Wee Catch-All

I'm starting to run out of my Rowan yarns and the next yarn run isn't on the schedule for another week or two. So I grabbed some old dark red yarn, found a straight-forward crochet basket pattern on Ravelry, and started hooking.

I got to the top and decided to try a fun border. The following is a brief tutorial. You'll need some basic familiarity with crochet terms. If you know what sc, dc, and front loops and back loops are, you'll be good.

First, crochet the basket according to the original tutorial from Barb's Patterns but do not complete the last round with the slip stitches. Instead...

• Add 2 or 3 extra rows of sc. If you'd like a taller vessel, add even more rows.
• Ch 1. Up to now you've been crocheting in the round. Now turn your work and sc all the way around, in the back loops. (Each round of sc's will be 48 stitches long.) ((You will not need to turn your work again.))
• Continue once more around, keeping your sc stitches in the back loops. Finish by slip stitching into the first sc of the round.
• Now it's time to scallop. Dc into the 2nd sc (no more back loops. Now your crocheting the regular way.) Dc 4 more times into the same hole. Skip 1 sc, slip stitch into the next. *Skip 1 sc, 5 dc, skip 1 sc, slip stitch.* Repeat the stuff between the *s until there's no more room to continue.
• Ok, if you're a perfectionist, this will bother you. There will be a bit of space between your first and last scallops. This doesn't bother me, so I finished off the yarn, sewed in the ends, and lived happily ever after.
• If you must even things out or be forever traumatized, you have a couple of options:
• Chain a bit of a string and form it into a hanging loop. This basket is the perfect size for a thread catcher.
• Crochet a flower or other small embellishment and hide the gap. 
• Turn the gap towards the wall. (Ok, that one's not so brilliant.)
• Do the math and figure out how to crochet the scallops evenly. Math is not my forte, which is why I didn't go this route.

Kinda cute, eh?