Basket Weaving Workshop

Chain Motif on Basket

Yesterday (Nov 13) was an exciting day. The Guild had a workshop with Margaret Trussel of Vulcan's Rest Fibers - a basket weaving lesson for beginners.

We met bright and early at the Howard County Fairgrounds. Margaret brought a lot of materials with her. She even brought a huge amount of woven baskets for us to admire. Me? I brought some supplies too (coffee, tea, hot water heater, pumpkin pie and lunch for Margaret). What I didn't bring? My camera :(

Originally the idea was that we'd be weaving a tote basket with straps. I skipped the part about adding straps. I just wanted a basket to sit on the floor in the studio - filled with yarn, or a cat or two.

Basket Base

Lashings

One of the great things about this workshop is that Margaret brought supplies in many different colors and sizes so everyone finished up with a different looking basket at the end of the day. Mine is rather understated, simple, clean. I also tried my best to get tight edges from the beginning. As I worked my way up the basket, I continued to kept it tight so that I'd get some draw-in. This way the base of the basket is slightly larger than the top. Closer to the top I started letting things relax a bit so the top part would have straight sides. I really like how it turned out...

Ta dah!

Fjola, Caught In The Act! :)