Jute love

I have a couple of items from The Make List of 2013 on the go. I even have my first finished object:

I see now that a few things are going to get added to the list over the year. Who knew I needed a crocheted jute fruit bowl until the crocheted jute toy basket I was working on was at the 'too big to be functional as a toy basket, too morale shattering to unravel and start again' stage? Not I.

This stuff is wonderful to crochet with. It is a little rough, it took a lot of stops and starts and hook changes to get the tension right, but is produces just want I wanted - a flexible yet self supporting form, sturdy enough to sit upright on the floor as a throw tub, flexible enough to be picked up by the handles and safely carted up and down the stairs, into the garden or wherever else wooden bricks and a train set might need to go.

On top of all that, it was FREE! I like free. Despite all the needle changes, the circular mat that forms the base warped and rippled and I made it far too big for a toy basket, something I realized long after I started working  the sides.

We did actually need a new fruit bowl. Every time we wanted to make a large batch of bread, we first had to empty out the large mixing bowl that we have been using the past few years as a fruit bowl. It I hadn't done just this a few days before (after many months of no bread making) I would have spent a few hours ripping out and re-crocheting. Hooray for New Year baking enthusiasm!

A new toy basket is now in progress, I have just started working the sides. This one has rippled slightly, apparently I just don't own a hook large enough, but will work just fine for toys. The jute works up fast, no doubt there will be another finished object soon enough, but the fact that just one short week into the new year, I even have a FO is quite something for me.