Crochet Basket

11 Jul

It feels like this basket has taken forever to crochet! I won’t lie… it hasn’t been a joy to make and the result isn’t perfect. Whenever I worked on it I ended up with a very stiff neck and achy thumbs, so I just did a little bit at a time.

The idea of it is really simple - I just crocheted in a spiral taking the yarn over polytube as I went. I increased until the circular base was the size I wanted and then just crocheted straight up in a spiral for the sides.

I did attempt to do a bit of shaping to make the bottom slightly rounded… it would’ve been better without that but by the time I realised I didn’t want to go back!

The bigger it got the more it collapsed in on itself! The plan was for it to have quite straight and sturdy sides, but as you can see it’s ended up a bit slouchy…

I blame this on the tension. My crochet tension tends to be pretty even… but crocheting over tube on a bulky basket is a different matter! It’s difficult to hold everything in a way that keeps your tension even and you also have to think about the tension of the tube. I definitely pulled it tighter on some rounds than on others and this has created a bit of a concertina effect.

So if you want to make something similar with straighter sides I would recommend really focusing on keeping the tube nice and even across the rounds - and maybe make it less huge! I’m going to use it as a toy basket so it might be less slouchy when it’s packed full of toys.

Despite not going quite to plan, it will definitely be a practical toy basket! It looks lovely in our newly decorated living room and matches the Feather & Leaf Wall Hanging I made. I also added handle holes to make it easier to shift around.