jute baskets

Well it was wonderful reading all your opinions about leaving comments on blogs and moreover hearing from many of you who took the opportunity to delurk. The last post and your comments really made me think about why I have a blog and what I get from it.

I know that having a blog has really pushed and encouraged my creativity. Through blogland I've discovered new ideas, skills, patterns and inspiration. I might have tried some of these if I didn't have a blog but actually because of the blog I've tried them all and that's partly down to the encouragement I've received from my readers. However, I've never wanted my blog to be just a showcase and I've noticed that personal opinions and things about my life have crept in more and more. For me blogging is a conversation and not a performance. I don't blog to get your applause - I blog to share and connect.

Well this all leads me rather nicely to today's post which is a pattern I want to share with you. Earlier this week I decided to clear out my favourites folder on the computer - and boy was that a task. If I see anything interesting I tend to save it - so it was time to sort out and get rid off and cut down. In the process I printed off a couple of patterns that I'd saved and one of them was for some Beaded Jute Baskets here. I took a fancy to these and on the way to school one afternoon I discovered a ball of jute twine in the local gardening shop - so without knowing what thickness I needed I bought it.

Now I've mentioned before that I cannot read patterns so I got Amber to show me the basics (after which the pattern made sense to me!) and here's what I produced - four lovely jute baskets to store my earrings, the yo-yo's I've had on the go for months, Amber's clips and hairbands and some shisha mirrors:

Here is a close up of them. Click on each pic to get a bigger view:

Now don't go looking at my stitches too closely will you? I added beads as with the pattern but I only seemed to have tiny beads so had to make do with those.

This was a really quick and easy project and I learned something new and got to understand some new crocheting terms. Amber thinks I might even be able to make an amigurumi animal if I can make these.

If you fancy having a go yourself - and I really do recommend it - I've taken a few pics to help you. The pattern itself only has pics of the finished baskets. Firstly, the stuff I used was this:

The pattern says to use 2 ply jute and this is 3 ply. Looking at the baskets (in the pattern) I'd say the stuff she used is thicker than mine but I'd bought it already and decided to make do. I used a 5mm crochet hook cos that's all I had but I could have gone a bit bigger. 7mm was too big - I tried - so maybe 6mm would be fine aswell.

The whole thing is made with single crochet and the increases are just going twice into one stitch. So firstly you crochet the base like so:

and then you build up the sides:

that's the first row of the side and before you know it - it's finished:

For some reason mine do not look anything like the pattern but I don't care - I like them - so there. It's probably because the jute I used is thinner which makes the baskets less sturdy. So if you want them sturdier you'll need thicker jute. All in all a quick activity - well it was quick once I'd mastered it and cheap - the jute cost £3.50 and I've made five baskets (fifth not pictured).

Incase you're wondering I felt so confident after basket number two that I improvised a bit on the next ones. I wanted them to be wider and shallower so I crocheted an extra round on the base and stopped working after row 10. Finishing off with round 14.

So there we have four very useful little baskets for one's clutter. Give it a go yourself - it's fun.

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It promises to be very warm this weekend - hurray - so we're planning on having a camp fire in the garden tonight. Food cooked outside always tastes so much nicer doesn't it? I'm hoping to pack 'em all off to the outdoor pool tomorrow morning so I can do some dyeing - as you know I've only done yellow and brown so far.... I've been distracted by strawberries and jute baskets it seems.

Before I go I have to tell you about a beautiful sight I saw yesterday. I had just stepped out into the garden yesterday morning when something huge flew across to one of our trees and landed there. About a minute later it flew back and I realised that it was an owl. A beautiful tawny coloured owl. I only saw it for a matter of seconds really but I just stood rooted to the spot. It was so beautiful. Now I've seen owls before - tame ones but I felt blessed to have seen this one. It was almost as if it was revealing itself to me - it's the one that hoots each night from my neighbours wood. Soppy aren't I? I do the same if I ever spot a fox, deer or badger around here.

Hope you all have a great weekend my dear readers......................

Comments

[jeni]

Hello - I love the baskets, I tried doing similar ones from the Erica Knight Simple Crchet book but used yarm which was too soft. Made good hats though!

Funny thing, the jute that you used comes from Forfar, a town nine miles away from me in Angus.

[Eren]

These are so great! I have done some similar bowls using rags cut into strips, but never used jute twine. Love it! Thanks for sharing it with us. It is now on my to do list...as is that dandilion.

[sue]

Great baskets! We could use about 100 'round here, (several times larger, I think;)This does look like a fun & practical project. And I love the name on the jute. Nutscene. No kidding (us, not you :)

And an owl! How wonderful! Keep an eye out for some pellets for the kiddies to 'dissect.' My kids did that with some (bought from a company and sterilized, although I think medical gloves would be fine) and it was really fascinating.

Have a great cookout, and wonderful weekend!

[JanB]

The baskets are beautiful. I believe that having an outlet for that creative urge is fundamental to sanity. That's why I paint all the time!

I can't even remember what I did before I started painting this January. I think I just wasted money shopping.

[Sonya]

Love those baskets. Great to see them in process as well. I've also been a long admirer of the Erica Knight baskets.

[shukr]

So beautiful - all these things you are making.
I'm delurking after just a few visits.)

[Dannielle]

They're wonderful! I love crocheted baskets. I've made a few using different materials, but never jute. I think the jute I have on hand is much thicker than that. And it's really rough and scratchy. I'll have to look and see if I can find the proper thickness because your baskets are wonderful and I just might need some of my own. :-)

[Saltygal]

What beautiful little baskets Simmy, you know I can't crochet but I used to macrame with jute. I have to say the quality of yours looks much better than what's available here.The stuff I have is much *hairier* maybe it's the difference in the ply? How nice that you finally met your midnight serenader.

[Kylie]

Your blog inspires me to have a go with natural dyeing. I spin my own wool and have a book on natural dyeing that i have read cover to cover, but will now have a go!
One way to make your baskets sturdier is to go down a hook size or two (it may be difficult with such a tough material, but works well with wool when you want a sturdier shape).

[CJ]

I was following links (can't remember where I started?) and was seduced by those lovely little baskets! So, I had a bit of a wander around and really got inspired by you previous post about why we blog? Feedback is so important and what are we if not a community to encourage one another? I've saved you to my favourites and look forward to coming back!

[Tracy]

Lovely post, Simmy! And I echo you, I too blog to connect and share with readers. It's not about how many comments, etc, it's the quality and connection that counts most! Your baskets are super! I've never worked with jute before, though I love the fiber. Didn't realize how easy such little baskets are to make--thanks for sharing. Happy Days! :o)

[Jools]

Lovely baskets. So how easy would these be for a novice (ie, never crocheted before)?

Love the story of the owl. I too would have felt like you. This year we have been privileged with robins nesting in a wall a few feet from our kitchen window. When I go outside I can hear the chicks. :)

[Sue]

Well I never - I started to make a jute basket about 10 years ago but never finished it. At last, something I thought of that someone else is now doing! Shame I didn't finish it! I usually find that everyone else has the bright ideas before me, so this makes a change!

I've just found your blog via one of those long and winding journeys we make when we're blog-browsing. I'll save you for another day and read all your archive posts!

How lucky to see the owl - I love to hear them at night but since moving into a small town last year we rarely hear them now.

Sue

[Sue]

I love the little crocheted baskets, and I am sure that I saw one on somebody else's blog this morning too. I really must get out my crochet book and try it too. You always make where you live sound so wonderful and full, and beautiful too. I wish we had owls where we live, as I think they are beautiful mysterious creatures.

[Marie]

I love your little baskets! I think you are right when you say that blogging is like having little conversations with the readers and that it's more about sharing and connecting with other's than it is about anything else. That's why I do it too. comments are the icing on the cake. I have never seen an owl in the wild yet, but I do believe I have heard them, mysteriously swooping through the trees as I walk home from work at night...a sound that is at once mysterious and a bit frightening at the same time!

[little jenny wren]

Wow you are taking me back to my macrame days.I would never have thought of using jute to crochet.I've also seen a knitted box today on someone else's blog. Aren't people clever.

[Simone]

That jute twine certainly went a long way Simmy. Five baskets!It's funny you should mention the owl. I have never seen one in the wild. At my niece's at the weekend she pointed out that her neighbour looks after sick and injured owls in her garden aviary. Apparently, during the mating season owls come from all around and perch on the nearby rooftops and then swoop down over the aviary trying to get to the birds inside! I bet it is a spectacular sight.

[Lucette]

Hi Simmy,
Your little baskets are lovely. I was happy so see the shisha mirrors nestled in one. Last year I did some embroidery with shisha mirrors. There was and article in Piecework magazine a few years ago about the embroidery and mirror work of Gujarat that was very useful.

Oh, and I have been listening to the Harry Potter books recently and owls feature frequently. It must have been a wonderful sight.

[Marie]

I've never mastered the art of crochet, although I can knit! I think you did a great job and the baskets turned out really well.

The tawny owl must have been a wonderful sight...

Marie
Wild Rose

[nutmeg]

Great baskets! I just found some twine too -- guess I'll have something to do during Piano lessons tomorrow.

Thanks so much for sharing your great projects!

Meg aka nutmeg

[Cristina]

Talk about NutScene--things are too crazy chez Cristina just now for any personal crafting, but I'm looking forward to knocking out a few of your baskets for small Christmas gifts. Thank you as always for generous inspiration & instruction. Please visit my site for a pic of the bear my son (like yours, not a handwork fanatic) made recently (at least someone's making something I can post). best, c.

[kristin]

wow. i think this is the first time i truly wish i could crochet. (i'm just a beginner knitter). these baskets are so cool. i love how organic they look. thank you so much for the pattern. perhaps one day... yours look beautiful.

[dottycookie]

I loved these baskets (as I love pretty much everything you make and show us), and decided that even though I was sure I couldn't crochet, I would have a go because your post was so encouraging. Well, what do you know - I CAN do it after all - thanks for showing us how!