Crochet is having a moment. A recent Instagram search brought up almost 40 million posts with everything from crocheted bikinis to surprisingly varied plush turtles. The expansiveness of the crocheted projects I scrolled through in my feed is beyond anything I imagined although I shouldn’t be surprised. Creativity unleashed always leads to something amazing.

For National Handmade Day, I decided to dig out my crochet hook and try something new. While I love living in a DIY space, crocheting is not something I have done much of as an adult although I did have a prolific phase in my teen years. Between my obsession with rug hooking kits and attending one too many Artex paint parties with my grandmother, I did spend enough time with a crochet hook to make a decent granny square.  I was up for revisiting this timeless craft.

I have an orange glass container that I’ve used as a pot for my succulents for a few years now. It’s a repurposed candle holder. The opacity of the glass along with the size and shape made it a nice addition to the tall narrow bookcase that sits in the corner of my office. While I seem to struggle to actually keep something as basic as succulents alive, I wasn’t ready to give up. I was however ready to add a little fun to the translucent orange glass which showed the dirt more than I had anticipated and wasn’t the exact final look I wanted.

How to fix the problem? Practice my crocheting of course!

I work for a craft company now and when I started my job back in August, I took one of our crochet courses as part of my onboarding process. I really enjoyed it but didn’t make anything beyond the first two granny squares I completed during the workshop. Since I had some yarn leftover in a few fun colors, I decided to break it out and attempt a crocheted basket to embellish my succulent pot.

I found a great Crochet Basket Tutorial on the Cherry Heart Blog with clear instructions that made it seem like a doable project for a novice like me. I won’t repeat the instructions here, but you can see my progress in the slide show below. Getting those first few stitches right was the hardest part. Once over that hurdle, it was easy to get into the rhythm of the pattern. It doesn’t take long to see the progress which made this a fun, quick project.

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After finishing the basket, it was a tad droopy around the top edges which I didn’t mind. The instructions included a step to use spray starch to stiffen it up a bit but I figured why add chemicals? The minor unevenness along the edge gives it some personality.

This was such a fun project. The great thing about crochet is that you can do it while streaming a television show or listening to a podcast. It keeps your hands busy in a soothing, relaxed way but doesn’t require intense focus. I can’t wait to start on my next crochet project.

This one only took me a few hours to finish and I really like how the hot pink basket brightens up the planter.

Now, if I could only keep the succulents alive.

I recently tried Needle Felting for the first time. I might need to make myself a needle felted plant to go in my beautifully accented orange pot. But, that’s a project for another day.

Have you ever done a crochet project?