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Want to make a Sentro Easter basket? It’s really easy to make a little basket — for Easter or any other occasion — using your circular knitting machine! Here’s how it’s done.
Supplies for the Sentro Easter Basket
I used about 90 yards of a DK weight baby yarn, Mary Maxim Sugar Baby, which has been discontinued. Mary Maxim Lullaby looks similar, or if you don’t want the pastel/ ombre look, try Mellowspun DK (my favorite yarn for the Sentro).
I say Sentro here because that’s the machine I have, but of course you can use any circular knitting machine for this project. I have the Sentro 40; a 48 pin would make a slightly larger basket, and a 20 would make a mini basket (I also have a 20 so I’ll probably do this soon and add instructions for that). Of course if you have an Addi of any size or a machine of a different brand that works, too.
You’ll also need a little bit of waste yarn (I use the yarn that came with the machine), a pair of scissors and a yarn needle. I love the bent tip ones for ease of getting stitches off the machine. Or you can use the one that came with the machine.
Size
Your basket will vary depending on the size of your machine and your gauge, but mine is about 4 inches/10cm across at the base and 3.5 inches/9 cm tall, excluding handle
How to Make a Sentro Easter Basket
Cast on using waste yarn and knit three or four rounds.
Join in working yarn, using the tightest tension on your machine.
Knit for about 50 rounds. (I don’t have a counter so I counted to 50 as I worked.)
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail for sewing. Thread the yarn onto your yarn needle and pick up all the stitches from the machine.
Pull the yarn so that the bottom is closed, but keep it kind of flat, not bunched up like you would do a hat.
Fold the base in half so you have half of your stitches facing the other half of your stitches.
Sew through two stitches at a time, one from each side, across to stabilize the base.
Bring your needle through the fabric to the inside of the basket if you’re not there already. Turn the basket inside out and fold the other end of the knitting down so that your cast on edge meets the edge of the base of the basket. Basically the sides are doubled but not the bottom.
Sew the stitches from the cast on to the inside of the basket.
Remove the waste yarn. You will have to pull the last bit out of the first round of stitches because of the way it is sewn.
Making the Handle
I thought about just knitting the handle with needles but I decided I wanted to make the whole project on the circular knitting machine, which means it’s time for panel knitting.
This is actually a good project to practice panel knitting on because it’s just a few stitches and it doesn’t take that long to make.
I haven’t done a tutorial on panels yet but this method from Beyond the Lens is how I did these. (She doesn’t use the panel setting and I tried that and it seems to work but I’ll have to experiment to see which way is “better.”)
I didn’t use waste yarn for this but you can if you want.
Cast on 10 stitches.
Work back and forth as a flat panel for 60 rows.
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail for sewing. Thread yarn onto a yarn needle and slide all the stitches from the machine onto the yarn. Pull tight.
Sew the panel into a tube. I use mattress stitch for this, which is where you take the sewing needle under the thread that’s in the middle of the v on one side of the tube, then in the same place on the other side of the tube.
Pull tight every inch or so to make sure the seam is invisible and the tube is straight.
When you get to the cast on end, you’ll find it a bit of a mess. I just tucked all that extra yarn and weird stitching into the tube and sewed it closed.
Sew the handle to one side of the basket near the top. Repeat on the other side.
Without the handle (or even with it!) this little Sentro Easter basket would be cute for storing small things around the house year round.
