A Tisket, A Tasket, A Few Knitted Baskets

Right away when I first saw this great book, More Last - Minute KNITTED GIFTS,

I noticed the pattern for the little Soft Baskets on page 30.

I determined to purchased the book and make BASKETS! I don't believe I've ever mentioned that I have a "thing" for baskets. It's rather a problem because, while I store many things in baskets, I store many more baskets. And when I go to antique shops, flea markets or gift-type shops, I am immediately drawn to the baskets. I have made a few using coil basketry and one by reed weaving. But I'd love to do more basket weaving. Of course, knitting one would be of great interest to me. 

For the first knitted basket, I wanted to make a BIG one so I chose the biggest one they showed. I wasn't comfortable yet modifying the pattern until I saw how it worked, so I picked out some handspun that seemed to be a large worsted weight and promptly set out on the project. The basket turned out flat, short and shallow so not exactly what I was thinking. 

I wanted to make a second one for my sister's birthday so proceeded with the middle size. It turned out the same but a smaller version.

In fact, when I made this for Sis, I was in the middle of my Fair Isle Hat fascination so when she received it and finished looking at the goodies inside, she thought I had made her a hat. A square, short, funny little hat. They do fit like funny little hats.

Then I wanted to make one for a good friend and decided I better try the small one. Well, it was the perfect proportion, albeit, very small.

One thing I did with the small one was put a contrasting color as the first portion of the rib top edging.

I have since used the same yarn and made my sister a small one with the contrast yarn ribbing, but mine is still being used and not fixed.

She found a great little box to sit in hers
to give it a square shape.

BUT all of this was to report that I just finished a very large one by using more stitches and trying to figure out the proportion I wanted. Actually, I got most of my numbers from a friend who made a large one before me. So here is my latest knitted basket.

For this large one, I used Lamb's Pride Bulky in the color Brown Heather - 2 whole skeins. It measures an 8" x 8" square on the bottom and is 4 ½" high. 

The construction is basically this: you knit a rectangle up to a certain size, cast on stitches to form two sides, knit those up so high and then cast the sides off. Then you are back to the original number of center stitches. Once that last side is long enough, you cast it all off and sew up the sides of the "box." You then pick up and knit stitches on the top of each side and knit a K1, P1 rib. 

It is a very nifty design and was developed by Joelle Hoverson, the author the More Last - Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm pretty excited about it and will probably make another one in another color with a contrasting rib. I mean, what could be more exciting than more baskets? 

I wonder if any of you have knitted baskets before.