Weaving with the addition of seagrass.

 With the model of an English Shopper before me, I began to get ready to weave a similar basket with seagrass as part of the weaving material.

 The pre-cut stakes and fillers are shown here as well as the webbing loop.

 Each of the stakes and filler were marked with an "X" to indicate the middle of each length. A 1/4" red-dyed stake was laid beneath a ceramic tile. The tike is for weight, with the "X" just showing at the edge of the tile. Then I added a 1/2" red filler followed by a 1/2" natural coloured stake. I then alternated filler, 1/4", filler, and natural stake as shown.

 Using an under one and over one weaving pattern I placed a 1/2" natural stake at the line of "Xs". The mid-point "X" of this weaver was placed at the middle 1/2" natural stake. The 1/4" red stake was then woven with an over one and under one pattern.

 As I wove in the third 1/2" natural stake, I also wove the webbing beneath it.

 I then completed the base weaving by working its other side

 The 1/2" fillers for the base were then woven into the base weave as shown.

 Using clothes pegs as anchors, I then began to weave the sides.

 Three rows of twining in red round cane added an embellishment to the basket, with green pony beads at each stake in the second row of this weaving.

 Now I was able to see if the seagrass would be a good addition to my weaving repertoire. I feel it looks good.

I will complete the basket, now named as a market basket, tomorrow by adding its border.

Thinking outside the box (basket).

 Several months ago, a basket-maker friend gave me the last of her supplies as she retired from basket making. Among the supplies were several unopened coils of seagrass. At that time I had only used a few strands of seagrass as fillers for the borders of market baskets. How was I to use this unexpected cache of seagrass?

 One use I made of this supply was in the hat stand shown above. The texture and colour of the seagrass works quite well.

 Today I am venturing into unknown territory for me. I have an eight foot piece of webbing that Anne sewed together in a loop to form the handles of an English Shopper. As you can see above I use that loop to go round the basket twice and then serve as the handles. Perhaps I can weave much of the body of a new basket with seagrass?

I found these "patterns" for an English Shopper as well as the model shown above. I pre-cut the stakes to the given dimensions. They are now in soak waiting for me to return to them later in the day. I will create more blogs as the work progresses. If the seagrass proves to be a good material for this kind of basket, I will be quite happy. If it does not, I will weave a similar shopper to the one shown.

An "English Shopper."

This "English Shopper" is a little more elaborate than most of the baskets I make. The webbing for the handles is eight foot long. Anne used her serger sewing machine and sewed the ends together. It is currently the 170th basket to add to my inventory in readiness for the Originals Christmas Craft Show.I will be there from the 13th to 18th of December (setting up on the 12th). With two and a half weeks to go. I should reach an inventory total of 200 or so.