Weaving Your Cares Behind.....in Bedford, PA

I spent a beautiful fall weekend in Bedford,  PA attending the Basketweavers Guild Weaving Your Cares Behind  convention.  Basket classes were offered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.   This year I took all three classes taught by basketmaker Anne Bowers of Kearneysville, West Virginia. 






 Friday I made a round colorful 2 /2 twill basket.  The base measures 8" square and the finished diameter of the rim is 10".  The rim is lashed with a piece of heavy waxed linen.

 
 

Saturday I wove  two square ribbed baskets.  The larger basket began with an 8" square handle, while the smaller basket used a 6" square.  After making a decorative handle and God's eye,  all the whittled ribs were inserted into the basket behind the God's eye at the same time.  I used thin cane to begin the weaving and hold the ribs in place.  The remainder of the basket was woven with colored flat reed.

On Sunday Anne had a collection of old potato mashers for us to weave around.  Some mashers had round bases and others had square bases.  I selected a rusty round potato masher with a brown wooden handle.  Splints were attached to the holes of the masher and I row of twined a row of round reed to secure it to the potato masher.  Additional splints were added to the twined row.  The base was woven out to the desired size, twining the round reed. The sides were brought up and woven in a start/stop weave.  I used brown, mustard and rust colored accents on the side to coordinate with the potato mashers color.