Crochet Basket Tutorial

March 25, 2013

Crochet Basket Tutorial

★☆☆ - Beginner

What you'll need:

Cotton Yarn (most weights should work)

An appropriate size hook for your yarn

Yarn needle

Spray Starch (to stiften the basket)

Crochet Terms:

This pattern is written in UK terms.

American terms are given below in green.

British (American)

sp - Space

ss - Slip Stitch (Slip Stitch)

ch - Chain (Chain)

dc - Double (Single)

htr - Half Treble (Half Double)

tr - Treble (Double)

dtr - Double Treble (Treble)

Basket Base

Begin with a magic ring. If you're not sure how to make a magic ring, check out the beginning of my Mix and Match Flowers Tutorial to see what to do.

ROUND ONE

Chain 2

Then make a half-treble crochet into the ring. That's the one where you yarn over, put your hook through the ring, yarn over and pull through, then yarn over one last time and pull through all 3 loops on the hook.

Make 10 more of these half-trebles into the ring.

Then pull the end of the yarn to bring the circle together.

Make a slip stitch into the second of the two chains at the very start of this round. This should give you 12 stitches altogether.

ROUND TWO

Chain 2

Now make a half-treble into the same stitch that you just made your slip stitch into.

Then, into the next stitch of the round, make two more half-treble crochets.

Work your way around the circle, making two half-trebles into each stitch of the round below, until you get right round to the beginning. Then make a slip stitch into the top chain of the starting chain of two. You should have 24 stitches now.

ROUND THREE

Chain 2 to start.

Like we did last time, make a half-treble into the same stitch that the slip stitch went into.

Then, into the next stitch, this time we're going to only make one half-treble crochet.

Then, into the next stitch you'll need to make two half-treble crochets.

And into the stitch after that, just one half-treble.

So, continue around the circle in the same way, repeating the same thing: 2 half-trebles into one stitch and then 1 half-treble into the next stitch. Once you get round to the beginning, make a slip stitch into the top of the beginning chain of 2.

ROUND FOUR

Begin the the same way again, chaining 2 and then making a half-treble (htr) into the same stitch.

Make one htr into the next stitch and then another htr into the stitch after that.

Then into the next stitch you'll need to make two half-trebles.

Then you'll need to make one half-treble into each of the next two stitches.

Continue round the circle in the same way, making 2 htr's into the next stitch and then 1 htr into the next two stitches after that. Once you get round to the beginning, make a slip stitch into the top of the starting chain to finish the round.

So hopefully you're starting to see how the pattern is going to work. All you need to do now is carry on in this same pattern until the base of the basket is the size that you want.

So, ROUND FIVE would look like this: Chain 2, make a htr into the same stitch, 1 htr into the next 3 stitches, repeat the same thing around the circle, 2 htr into next stitch and 1 htr into the next 3 stitches until you reach the beginning, then slip stitch into the top of the chain to end the round.

For each round after this, you'll need to increase the pink number by 1.

So ROUND SIX would have 4 single htr's

ROUND SEVEN would have 5 single htr's

ROUND EIGHT would have 6 and so on and so on...

You can stop with as few or as many rounds as you'd like to make you basket the right size.

Basket SIdes

ROUND ONE

Chain 2

Now, for this round I worked into only the back loop of the stitches in the row below. You can see in the picture (above right) that I only have picked up one loop on my hook, and it's the loop that's furthest away from me, out of the two loops that make up the stitch.

In all honesty, you don't really need to worry too much about working into the back loop. (You'll see why at the end of this tutorial.) So if you're struggling with the back loop part, just ignore it!

All we're going to do for this round, is make one half-treble in each stitch (or back loop) of the round below.

Carry on with this until you get right round to the beginning.

Then make a slip stitch into the top of the starting chain of 2 to finnish the round.

ROUND TWO

I decided to make my basket stripy, so if you want to do that to, you'll need to break off the old yarn colour and add a new one at the start of this round.

Chain 2 and then make a half-treble into each stitch of the round below.

Once you are round to the beginning, make a slip stitch into the top of the starting chain of 2 to finish.

ROUND THREE (and subsequent rounds)

Again, if you want stripes, you can change yarn colour before you start the next round. Then chain 2, make one half-treble into each stitch around the basket and then make a slip stitch into the top of the starting chain of 2 to finish the round.

Make as many rounds like this as you want, to get the height of basket that you need. Remembering to keep changing your yarn if you wants stripes.

Edging

Once your basket is the height you want, you can just leave it like that, or if you prefer, you could add an edging.

Join yarn and chain 1.

Make a double crochet into the same stitch as the chain.

Then make one double crochet into each stitch of the round below until you are back to the beginning.

Then make a slip stitch into the first double crochet of the round.

Then, to finish the edging, I did a round of crab stitch, or 'backwards dc's'.

So to start, make one chain and make a dc into the same stitch.

Then, instead of making a double crochet (dc) into the next stitch as usual, we're actually going to make it into the stitch behind! See where my crochet hook is in the picture (above left).

So pull the loop on your crochet hook out slightly so it will stretch back to the stitch on the right-hand side of the dc you've already made and put your hook into the stitch.

Yarn over and pull through the stitch, then yarn over and pull through the two loops on the hook, as you normally would to complete the stitch. (above left)

Then work you way around the basket doing the same thing, each time working into the stitch to the RIGHT of your current stitch. Once you've done a few, you'll start to see how it's going to look.

Once you've got right back round to the beginning and made a 'backwards' dc into every stitch, cut your yarn and pull the end through the stitch. We'll use a needle to give us a neat finish.

Take the yarn to the inside of the basket and using a yarn needle, thread it through the bottom of the first double crochet of the round. This will pull the last stich into place.

Then, thread back through to the basket inside and weave it in to finish.

Finishing

So now you have your basic basket. You can leave it at that, or decorate with ribbon, flowers, felt, buttons, any number things really.

One last job to do. Stiften the basket. This will make it stand up a little straighter and make it a little less floppy. I mean, it's made of yarn so how stiff is it going to get? But I think they look a lot better and are a nicer to use after being stiffened.

I used spray starch. I always get mine from the supermarket.

To get a nice neat shape, it's best if you can find something to fit the basket over. I've used the end of a wine bottle, a tin can and a tupperware container before. This time I used a tin that happened to be just the right size.

Protect the tin, or whatever you are using by wrapping it in some paper towel, then pop your basket over. It's best if the basket stretches over ever so slightly as this makes it take the nice straight shape of the tin.

You might notice from the picture (above left) that my back loop row, that I used to start the sides, ended up making up the base of my basket. That's why I said it probably wasn't that important to worry about the back loops!

Then just give the basket a good old spray. Be liberal with the starch, you want it to be nicely soggy with the stuff. Leave it over night or as long as it takes to dry through and then gently ease your basket off. I like to give the basket a good spray on the inside too to get it as stiff as I can. Once it's all dry from this second spray, it's ready to use as you wish.