FROM LAMPSHADE TO BASKET

Although I haven't posted on this blog in almost a year, I have been reluctant to shut it all down, believing I would perhaps get back to it when I had more time. It's taken me almost eight months of retirement to finally find my way back

...but better late than never!

I love being off, 

partly because I don't have to get up before the crack of 9:00

...well sometimes 10:00

...but mostly, 

because I am free to do some of the things I used to do

 but never seemed to have time while working.

The first few months were busy clearing all my daycare supplies and furniture from basement, getting rid of stuff we no longer needed and rearranging everything so the basement looked more like a family room than a preschool classroom. I've set up a sewing/craft area and spread out my exercise equipment thinking that I would use it if it was easier to get at it...hasn't happened yet buy there's still hope :).

I also painted the spare bedroom and redid the furniture to give the room an entirely new look which I love.

Before

After

Throw in a little personal tweaking, a six week recuperating period plus endless time spent on Pinterest, I am finally ready to put that craft area to use.

My first project was changing an old lampshade from a dust collector into something useful, either a planter or a basket...depending how the finished product turned out.

 There is no pattern to post. 

All I did was crochet a chain using jute twine and some bulky variegated yarn so it would fit the smallest end of the shade and continued round using single crochet. Every third round I increased the number of stitches by 4 stitches evenly spaced in the round.

I continued until it was large enough to stretch over the lampshade,

then ended off.

To line the inside I recycled an unbleached SMU bag my daughter got for Frosh Week at Saint Mary's

(figured  fourteen years after graduating she would't miss it) to line the inside of the shade. As the finished project was either going to be filled with yarn or dirt, I didn't do any fancy measuring, just draped it and hot glued it into place. I trimmed the outer edge and glued in place. Next, I slipped the outer crochet cover on an glued around the edge.
 

Pleased with the way it turned out, I decided it would be a yarn basket which needed a handle. To do this I used a coat hanger, did a single crochet stitch around the hanger,  poked holes on each side of the basket and attached the handle. I wanted a little twist to my basket so I bent the wire shape to it and

...ta ta...I now have a new yarn basket in my living room. :)