As promised, here is a tutorial for a crochet basket! I made a new basket in natural cotton (the 5mm 'Vanilla') and turquoise (the 5mm 'Mint'). It is slightly smaller than the other one I made in shades of grey and pink, but you can use any colours and make the basket as big or small as you like.
For the smaller basket I used about half a kilo of single twisted string (5mm). For the larger, I used a total of just under 1kg. Click here to see all available colours and here for natural.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a crochet expert! Experts would probably have lots to say about how I made this, but at least the result looks good. And that's the most important thing, right?
You will need:
- About 0.5kgs of 5mm single twisted cotton string
- Crochet hook (10-12mm)
- Scissors
- Forceps (or perhaps a smaller crochet hook)
Instructions:
- (0:26-3:20) Start with a 'magic ring' and make 6 single crochets into the ring. Pull the string end to finish the first round of the base of the basket.
- (3:20-5:27) Round 2. Make 2 single crochets in each of the 6 stitches from the previous round. This increases the stitches to 12 in total in the second round.
- (5:27-7:02) Round 3. In this round, first make 1 single crochet in the first stitch, then 2 in the second. Continue like this five more times (1, 2, 1, 2 and so on) until you have finished the third round. You should have a total of 18 stitches when you are done.
- (07:02-8:37) Round 4. In this round, make 1 single crochet in the first stitch and then 1 in the next before making 2 single crochets in the third stitch. Continue like this five more times (1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2 and so on) until you have finished the fourth round. You should have a total of 24 stitches when you are done.
- (8:37-9:42) Round 5. In this round, make 1 single crochet in the first stitch and then 1 in the next, 1 in the third and then 2 in the fourth stitch. Continue like this five more times (1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2 and so on) until you have finished the fifth round. You should have a total of 30 stitches when you are done.
- (9:42-11:00) Round 6. In this round, make 1 single crochet in the first stitch, 1 in the second, 1 in the third, 1 in the fourth and then 2 in the fifth stitch. Continue like this five more times (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 and so on) until you have finished your sixth round. You should have a total of 36 stitches when you are done.
- (11:00-12:15) Round 7. In this round, make 1 single crochet in the first stitch and then 1 in the second, 1 in the third, 1 in the fourth, 1 in the fifth and then 2 in the sixth stitch. Continue like this five more times (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 and so on) until you have finished your seventh round. You should have a total of 42 stitches when you are done.
- (12:15-13:37) Sides. You can continue like this by increasing the single crochets in one stitch by one for each new round, or you can now begin making the sides. After round 7, my base was about 25cm/6.5in wide.
From now on, you will simply make single crochets in each and every stitch, round after round until you are happy with the height of your basket, or want to change colour. - (13:37-16:50) Change colour. I wanted to switch colour after my basket was about 15cm/6in tall. Cut your string so it has a bit of a tail left, and then bring in your new colour. Continue just as before and gently pull through the new string through the stitch to make a single crochet. As you continue, try making the single crochets around the two string ends to cover them up.
- (16:50-17:20) Finish. Once you have reached the end of the round (or you can go on making more rounds in your new colour if you wish) make a 'slip stitch'. The difference between the slip stitch and single crochet is that you don't yarn over before pulling through the loop. Cut the string and pull the string end all the way through.
- (17:20-21) Hide the ends. Use your forceps to hide both ends left (the one on the top and the one on the bottom). Simply pull the string end through the nearest stitches, just a couple, and then cut the string close to the base. And you're done!
Make a crochet basket and put a plant in it! Just make sure you don't water onto the cotton ;)
