. And then when you, when you finish stitching up a little section in the lighter color, you can just duck your needle down through that contrasting color. And then it's on the other side and it is ready to be stitching up the next little section of the main color like this.

OK, so that way you don't have to fasten off after every little section of the lighter color, you can go as far as you can with, you know, the yarn length you have before you have to add another um strand to it. All right. So, um, that is how you will kind of assemble your strap. And then the last thing to do is to just place your strap inside your bag, and you can try it on and decide how far you want your strap to extend down into the sides of your bag. So right now what we're looking at, this is the top edge of my bag.

I'm looking at it upside down. Here is the seam. This is what it looks like actually. I should show you that. And then I place the handle, the strap, um, you know, a little ways into my bag like that, and then I just go ahead and whipstitch that in there.

Here, I'll do a couple stitches. Once I Locate my needle. Here we go. OK. And then when you're attaching your strap, you know that this is going, you know, if you're gonna be lugging around books, heavy things, you want this to be nice and sturdy, so take your time with it.

Here I'll turn it around this way. Take your time with it. There are pictures of this um step as well. So I'm just gonna go ahead and. Kind of weaving free weave in my end to get it started.

Whoops. Going a couple of directions here. So it feels like it's pretty sturdy. There we go. And then you're going to just sort of.

Grab a little bit of the lighter colored yarn behind, grab a little bit of the strap. And pull through so this is just kind of a whip stitch. I'm not I'm trying not to have my needle go all the way through to the front of the fabric when I'm picking up little loops here, so I'm just like picking up a little bit of that stitch and coming into here. Like that. OK.

So you would go all the way up and then you can go across, you can just slide your needle through this section and go all the way down and I would go around that whole thing twice just to make it extra super sturdy and then just sort of weave in your ends. And I'll show you what that looks like when it's actually finished. Here we are. So this is my original sample and you can see that the two straps extend, you know, in a few inches. I didn't want it to be just connecting it like for like 1 inch.

I wanted it to be connecting for a longer amount so that that way when you put something heavy in here, it really can take, you know, the brunt of the that that weight. It's, I like to make sturdy things. OK, so you can see, this is all stitched in there, not going anywhere, this side as well. That's what it looks like. And when you're finished, all right.

I think I answered everybody's ques. Oh, I have not. It kind of stopped on me. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, you guys. Um, OK.

Let me just check in here. I'm sorry I missed so much. I kept looking over here and I did not realize you guys were commenting. Let's see, we've got a hello from Melbourne and New York and New Jersey, uh. Hello from London and Texas, Florida, Lansing, Michigan, Southeast Louisiana.

You guys are from all over the place. This is wonderful. Um, oh, and Don is saying hi from Washington. Hi Don. Let's see.

Hannah's saying, definitely I plan, I'm planning to make a custom card for my partner and a set of cute heart-shaped coasters for my best friend. Oh, that's sweet. And Dawn is making a heart shape, a heart pillow for for themselves. Awesome. Oh, and see wolf pack.

Hi Cindy. Cindy's here. I'm crafting a little gift for my work friends, a few handmade candles. Awesome. And Cindy's saying it's fun to make projects that incorporate granny squares with a variety of shapes in the middle.

Yeah, yeah, I like this little heart one for that reason. It's kind of fun to change it up a little. Oh, and Cindy's doing a starry night the blanket with crescent moon and stars. Wow. I'm so sorry I missed all these, you guys.

I did not realize this was happening. OK. Oh personalized mason jars filled with homemade bath salts and essential oils for my friends. These are great ideas for for Valentine's Day gifts. Awesome.

OK. Oh yeah, and Cindy's saying I'm using the dots hooks. Yes, I do like these dots hooks. Um, they are for me almost as good as the clover Amor, which will always be my favorite, but yes, these are fun ones to use and they really feel, you know, nice and sturdy. They have good hook, they have good handles on them.

Is there a video for a beginner with a simple granny square? So on the Creative crochet corner website, I do have a granny square where I teach you how to change colors. So we do have that. Oh, what millimeter rotary blade do you suggest, Marie? I am not sure because I have not tested this out.

Um, but maybe if somebody else has a suggestion, you can use whatever skip like I, I don't know if you're talking about you'll need the size blade for whatever rotary cutter you already have, um, but as far as how far apart the little skip notches are, I'm not sure about that. OK. OK. All right. Thank you guys so much for being here.

I'm sorry, we've run out of time and I'm sorry that I neglected the comments. I just did not realize they were still coming in. Um, but I do have another live event if you guys are interested in more Valentine's Day stuff. I'm gonna be showing you guys how to make a pom pom that has a heart within the pom pom, um, so that's up in like 15 minutes. So maybe back here if you guys are excited about that, that actually that will be on the Creative Crochet Corner website if you guys are interested in watching that live tutorial.

Thanks so much for joining me, you guys. It's so nice to see you all in the comments and happy Valentine's Day to everybody. Bye.