Monday Project - Crocheted Flower Face Cloths

About a year ago, I decided to make myself cotton/linen washcloths.  We were about to go to Las Vegas and I did my usual looking over of our hotel's spa menu and read about the wonderfully, luxurious body cloths they use, made from these two fibers.  I never got down to the spa - actually, I never do!  But I'd just used Cotlin yarn for the first time, had some left over, and whipped up a basic square.  Ooooh - it really does feel luxurious!  I ordered more yarn and made 14 more.  After using these washcloths for a year, washing and drying them every week with the rest of the towels, and even using them to take off mascara, they still look fantastic and are just as soft as when I first made them.

Now I'm on a flower kick (must be May!) and decided I want face cloths with a flower in the center.  These crochet up real quickly.

Materials:
*cotton or cotton/linen yarn - you want something absorbent.  I used Cotlin (80% cotton/20% linen) from KnitPicks - a DK weight yarn
*size E crochet hook

 You might recognize the  African Flower motif in the middle!  It's been making its way around Blogland and instructions for it (with claims of ownership) have shown up on several sites.  I wanted to link to the original instructions, so I began sleuthing, and found two published articles using this pattern. In the June 2009 issue of the South African magazine Sarie,  Lounette Fourie and Anita Rossouw published the instructions for it (link to article here). That's when it became known as "African Flower."  The magazine is written in Afrikaans, but I found a translation by Natasja King on Elizabeth Cat's Flickr site.

From here, the plot thickens!  It seems that Dorothy Neldhart published a pattern for a hexagonal flower motif in the September 9th, 1986 issue of Woman's Day magazine.  She called her pattern "Paperweight Hexagon Motif" and an afghan using it was featured on the cover.

Soooooo ..... they certainly look the same to me.  Without having the paperweight hexagon instructions or being able to read the african flower instructions myself, I'm not sure if there are differences in how they are made - doesn't look like it, though!  I've been using Natasja's translated instructions to make this motif - since there are getting to be a few variations on the instructions that can make a difference in this project, I'm including them here, with a some wording changes to make everything a bit clearer:

Beginning:  Chain 5 and join with a slip stitch to make a ring.
Round 1:  Chain 3 - counts as your first double crochet (dc).  Into the ring, make 1 dc and 1 chain.  *Make 2 dc and 1 chain.  Repeat from * 4 more times until you have 12 dc and 6 chain spaces total.  Join to third chain of first dc with a slip stitch.  Fasten off.
Round 2:  Attach new color into a chain 1 space.  Chain 3 - counts as your first dc.  In the same chain 1 space, make 1 dc, 2 chains, and 2 dc.  *Moving onto the next chain 1 space, make 2dc, 2 chains, and 2 dc.  Repeat from * 4 more times until you all 6 chain 1 spaces filled (6 groups total).  Join to third chain of first dc with a slip stitch.
Round 3:  Slip stitch into the first chain 2 space.  Chain 3 - counts as your first dc.  Make 6 more dc into the same chain 2 space.  Chain 1.  *Make 7 dc into the next chain 2 space, chain 1.  Repeat from * until you have all 6 chain 2 spaces filled (6 groups in total). Join to third chain of first dc with a slip stitch. Fasten off.
Round 4:  Attach new color into the first dc of any group from the previous round.  Chain 1 - counts as your first single crochet (sc).  Sc into the remaining 6 dc of that group.  Dc down to round 2, between the last dc of one group and the first dc of the next group.  (See photo below)  *Sc in first dc of next group, sc in each of the remaining 6 dc.  Dc down to round 2 again.  Repeat from * 4 more times.  Join to first sc with a slip stitch.  Fasten off.  

Stop here for the face cloth motif.

Round 5:    Attach new color into the first sc of any group from the previous round.  Chain 3 - counts as your first dc.  Dc into each of the next 3 sc.  Chain 1.  Dc into the same stitch you made the last dc in (the one before the chain).  Dc into each of the next 3 sc.  Chain 1.  *Skip the dc you made down to round 2.  Dc into the first 4 sc.  Chain 1.  Dc into the same sc you made the last dc in.  Dc into the next 3 sc.  Chain 1.  Repeat from * 4 more times.  Join to third chain of your first dc with a slip stitch.  Fasten off.

Okay!  Now on to the Face Cloth Instructions.

1.  Make an African Flower/Paperweight Hexagon Motif, stopping after Round 4.

Work Rounds 1 through 4 loosely or your face cloth will curl up!

1.  Attach new color to any dc (the long stitch you made down to Round 2).  Chain 1, sc in the first three sc from the round below.  Chain 3, skip 3 stitches, 3 sc.  *Chain 3, skip 2 stitches, 3sc.  Repeat from * 2 more times.  Chain 3, skip 3 stitches, 3sc.  *Chain 3, skip 2 stitches, 3 sc.  Repeat from * 2 more times.  Chain 3, skip 2 stitches and join to first sc with a slip stitch.

2.  Slip stitch over two sc.  Slip stitch into chain 3 space.  Chain 3 (counts as first dc), 4 more dc.  2 sc into center of 3 sc from previous round.  *5 dc into next chain 3 space.  2 sc into center of next 3 sc grouping.  Repeat from * to end of round.  Join to third chain of first dc with a slip stitch.

3.  Chain 1.  *Sc in center three stitches of the dc group.  Chain 5.  Repeat from * to end of round.  Join to first sc with a slip stitch.

4.  Slip stitch over 2 sc.  Slip stitch into chain 3 space.  Chain 3 (counts as first dc), 6 more dc.  2 sc into center of 3 sc from previous round.  *7 dc into next chain 5 space.  2 sc into center of next 3 sc grouping.  Repeat from * to end of round.  Join to third chain of first dc with a slip stitch.

5.  Chain 1.  2 sc in first dc from round below.  1 sc in next dc.  Make a picot - chain 3 fairly tightly.  Insert hook through the sc you made last.  Pull yarn through the sc and the loop on your hook.

Continue to the end of the round with the same pattern:  2 sc in the same dc, sc in the next dc, picot.  Fasten off.

I tied up a few for my mom for Mothers' Day ...

Happy Creating!  Deborah