How to Crochet a Basket, Part Two.

*If you would like to make these baskets but do not need the entire tutorial,click here for the plain pattern!

So in part one we learned how to increase to make a circle, which is daunting but doable, right? If anyone has any questions at all please e-mail me at ohthecuteness@hotmail.com and I will do my best to answer and amend the tutorial in any way I need to.

Anywho... the rest of the basket is really easy because thanks to the miracles of crochet geometry, all you have to do now is do one double crochet in every stitch. Here's the breakdown:

For rounds 8 and 9, chain 2 and then do one double crochet in every stitch all the way around. Be sure NOT to do one in the base of the beginning chin this time, as we are done increasing (I have done this on accident many a time, being a space-cadet). After these two rows, you will notice that the sides are curving upward nicely and it is starting to resemble a basket more than a trivet. Of course, if you got bored already you can stop at round 7 and have a trivet, lol. In that case skip to the part about weaving in the ends.

If it doesn't seem to be curving upward, you may need to tear some stitches out and re-do them tighter. Also, be sure to count and make sure you still have only 84 stitches.

And now for the fun part... We are going to switch colors and make a little stripe in the center of the side of the basket:

After you have done your accent yarn stripe for round 10, you will want to use the natural yarn to crochet 4 more rows, one double crochet per stitch. Join the round like all the others, and that's it! Now all you have to do is weave in the very last end and fold the edge of the basket over!

Here is how to weave in that last end (this is a small-scale demonstration, lol):

Grab the short end of the yarn and pull it through the loop. It really doesn't matter which loops you use to weave in, just make sure they are tight ones so they secure the tail.

Well there you go! Hopefully you should have a nice little handmade basket to store some crafty bits and bobs in now! If you would like to make a set of nesting baskets, for a smaller one only increase to round 5 in part one, then and just crochet one double crochet around for the rest of the rows. And for a bigger one, use the standard increase pattern I showed you in part one and add two more increase rows, then finish it as usual!

And now, just for fun, I will share probably the most mundane-yet-useful-thing I ever learned during my employment at ArtFibers: the weaver's knot.

Most people try to tie two pieces of string together with a granny knot or a square knot (kind of like the knot you start with when you tie your shoe), but it won't stay in the long term. This knot works on even the most slippery fibers. I admit I didn't know about this for the first 20-ish years of my life, and I don't know how I got along without it.

If you want to use scraps of yarn and tie them all together to make a super-colorful and eco-friendly basket (since the scraps would probably otherwise go in the trash), use this know to tie the yarn bits together or they may not stay if they are different weights.

Just encase those ends as you go and no one will see the knot!

Alrighty then, I think I have imparted enough wisdom for today, lol. That took waaaaay longer than I thought it would, but if it helps even one person to learn to crochet then it was all worth it. See you tomorrow with pics of the big prizes for the blogiversary giveaway! You still have until 9 p.m. pacific time on the 31st to post a comment and be entered for your chance to win!