The Viking/Victorian shirt has been hibernating recently, partly due to indecision over a minor construction detail, and partly because all of my limited supply of energy has been devoted to my application for Indefinite Leave to Remain (aka permanent residency) in the UK. I've continued to make some things, but they tend to be either brainless chipping away at slow, tedious projects (like stitching over the anachronistic metal eyelets on my wedding cotehardie, or knocking out a few more embroidery motifs on my early 19th century shift), or quick, instant-gratification type things like baking, making lemon curd, or gathering elderflowers for cordial.
Today's post is about one such instant-gratification project: a basket/bag crocheted from jute garden twine.
This project started with a desire to make a hanging basket for onions and garlic to free up some counter space in the kitchen, but it works equally well on the counter or the floor.
In a rather typical chain of events, I bookmarked all sorts of free patterns on Ravelry for various types of crocheted baskets, painstakingly narrowed them down to a few designs that I particularly liked, read through the patterns to see how they all went together, and then chucked all of the patterns out the window and decided to make it up as I went along. Here's more or less what I did:
I created test swatches of jute using one strand with a 9mm crochet hook, two strands with a 9mm hook, and two strands with a 10mm hook.
The single strand with the 9mm hook made a nice, sturdy fabric that would make a lovely rustic bag, but didn't look like it would stand up on its own the way I wanted my basket to do.
Two strands held together with the 9mm hook made a very dense, stiff fabric, but unless I was careful to keep my gauge a bit loose, it was a pain inserting the hook and pulling loops through the fabric.
Two strands with the 10mm hook made a fabric that was just as thick, but not nearly as stiff as with the 9mm hook, with some visible holes in the fabric. (Not necessarily a bad thing for a hanging basket full of alliums, which benefit from good ventilation.)
I like the look of round, pot-bellied baskets, so I initially decided that I would make a stiff, sturdy bottom of the basket using two strands and the 9mm hook, do a round or two of the walls in the 9mm hook, and then switch to the 10mm hook for the middle, with the increased gauge causing the basket to become fatter in the middle, and then switch back to the 9mm hook for the top edge and handles.
Despite living in the UK, I still use American crochet terminology.
To make the base:
Round 1: work 6 sc into a magic loop
Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 stitches)
Round 3: *1 sc, 2 sc in 1* (18 stitches)
Round 4: *2 sc, 2 sc in 1* (24 stitches)
Round 5: *3 sc, 2 sc in 1* (30 stitches)
Round 6: *4 sc, 2 sc in 1* (36 stitches)
and so on, increasing the number of sc in between each 2 sc in 1 by one stitch each round. (In other words, making 6 evenly-spaced increases each round.)
All of the above assume that you're slip stitching to join each round, and using 1 or 2 chain stitches as the first stitch in each round.
I got as far as 7 sc in between each 2 sc in 1, but you could make a basket any size you like. My base ended up being ever so slightly rounded/bowl-shaped, but since this is supposed to be a hanging basket, I didn't mind.
To make the walls:
Round 1: 1 sc through the back loop in every stitch. This creates a tiny ridge that gives the edge of the base a little bit more definition, but isn't structurally necessary at all.
Rounds 2-?: 1 sc in every stitch, until the walls are 3 rounds shorter than you'd like.
Remember how I said I planned to change hook sizes after one or two rounds to make the basket a bit more pot-bellied? Yeah, I tried that, and it didn't work. Even though there was technically only 1mm difference in size between the two crochet hooks, the 9mm one was one of those where the end of the hook gets narrower at the end, whereas the 10mm hook was basically a dowel with a notch cut out of it, so it made a significantly larger gauge. The result was a misshapen, ugly bulge where I switched hook sizes, so I decided to just stick with the 9mm hook all the way. I may try it again at some point if I decide to invest in some more jumbo crochet hooks.
It may have worked out better if I'd had a more gradual change in hook sizes, but I don't have any crochet hooks in sizes between 9mm and 3mm, so the walls just sort of bulged in misshapen and unattractive ways. In the end, I just stuck with the 9mm crochet hook all the way, resulting in a stiff, dense fabric.
At this point, I also tested out doing a few rounds of hdc, or some other pattern stitch, but I found that making rounds of hdc with the same size hook resulted in a narrower basket (If anything, I expected the opposite!) so I decided to stick with your basic sc. Again, something else to experiment with on a future project.
At any rate, since I wasn't changing stitches or hook sizes, I needed to make some decreases in order to taper the top edge and give me the pot-bellied shape that I like.
To decrease the top edge:
Rounds 1-2: decrease 3 stitches per round, spacing your decreases evenly.
Round 3: decrease 6 stitches per round, spacing your decreases evenly.
Round 4: 1 sc in every stitch
Next, it was time to make the handles and reinforce the top edge. I decided that I wanted two handles on opposite sides of the basket, occupying the space of 8 stitches. I made a mental note of where I wanted the handles to start and end so that they were placed symmetrically with regard to the decreases in the earlier rounds.
To make the handles and stiffen the top edge:
Round 1: 1 sc in every stitch until you reach the start of your handle. For every stitch in the space where you want your handles to go, 1 sc in every stitch, putting the hook through the basket one round *below* the current one. This makes a stiffer, more bulky edge.
Round 2: 1 sc in every stitch until you reach the start of your handle, 10 ch, skip 8 stitches, and then carry on making 1 sc in each stitch.
Round 3: 1 sc in each stitch, 1 round *below* the current one. When you reach the handles, make 10 sc over the 10 ch space.
Round 4: sl st in every stitch. When you come to the handles, drop down and sl st through the stitches that you made in round 1 (i.e. the top of the area under the handle).
Join, weave in ends, and enjoy your sturdy new basket!
Today's post is about one such instant-gratification project: a basket/bag crocheted from jute garden twine.
This project started with a desire to make a hanging basket for onions and garlic to free up some counter space in the kitchen, but it works equally well on the counter or the floor.
In a rather typical chain of events, I bookmarked all sorts of free patterns on Ravelry for various types of crocheted baskets, painstakingly narrowed them down to a few designs that I particularly liked, read through the patterns to see how they all went together, and then chucked all of the patterns out the window and decided to make it up as I went along. Here's more or less what I did:
I created test swatches of jute using one strand with a 9mm crochet hook, two strands with a 9mm hook, and two strands with a 10mm hook.
The single strand with the 9mm hook made a nice, sturdy fabric that would make a lovely rustic bag, but didn't look like it would stand up on its own the way I wanted my basket to do.
Two strands held together with the 9mm hook made a very dense, stiff fabric, but unless I was careful to keep my gauge a bit loose, it was a pain inserting the hook and pulling loops through the fabric.
Two strands with the 10mm hook made a fabric that was just as thick, but not nearly as stiff as with the 9mm hook, with some visible holes in the fabric. (Not necessarily a bad thing for a hanging basket full of alliums, which benefit from good ventilation.)
I like the look of round, pot-bellied baskets, so I initially decided that I would make a stiff, sturdy bottom of the basket using two strands and the 9mm hook, do a round or two of the walls in the 9mm hook, and then switch to the 10mm hook for the middle, with the increased gauge causing the basket to become fatter in the middle, and then switch back to the 9mm hook for the top edge and handles.
Despite living in the UK, I still use American crochet terminology.
To make the base:
Round 1: work 6 sc into a magic loop
Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch (12 stitches)
Round 3: *1 sc, 2 sc in 1* (18 stitches)
Round 4: *2 sc, 2 sc in 1* (24 stitches)
Round 5: *3 sc, 2 sc in 1* (30 stitches)
Round 6: *4 sc, 2 sc in 1* (36 stitches)
and so on, increasing the number of sc in between each 2 sc in 1 by one stitch each round. (In other words, making 6 evenly-spaced increases each round.)
All of the above assume that you're slip stitching to join each round, and using 1 or 2 chain stitches as the first stitch in each round.
I got as far as 7 sc in between each 2 sc in 1, but you could make a basket any size you like. My base ended up being ever so slightly rounded/bowl-shaped, but since this is supposed to be a hanging basket, I didn't mind.
To make the walls:
Round 1: 1 sc through the back loop in every stitch. This creates a tiny ridge that gives the edge of the base a little bit more definition, but isn't structurally necessary at all.
Rounds 2-?: 1 sc in every stitch, until the walls are 3 rounds shorter than you'd like.
Remember how I said I planned to change hook sizes after one or two rounds to make the basket a bit more pot-bellied? Yeah, I tried that, and it didn't work. Even though there was technically only 1mm difference in size between the two crochet hooks, the 9mm one was one of those where the end of the hook gets narrower at the end, whereas the 10mm hook was basically a dowel with a notch cut out of it, so it made a significantly larger gauge. The result was a misshapen, ugly bulge where I switched hook sizes, so I decided to just stick with the 9mm hook all the way. I may try it again at some point if I decide to invest in some more jumbo crochet hooks.
It may have worked out better if I'd had a more gradual change in hook sizes, but I don't have any crochet hooks in sizes between 9mm and 3mm, so the walls just sort of bulged in misshapen and unattractive ways. In the end, I just stuck with the 9mm crochet hook all the way, resulting in a stiff, dense fabric.
At this point, I also tested out doing a few rounds of hdc, or some other pattern stitch, but I found that making rounds of hdc with the same size hook resulted in a narrower basket (If anything, I expected the opposite!) so I decided to stick with your basic sc. Again, something else to experiment with on a future project.
At any rate, since I wasn't changing stitches or hook sizes, I needed to make some decreases in order to taper the top edge and give me the pot-bellied shape that I like.
To decrease the top edge:
Rounds 1-2: decrease 3 stitches per round, spacing your decreases evenly.
Round 3: decrease 6 stitches per round, spacing your decreases evenly.
Round 4: 1 sc in every stitch
Next, it was time to make the handles and reinforce the top edge. I decided that I wanted two handles on opposite sides of the basket, occupying the space of 8 stitches. I made a mental note of where I wanted the handles to start and end so that they were placed symmetrically with regard to the decreases in the earlier rounds.
To make the handles and stiffen the top edge:
Round 1: 1 sc in every stitch until you reach the start of your handle. For every stitch in the space where you want your handles to go, 1 sc in every stitch, putting the hook through the basket one round *below* the current one. This makes a stiffer, more bulky edge.
Round 2: 1 sc in every stitch until you reach the start of your handle, 10 ch, skip 8 stitches, and then carry on making 1 sc in each stitch.
Round 3: 1 sc in each stitch, 1 round *below* the current one. When you reach the handles, make 10 sc over the 10 ch space.
Round 4: sl st in every stitch. When you come to the handles, drop down and sl st through the stitches that you made in round 1 (i.e. the top of the area under the handle).
Join, weave in ends, and enjoy your sturdy new basket!
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