Crochet A Wonderfully Rustic Basket From Rags!

As you may know, I've been really into crocheting and knitting with rags lately. And my desire to make a crocheted basket together with the idea that one such bowl/basket would be a nice gift for my brother's house in Sonoma led to the question: "Mom, do you have any old sheets that you don't need?" And so it was that I found myself crocheting up a storm on the way to my brother's house, and while relaxing at his home. I think I invented a new type of gift plus entertainment all in one package! You just finish up or make the whole gift while you're catching up. Really! So actually there's no need to wrap the gift since the recipients already know what they're getting!

 

I just love the results, and think it looks perfect holding freshly picked veggies from the garden, don't you? And I found the plaid dishtowel hanging out in their kitchen, a perfect match!

You'll Need:

• old sheets cut into rag yarn, instructions here.  I used two king sized pillow cases (those super long ones) and some scraps that were about the same amount as one standard pillow case (the solid blue center of the bowl)
• a size 10 mm crochet hook

How To:

There are many ways to make a basket. One way is to make a flat base with straight sides, like the felted basket I crocheted here. Another way is to make a bowl shaped basket, like the one shown in this post. Here's a rough description of how I did it:

1. Crochet a flat base by starting  in the same way as the felted basket project here.
2. Crochet five rows according to the instructions, and then continue crocheting rounds neither increasing or decreasing.
3. If the bowl starts to curve in too much, increase at about five evenly spaced stitches around the last row. Increases are made by simply crocheting two stitches into one stitch of the previous round.
4. If you would like the bowl to curve in more than it does, so decrease at even intervals around the perimter. For a sharp inward curve decrease every 7 or so stitches, for a less sharp increase decrease about 5 times around the perimeter.
5. Sorry if these directions are a bit rough, I'll try to write a pattern next time! But just give it a try, you can always tear out a row if the shape isn't quite what you'd like it to be! Experimenting on a project this size is a great way to get a feel for crocheting vessels.
6. This was my first crocheted rag vessel, I can't wait to make more!