I wonder if you would be able to do this but start with a chain and then hold the rope to it and crochet around it? Update! I made a square basket using Crochet with Julia's video titled "How to crochet a SQUARE with T-shirt yarn without a seam." After the square is the size you want, do a round of sc into blo and then build up the sides.
To start the side of the basket I crochet like a front post but instead of going around the post of the below stitch I go around the part between the tops of the stitch. So like doing a regular single crochet but going in thru the stitch like normal but coming out , via the back, of the next stitch. I find it makes it a really defined "wall" - if an of this makes sense lol
So did you increase in just the first stitch of each round of the bottom? Or did you do it like most crochet circles (1 sc inc, 2 sc inc, 3 sc inc, etc)
You want to make a standard increased circle. Whatever number stitches you start with in the middle (in this case 8) you want to do an increase in every 8th stitch. If you do 6 or 10 in the middle, you would increase in that 6th or 10th stitch. When you start a new row, the beginning chain DOESN'T count as the first stitch. That chain will be the increase at the very end of the row. I hope this makes sense.
