There’s a lot of craft entries going on here at the moment I know but actually I’ve just had a binge at finishing things off rather than actually creating things at speed.

Here’s my string basket:

Its going to hold all those little samples that you get from Boots in the free gift from the No7 range that I keep ending up with! Its made from “jute twine”, that’s common-or-garden brown parcel string to you or me, I used a 5mm hook and its just double crochet through (single crochet if you are not British – see an earlier post about crochet dialetcs). Just make a little loop, dc into the middle six times, then 2dc into each stitch for the next round. After that I increased in every other stitch and then less frequently as the round base of the basket grew. The exact pattern depends on the string and your hook so I just tried to stop it from curving up or getting wrinkly and its not too bad. The double crochet makes it quite quick and very simple:

The stripe is just some crochet cotton that I used for a few rows, partly for interest and partly to give my fingers a rest from being shredded by the rough string. I might make a few more to go with it … can’t decide though whether to do the next ones more stripy or in another colour of cotton or what. Watch this space!