Rustic Easter Basket - free crochet pattern

Easter is sneaking up on us and I have been making some little baskets. I decided this year away with the pastel pretty stuff, and to come up with something a bit more earthy. So I have created a few Rustic Bush Baskets.

These remind me of the ones the Indigenous women make in the territory. The following links are 2 great human projects that involve Aboriginal women in remote outback Australia. I just love the texture and colours of the Tjanpi women's craft. You might also like to look at their crocheted beanies. The use of colour and texture is wonderful.

http://www.tjanpiaboriginalbaskets.com/Index.html

This is also a good link, which has some interesting stuff re Easter as well. I am not catholic, but I admire the approach.

http://www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion/lentenStories2.htm

So my basket is very simple, uses earthy colours and can be made with scraps.

It measures about 5cm/2inches high plus handles and is about 10cm/4 inches wide.

Here is the pattern, in both Australian and British terms. While I have used acrylic yarn, I reckon they would look pretty cool in scrap cotton yarn, or even string.

Rustic Easter Basket
Australian Instructions

Yarn is 8ply, double knit or worsted weight, with a 4mm hook.
Four earthy colours are used in example.

Basket Base Colour A
1. 4ch into 4th ch from hook work 2tr, 3htr, 3tr, 3htr slst into top of start ch =12.

2. 3ch, 1tr same place, (2tr next st) twice, (2htr next st) 3 times, 2tr next st 3times, (2htr next st) 3 times, slst join

3. 3ch 1tr same sp, 1tr next st, (2tr next st, 1tr next st) twice, (2htr next st, 1htr next st) 3times, (2tr next st, 1tr next st) 3 times, (2htr next st, 1htr next st) 3times.

Basket sides Colour B
1. 1bpdc join at last st worked, 2ch, 1bptr each st around slst join= 36

2. 1fpdc 2ch first st, 1fptr each st around slst join.

3. Colour C, work as for row 2

4. 1round 1dc each st, slst join

5. Colour D, slst join 1dc next 2st, 1fptr around tr in row 3, *miss 1dc, 1dc next 2, missing 2 tr in row 3 1fptr around next tr. Repeat from * around slst join. = 12 fptr

6. 1dc next 9st, 10ch handle, miss 6st, 1dc next 12, 10ch handle, miss 6st, 1dc next 3 slst join finish off.

7. Colour A, 1dc each st and each ch of handle around, slst finish off and weave in ends.



Rustic Easter Basket
American Instructions

Yarn is 8ply, double knit or worsted weight, with a 4mm hook.
Four colours are used in example.

Basket Base Colour A
1. 4ch, into 4th ch from hook work 2dc, 3hdc, 3dc, 3hdc slst into top of start ch =12.

2. 3ch, 1dc same place, (2dc next st) twice, (2hdc next st) 3 times, 2dc next st 3times, (2hdc next st) 3 times, slst join

3. 3ch 1dc same sp, 1dc next st, (2dc next st, 1dc next st) twice, (2hdc next st, 1hdc next st) 3times, (2dc next st, 1dc next st) 3 times, (2hdc next st, 1hdc next st) 3times.

Basket sides Colour B
1. 1bpsc join at last st worked, 2ch, 1bpdc each st around slst join= 36

2. 1fpsc 2ch first st, 1fpdc each st around slst join.

3. Colour C, work as for row 2

4. 1 round 1sc each st, slst join

5. Colour D, slst join 1sc next 2st, 1fpdc around dc in row 3, *miss 1sc, 1sc next 2, missing 2dc in row 3, 1fpdc around next dc. Repeat from * around slst join. = 12 fpdc

6. 1sc next 9st, 10ch handle, miss 6st, 1sc next 12, 10ch handle, miss 6st, 1sc next 3 slst join finish off.

7. Colour A, 1sc each st and each ch of handle around, slst finish off and weave in ends.


So I hope you enjoy making these. They look kinda cute filled with eggs and sweets. At least my emu chicks liked it!

Easter doesn't have to be all bunnies, pastels and chicks. There are a lot more things that come from an egg than chickens!

Thanks for looking, and take the time to read the links and spare a thought for our Aboriginal women. Some of them do it pretty tough.

Bilbies not bunnies

As we approach Easter the shops become plagued by rabbits. Now I don't mean to offend any one, but there are mountains a patterns and toys for rabbits, and one thing the world doesn't need is another bunny toy or pattern. Bunnies annoy me. I have one in my shop and it is designed to be casseroled!

Well meet the bilby. This is a sad story.
Once up a time when the British settled Australia they brought with them rabbits and foxes to hunt , and pigs to farm. And the rabbits went forth and multiplied, and took over the land, and burrowed away, and munched on the nice grass. In the absence of a natural predator, they had found the promised land. The bilby however, used to live in about 70% of Australia now had to compete. The bilby is a burrower, and likes nice munchy green things as well. They also are more attuned to our climate and have a slower reproductive cycle. They were very quickly outnumbered.

When the settlers realised they had a problem, they laid poison, and traps. They caught lots of rabbits, but they also killed as many native animals such as wombats, and wallabies, and bilbies.
So now one type of bilby is thought to be extinct. Hasn't been seen since about 1930. The remaining one we are down to about 600. So I find bunnies pretty annoying. To think they came in and took over and the locals are now an endangered species. The bilby is only found in Australia.

The bilby, sometimes known as the rabbit eared bandicoot is a marsupial with a backwards facing pouch. Bilbies are nocturnal ground dwellers and live in burrows. They are protected in Australia as only 600 now live in the wild. I reckon if you can count them, then there isn't enough! There used be 2 types of bilby, but one species has been extinct since 1931. The “save the bilby” campaign has been active for a number of years, with the slogan “Bilbies not Bunnies” used at Easter to promote the plight of this little animal. Sales from chocolate bilbies go towards conservation efforts. The rabbit has been an environmental disaster in Australia, and needs to be eradicated from our country to enable the survival of the bilby.

So I took on the task of designing a crochet bilby, and to put the bunny in its place. My lovely tester did the one below.

I also made him a little goody basket. I tried for a rustic bush look. While their is some history to the rabbit and Easter, I believe that all Gods creatures have a place on this earth. So the bilby has just as much a role as any other critter. Besides the bilby needs all the publicity it can get if it is to survive.

Easter is about new life, and new beginnings. If you are facing extinction, then this is doubly important.

The patterns are in my etsy store, but the real message is about protecting our environment and raising awareness of how acts of the past have had such a devastating effect on our environment. They had a bilby display at the Ekka last year, and the queu was a mile long to see them. We waited patiently, and saw a bilby. They are such gentle and amzing little animals, it was well worth the wait.

The kids need to know about the bilby, and understand why all animals have a place. Hence I am not into the glorification of the bunny!

Thanks for listening.

Here is a link with some bilby info:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/april2006/

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