Green and Fluffy Easter Basket

Here is another Easter basket, just for the fun of it!

This time I made it with green craft yarn using a 4mm hook. I finished with a row of sc (UK dc) in fluffy craft yarn. Just what you need to help little ones pass out easter eggs to the family – cute and fluffy Easter baskets!

Two Red Easter Baskets

I whipped up these two baskets while Thomas was sleeping, we might use them for Easter this year when my young nephews come to visit.

I used some fluffy craft yarn I got from Lincraft on special, and some plain red yarn for the larger basket. I didn’t follow a pattern for these, I just made them up using a 4mm hook.

My pattern for an Easter basket

1. ch 3 sl st in 1st chain to form loop
2. 8 sc (UK dc) in loop, sl st
3. ch 1, 2 sc in every st, sl st (16 sc)
4. ch 1, 2 sc in 1st st, (1 sc in next, 2 sc in next) to end, sl st (24 st)
5. ch 1, 2 sc in 1st st, (1 sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next) to end, sl st (32 st)
6. ch 1, 2 sc in 1st st, (1 sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next) to end, sl st (40 st)
7. ch 1, 1 sc in every st, sl st
8. repeat row 7 until desired height is reached, then 20 ch and  sl st to opposite to form handle, embelish with a row of fluffy craft yarn

Small Purple Plarn Basket

This small plarn basket was made from about half a dozen Lincraft plastic shopping bags, so it’s mostly purple with some flecks of white.

I used a 7mm hook and single crochet (UK double). I did a little on this project every now and again, as it hurts my thumb to work with this tough yarn. So from start to finish this project took a couple of weeks.

I finished this basket to decide if it’s something I want to continue doing, or should I just discard my collection of plastic bags? I don’t know if I can find a use for this small basket, making larger ones might be more worth the effort. And it does require effort, the making of plarn baskets is not enjoyable, but the one consolation is that the material is free.

Knowing how to make a basket from recycled plastic bags surely will prove to be a useful skill at one time or another!

Restoring an Old Dusty Cane Basket.

I’ve had this cane basket for ages, I really liked it so have hung unto it. It would make a great bread basket when serving bread rolls for guests, if it was clean!

This was in such bad shape I was thinking I would have to chuck it, but I didn’t because I have inherited that ‘I can’t throw stuff away’ thing from my mum! So I picked it up this morning and had a go at weaving back in the loose cane threads and decided to look up how to clean cane on the internet.

I found a site that explained how to clean cane baskets, which also had other information about wicker. I found out from there that I shouldn’t submerge my cane in water. Good thing I read that first, as I was considering it! You clean the dust off the cane with a brush, like a toothbrush, which is what I used. This site also suggested using linseed oil to polish it up. Now, I know that stuff is expensive and wondered if I could just use olive oil. I have heaps of that as I buy it  in lots of 4L when it’s $5 per L. So I did a google search and found something about using olive oil to polish wood furniture. So I used the recipe, figuring what’s the worst that could happen? I could ruin the cane and throw out something I was going to throw out anyway.

Instead of vinegar, I choose the lemon juice option as I thought that would smell better. I think it does smell nice now, a little like new cane from the shops, which makes me wonder if they use something similar. I put 3 parts olive oil to one part lemon juice in a recycled garlic jar and shook it up. Using the toothbrush, I rubbed a little of the mixture to clean and polish the cane. I then left the basket in the sun to dry. Since then I’ve used it as a bread basket when David made up a beautiful batch of sweet bread rolls.

I made a label for the jar in case I needed to use it again soon, and stuck it on with some wood glue. It was my first excuse to use the new pinking shears I invested in yesterday. They were so expensive, but I was assured it was an excellent brand so I’m going to really look after them so they last me forever!