Cat Shaped Basket - Free Crochet Pattern

Today's pattern is one that used to be for sale on my Etsy page, but I decided to make it free. Hope you enjoy!

I've made chunky baskets like this before and I love them, in fact one of them has become my go-to crochet project basket that I carry all my yarn and tools around the house in when I'm working on something.

When I found myself in need of something to store my constantly-growing pile of cat toys for my two spoiled little floofs, a big crochet basket was the first thing that came to mind.

So I thought it'd be fun to do a twist on the standard chunky basket pattern by adding some cat-like features to it.

What makes these baskets great is their structure. It really holds up to anything, including cat attacks. It has handles too, so it's easy to grab and carry around.

It's constructed by holding three strands of yarn together and stitching them all at once, so you get these thick, sturdy rows that really hold their shape. You could probably make this with a bulky oversized yarn too, but I don't know if it would be as sturdy.

Anyway, here's the pattern!

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Cat-Shaped Basket Crochet Pattern

What you'll need:

•   Medium weight yarn in up to three colors of your choice
•   Yarn gauge: 4 - 4.5 stitch per inch
• I used Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice yarn in Honey, Mustard, and Fisherman colors
• 7.5mm crochet hook
• Tapestry needle for weaving in ends
• Optional decorative bits if you’d like to give your basket a face (though it’s still cute without it!). Here’s what I used:
• Large black buttons for eyes
• Black yarn for mouth
• Plastic safety stuffed animal nose

Stitches & Abbreviations:

Here are all the stitches you’ll need for this pattern:

• MR - Magic ring
• Sl st - Slip stitch
• Ch - Chain stitch
• Sc - Single crochet
• Inc - Increase (two single crochet in one loop)
• Dec - Decrease (one single crochet across two loops)
• FLO Sc - Front-loop-only single crochet (with the work facing you, only pick up the front loop instead of both loops when working into the previous row)
• Skip - Skip a loop. When you resume your work, you will skip this many loops, leaving them empty.

You will also sometimes see brackets/parenthesis used:

• [ .. ] - Indicates a group to be repeated (eg. [ Sc, Inc ] x2 means Sc, Inc , Sc, Inc)
• ( # ) - Indicates the total number of stitches that you should have made in this row

Other Tips:

A couple of notes before you start:

• This entire pattern is worked with three strands of yarn at a time. Don’t stress too much about keeping them in a consistent position or order - the randomness of the color placement is part of what makes it cute!
• You will finish each row with a slip stitch (Sl st) to join, and a chain stitch (Ch) to start the next row.

Pattern:

Using your three strands of yarn held together:

Row 1: (10 stitches)

MR with 10 Sc worked into it. Join with Sl st, then Ch 1.

Row 2: (20)

Inc x10, Sl st, Ch

Row 3: (30)

[ Sc, Inc ] x10, Sl st, Ch

Row 4: (37)

Sc, [ Sc x3, Inc ] x7, Sl st, Ch

Row 5: (42)

Sc, [ Sc x6, Inc ] x5, Sl st, Ch

Row 6: (46)

Sc, [ Sc x9, Inc ] x4, Sl st, Ch

Row 7: (49)

Sc, [ Sc x14, Inc ] x3, Sl st, Ch

Row 8: (51)

Sc, [ Sc x23, Inc ] x2, Sl st, Ch

Note: If you want your basket to be larger, you can repeat this row, adding 2 additional Sc to it each time to account for the increases. If you do this, make sure to add 2 Sc to each further step in this pattern for each row you added.

Row 9: (51)

FLO Sc all the way around

At this point, you will have finished the base of your basket and will start working upwards instead of outwards. We do a front-loop only stitch here to change the direction and create a hard corner, like this:

Row 10: (51)

Sc x51, Sl st, Ch

Rows 11 through 19: (51)

Repeat row 10, working 51 Sc all the way around and joining together.

You should have ten rows above your base when finished. At this point, you can also adjust the height of your basket if you like - just add or remove rows to get your desired height.

Row 20:

Now we will start making the handles. If you don’t want handles on your basket, you can just do another repeated single crochet row here instead (same as rows 10-19). Otherwise, do the following:

Sc x2, Ch 8, Skip 8, Sc x17, Ch 8, Skip 8, Sc x16, Sl st, Ch

Skipping loops here will make a gap for the basket handles. Make sure not to pull your chain stitches too tight, otherwise you will have a hard time getting your hook into them on the next row. Leave yourself some slack to work with.

Here is what you should end up with after doing your chain stitches and skipped loops:

Row 21: (51)

Sc x51, Sl St.

Pull your yarn through and finish off. Weave in any loose ends to clean up the work.

EARS

Using your three strands of yarn held together:

Row 1:

Make a foundation row of 7 Ch stitches, then turn your work.

Row 2:

Starting in the second loop from the hook, Sc x6 across the chain row. Ch 1 and turn.

Row 3:

Dec across the first 2 stitches, then Sc 2, then Dec again across the last two. Finish with Ch 1 and turn the work.

Row 4:

Sc x4 across, ch 1, turn

Row 5:

Dec twice, ch 1, turn

Row 6:

Sc x2, ch 1, turn

Row 7:

Dec across the remaining two stitches. Ch 1 and turn.

Row 8:

Sc, Ch, and then finish off, leaving a long tail.

Repeat this process to make the second ear.

Then, using your tapestry needle and the yarn tails, stitch the ears to the basket, centering them in between the handles. Weave in any loose ends.

FINISHING TOUCHES

At this point you can either call it finished, or add face details to your basket!

I used some leftover yarn to stitch on the button eyes, some black yarn for the mouth, and a safety nose I had from an old amigurumi kit to finish it off. If you don’t have one of those, another button works fine, or just make a big knot in a piece of black yarn and stitch that on.

And that's it!

Hope you enjoyed the pattern, please leave a comment if you tried it out!

Also don't forget to check out my Etsy shop for more patterns and stuff I made --> https://www.etsy.com/shop/Chaiinchomp