Crochet Plant Hangers - Mini

So I have been settling in nicely at my new townhouse, though it seems like a never-ending process.  Though I have been desperately trying to finish Jil’s Birthday blanket (not to mention I need to get to work on Alicia’s Birthday Hat) I have been working on some crochet/sewing/painting projects to get my house in order.

This week’s accomplishment was my kitchen window garden. Special thanks to Vicky for bringing my bamboo plant all the way from MO. More thanks to Kevin & Alicia for the little potted flowers which have just begun to sprout cute little green leaves.

The ultimate goal is that the herbs that are growing will be enough that I can cook with them (mmmm…fresh basil) and that the garden itself will grow to consume the entire window. Making it so that I don’t have to close the blinds to keep my privacy. To achieve this, I decided that some of the smaller (lighter) plants should be hanging. Thus I created the following pattern.

Cute little planter hanger:Made with remnants of Red Heart Baby (recognize it?) as well as size 3.5mm and 5.0mm hooks

With 3.5mm hook, chain 6 and sl st to form a ring

Rnd 1: ch 1, 12 sc into ring

Rnd 2: ch1, sc into 1^st st, *ch 5, skip next st and sc into the following st* repeat from *to* 4 more times. (to make 5 ch5 loops) ch 3 and dc into the first st of the round to join. This leaves you at the top of a 6^th loop.

Rnd 3-5: *Ch 6, sc into next loop* repeat from * to * 4 more times. Ch 4 and trc into the first st of the round to join.

Rnd 6: *Ch 5, sc into next loop* repeat from * to * 5 more times.

Rnd 7: sc 6 times in each loop. sl st in first sc of round to join. Fasten off

(You can continue repeating the Rnd 3-5 pattern for a deeper pot. These things are pretty expandable, but if you need it to be wider at the base – work round 3 as written and then for rnds 4+ ch 7 or 8 instead of the ch 6, and with a ch 8, you’ll have to switch to a quad crochet to join the round. Rnd 6, subtract 1 ch from each loop, and Rnd 7 should have you putting 1 more sc into the loop than the number of ch sts you did in rnd 6.)

Hanging Chains: In one of the loops, join your yarn by tying on around rows 5 & 6 for more stability. Ch 25 or 35 depending on the height of your plant. Pull through a large loop and cut off your yarn. Repeat this in 2 more loops, making 3 evenly spaced hanging chains. Now get out your 5.0 hook and put the hook through all 3 large loops. Snag all 3 little tails of cut off yarn and tighten them up, then ch 1 using all 3 tails through all 3 loops. Pull through once more to fasten off.

Now, if this doesn’t hang at the right height for you, you’ll want to make a hanging loop. Ch 50-75 and feed the starting end through the hanging chains you just fastened off. Now sl st into the first ch to join. This makes a loop that is as long as 50% of your chain sts, and should securely loop through the hanging chains.

Also, check out this great shell pattern for a 6” pot that I found through ravelry:
http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/free/miscellaneous/f114008shellsplanthanger.shtml