What you’ll need
- Thick cotton/macramé cord or chunky cotton yarn, about 4–6 mm thick
- sage/olive green
- cream/off-white
- Crochet hook around 6–8 mm (adjust to your cord)
- Tapestry needle
- Scissors
- Optional: a firm plastic/cardboard base if you want the basket very sturdy
Basic construction
1. Crochet the rectangular base
Start with a chain approximately the length you want the basket to be.
For example, for a basket around 30 × 22 cm:
- Chain about 35–40 stitches.
- Work single crochet (US SC) along the chain.
- At each end, crochet several stitches around the end so you can continue around the chain.
- Continue crocheting in rounds, increasing at the four corners until the base reaches roughly 30 × 22 cm.
The base should look like a flat rectangle with rounded corners.
2. Build the sides
Once the base is the desired size:
- Stop increasing.
- Crochet single crochet around the entire base.
- For the first side round, work into the back loop only. This creates the sharp corner where the bottom becomes the wall.
- Continue working SC rounds upward.
For the pictured basket, change colors every few rows:
Cream █████
Green █████
Cream █████
Green █████
Cream █████
Green █████
You can make the stripes wider or narrower.
3. Make the upper rim
Near the top, crochet several tighter rounds in green.
For the thick decorative edge, you can work:
- 1–2 rounds SC
- then a round of reverse single crochet (crab stitch)
This gives the raised braided-looking border seen around the basket.
4. Handles
The basket in your photo has two long handles running along the sides.
At the top edge, mark where each handle should begin. Crochet a chain long enough to form the handle, then attach it several stitches farther along the rim.
A sturdier version is:
basket edge ────┐ ┌──── basket edge
│ │
│ │
└───────┘
Crochet SC back and forth over the chain 3–5 rows, then sew both ends very securely to the basket.
You can also make the handles separately as thick crocheted cords and sew them on.
5. Crochet the flowers
The little white flower is basically a small 5-petal crochet flower.
A simple version:
- Make a magic ring.
- Crochet 5 groups of stitches into the ring, each group forming a petal.
- Pull the ring closed.
- Sew a small button/knot in the center.
- Attach the flower to the basket with yarn.
Make a smaller green flower/leaf beside it.
6. Add the hanging decoration
The long sage-green strands in the picture can be made from several pieces of cord/yarn folded in half and attached through the basket rim.
Then:
- braid or knot some strands,
- leave others loose,
- attach the flower and leaf at the bottom.
To get the same look
The most important part is using thick, tightly spun cotton cord and crocheting quite firmly. The basket in the photo has a relatively dense stitch, so don’t use a very large hook for the cord.