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This knit basket is more of a knit tray the way I made it, but I really wanted to use all of a few leftover balls of yarn so they just came out the way they came out.
This is a great way to use up odd balls and make baskets or knit trays any size you like, and they can be customized a ton of different ways depending on how much yarn you have and what you want to use them for. They also make great gifts for anyone on your list, which is why I’m sharing this pattern as part of the Underground Crafter’s Chirstmas in July Makealong (more on that below).
Materials
I made two sizes of knit baskets to show you how different they can look. The larger knit basket is made with two colors of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky, a long-ago discontinued bulky blend of acrylic and wool. The purple yarn I had about 40 yards of, and the magenta 67.
Lion Brand Hue + Me or Premier Basix Chunky would be a good alternative, but we’re using what we have here.
The smaller basket uses two strands of yarn held together. I think one of them is Bernat Cotton Tots, another discontinued yarn, this time a worsted weight cotton. I think the other one is probably Knit Picks Swish DK. That basket weighs 49 grams, so I think I used about 40 yards of the Swish and 56 yards of Cotton Tots.
For both baskets I used a size 9 US/5.5 mm circular knitting needle. If your yarn is lighter weight, try a smaller needle. If you’re holding a bunch of strands together, you’ll want a bigger one.
You can just make a guess and start knitting and if you don’t like the fabric you’re getting, go up or down a needle size as you feel. Gauge is not important here (though if you really want to know I got about 12 stitches per 4 inches/10 cm on each basket using seed stitch).
You’ll also need a stitch marker, a pair of scissors and a yarn needle.
Add this project to your Ravelry queue.
Size
The large knit basket is abut 10 inches square at the base (that’s 25.4 cm) and the walls are about 2.5 inches/6.35 cm tall.
The smaller basket is 6 inches/15.24 cm square and 1.5 inches/3.8 cm tall.
Adjust the size by using bigger or smaller yarn and needles, more or fewer stitches, taller or shorter sides. They don’t even have to be square if you don’t want!
How to Make a Knit Basket
I made the larger one first but the process is the same so let’s walk through this one.
Cast on 30 stitches. Knit in seed stitch (or moss stitch if you’re using UK terms), as follows:
Row 1: *Knit 1, purl 1. Repeat from * across.
Row 2: *Purl 1, knit 1. Repeat from * across.
Continue in pattern until your piece of knitting is roughly square.
Here I ran out of purple before I ran out of base, so I changed colors by knitting the first row in the magenta yarn and then resuming seed stitch. That makes the color change really crisp on one side of the knitting.
If you do this you can decide if that’s the inside or the outside of your project.
Once your base is roughly square (which I tested by folding on the diagonal — if it makes a perfect triangle that means the flat piece is a square), pick up and knit stitches along the other three edges. I basically picked up the purl bumps along the sides and the cast on stitches along the bottom. I ended up with 110 stitches.
You can just pick them up and knit them, which is the right choice if you’re changing colors here, or you can continue to work them in pattern.
It doesn’t matter how many stitches you pick up, because you can work seed stitch in the round with any number of stitches. If you have an even number, one round will end with the same stitch the next round starts with, but if you have an odd number you can just keep working knit 1, purl 1 around as established to the desired length or when you’re about to run out of yarn.
Remember to add a stitch marker at the end of the picked up stitches to note the end of the round.
When your sides are as tall as you’d like or you’re coming close to running out of yarn, bind off.
Because I was trying to us as much yarn as I could, I actually ended up doing a no yarn bind off on the larger version. Cut any excess yarn, leaving a tail to weave in, and weave in your yarn ends.
Small Basket and Other Variations
For the small knit basket I did exactly the same thing, but I cast on 20 stitches instead of 30, worked until square, picked up stitches and knit until I was almost out of one of my yarns.
I like this combining of different yarns because it gives a different look, but I wanted to keep it monochrome so I just used the same two yarns throughout.
You can use odd balls held together to make a big knit basket, or use all your leftover sock yarn to make a mini basket.
Right now these knit baskets are living on my desks so they often pick up random things that are left from other projects, notebooks and other necessities. You could use them in the bathroom to hold bottles, or make a taller sided basket to hold rolled up napkins or towels in the kitchen.
If you like this project, give it a like on Ravelry! I appreciate you.
Makealong Details
I’m participating in the 8th Annual Christmas in July Make Along with Underground Crafter. Come join the fun! 28 bloggers have teamed up to bring you a month full of free patterns to kick start the handmade holiday season including crochet and knitting projects. There’s something new to make every day in July. Each week will have a theme.
Week 1 (July 1-7): Babies, Kids, and Teens
Week 2 (July 8-14): Women
Week 3 (July 15-21): Gifts for Anyone
Week 4 (July 22-28): Home
Week 5 (July 29-31): Pets
We’ve also partnered with some of our favorite companies including Brown Sheep Company, Inc., Denise, Forbidden Fiber Co., GlassEyesOnline, Knitter’s Relief Balm, LennyMudPottery, Storey Publishing, Underground Crafter, Unicorn, and WalnutFarmDesigns to bring you 10 fabulous prizes for the make along giveaway! Find out more information about participating designers, the schedule, and enter to win a prize on Underground Crafter. The deadline for entering the giveaway is Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 11:59 pm Eastern.
How To Join the 8th Annual Christmas in July Make Along
- Sign up for the Christmas in July Make Along updates and Underground Crafter’s newsletter to get regular emails, including a daily email in July as each make along post goes live.
- You can join in by crocheting or knitting the projects as you have time.
- Share your progress and post pictures of your finished projects. Tag your projects and posts #CIJMakeAlong2026 and #undergroundcrafter on all social media.
- If you’d like to chat with other crafters, join the Underground Crafters Facebook group or the Underground Crafter Ravelry group.
- By the end of the Make Along, you’ll have up to 31 awesome projects. Get ready for the handmade holiday season while having fun with us!
Visit Underground Crafter to learn more about the prizes, enter the giveaway, and to get links to each Christmas in July Make Along post as it is released.
