A Crocheted Basket for Yarn

It's been a while, but I have a finished crochet project to show you: the Monroe Belly Basket, designed by Lakeside Loops. The pattern involves crocheting cotton yarn over and around two strands of chunky cream yarn, to create a really thick, sturdy texture. It's much easier than it looks and sounds, but you just have to keep remembering to pull the strands of chunky yarn nice and straight every now and then to keep a nice, even tension. It's a clear pattern, well written and all went to plan until I realised about half way through that there was absolutely no way this basket was going to stand upright on it's own. It flops here and there and, unstuffed, crumples into a heap on the floor. I'd say it's more of a bag. 

The only thing I can think of is that the chunky yarn I used wasn't quite chunky enough, and it didn't provide the structure to the walls of the basket that it should have. 

Luckily it's not a problem. Shore up those floppy sides with, ooh I don't know, lots of balls of yarn, and it's a beautiful thing. Of course you don't have to keep yarn in it - soft toys, throws, fabric would work too - but it has to be something that will keep those floppy walls well and truly propped up. Luckily we have all of the above in plentiful supply in this house. 

(It's almost like I planned it on purpose to keep a large stock of yarn in the house, which of course I would never do....)

To those of your asking where my new raincoat and the bedding came from - they were both from John Lewis. I've updated my previous post with the links. 

After what feels like weeks of unending rain, the sun shone this afternoon and it was briefly glorious. But it's school Sports Day on Wednesday which means it's bound to start raining again. The electrician came today to do some stuff (technical term) with light switches in Bella's new bedroom, so we can hopefully paint the room this coming weekend. And then the fun begins - moving furniture, hanging curtains and pictures, making the space feel like hers. I wonder if she wants a basket?

Yarn Details:

I used Drops Paris cotton yarn in Dark Beige and Off White for the main basket, wrapped around two strands of Drops Eskimo in Off White, all with a 5 mm hook.