Basket Making

Our friend Susan gave Lila and I a lesson in making baskets a few weeks back.  Susan and I will be teaching a class together in the winter using the "Woolworks" curriculum that Harrisville Designs publishes.  One change we are making to the curriculum is to replace rigid heddle weaving with basket weaving, since Susan is a maestro at baskets.  So, clearly I needed to learn how in order to help out eh?

I had fully intended to take photographs from the very beginning of this process, but was so enraptured with the actual soaking of the reed and weaving that I forgot.

I looked up from my own basket to see that Lila was more than half way up the sides so grabbed the camera quick to catch at least part of the process.

Susan is giving Lila some words of encouragement.  She didn't need many and took to it like a natural.  Lila decided on a "plain" market basket, and I opted for one stripe of dyed reed in mine- my basket is on the table in the background.

Here is Lila's basket- completely woven and she is at the staining stage.  She opted for a dark walnut color which surprised me a bit but it turned out beautifully.

She had a great time slopping on the stain...it took days to dry!  It now resides in her bedroom and is currently full of Audio books on CD.  Mine was stained a dark oak and has wool in it (of course!).  What an awesome skill to learn....thanks again Suze!