I may have mentioned that this year I was going to teach myself to crochet and have doggedly carted hooks and yarn around the countryside with me. All I have to show for this enthusiasm effort are some misshapen squares and a few dodgy looking rosettes. Then one of my friends showed me a flyer for a workshop to make a crocheted basket from t-shirt fabric. The course ran for 8 weeks at a remote (from us) location, and cost $220. Now I am not averse to spending money when I need to learn something, but I couldn’t give up 8 weeks and travel a long way. So I did what any reasonable person would do – I hit up YouTube! Having viewed a couple of videos I felt I had a handle on how to make said basket (sorry, it was a while ago and I can’t remember which ones I looked at). Please welcome the first ever crocheted object made by me!
I wanted to use t-shirt knit and I knew that I didn’t have enough old tees of identical colours to create my own yarn, but Bunnings sell balls of the stuff as tree ties (I found out because Mark bought some). It comes in a couple of colours, namely black, a couple of different blues, and purple and each ball contains 40metres, and best of all it is manufactured in Australia! I chose navy blue, even though it looks purple in my photo.
It’s not the cheapest stuff and my basket took 1.5 balls, which cost me $15, but I was happy to pay this. I wanted the basket to supplement the one that I made for the Airstream to hold phones, keys and bits and bobs, as this one is a bit small.
This original basket is a classic rope basket made from sash cord, wrapped in upholstery fabric and covered in leather which Meggipeg obtained from REmida for me last year. The leather almost exactly matches the leather seats, and the lining matches the cushions which came with the trailer.
So, flushed with success from the first basket, I thought I’d try making a square one from string. This is actually a fine cord from Bunnings and here is my first ever square basket as a work in progress. 
Yes, it’s a bit floppy. I considered all the options such as starch and a friend suggested that I use glue to give it some stiffness (we both once attended a class where we made “stiffie bows” with glue – stiffie bows? don’t ask!) Anyway, I used PVA glue diluted with water and gave it a couple of coats. I did it whilst camping and draped the bowl over one of our square camping saucepans which fitted it exactly. Worked a treat.
My finished bowl
and located on the back of the sofa to hold yet more stuff!
and I did take the round blue one to add to the collection, but decided that it doesn’t belong, so it now holds my crochet when I’m in the car. 
I have now embarked on a rectangular basket which is made from twine crocheted around rope. I am going to put handles on it and maybe then my basket needs will be complete and I will have enough confidence to find something else to crochet.