CHAPTER VIII

HOW TO WEAVE A SPLINT BASKET

YOUR enthusiasm will begin when you find how easily the splint can be cut and shaped after it has soaked for a while in water. It is delightful to work with, almost as soft and pliable as ribbon, while having more substance. Although there is apparently such diversity in the material shown in the illustration, it all comes from one roll of splint, which is uniform in width and thickness.

A basket measuring about six inches in diameter and three inches in height is a convenient size on which to learn.

Open Your Roll of Splint,

put two pieces to soak in a bowlful of cold water, and let them remain twenty minutes. Have ready a clean lap-board, a pair of large scissors, and an old towel. The lap-board not only serves for a work-table, but also keeps the water out of your lap.

Wipe the dripping water from the splint, and cut off six pieces nineteen inches long; then cut these into sixteen strips one-half inch wide, for the spokes of the basket. Do not attempt to tear the splint, for it will not tear evenly. From the other piece of splint cut four strips for weavers, making the first one-half of an inch wide, the next one-fourth of an inch wide, another one-eighth of an inch wide, and the last one-sixteenth of an inch wide. Place all the weavers in the water and leave them until you are ready to begin weaving.

Take Up the Spokes,

one at a time, and pass them between your fingers until they are perfectly straight and flat; then number them all by writing the number with a pencil on each end of every spoke; see diagram (Fig. 85). Lay the spokes in front of you on the lap-board crossing the first four at the centre (Fig. 85). Place the next four spokes in the spaces between the ones you have just arranged in the order shown in Fig. 86, then the remaining eight in the spaces left between these.

For instance, the ninth spoke should come between No. 1 and No. 5, the tenth spoke between No. 5 and No. 3, the eleventh spoke between No. 3 and No. 6, and so on around the circle (Fig. 87). Be sure the lower end of a spoke fits between the same numbers as the upper end. When all the spokes are placed hammer a strong pin directly through the centre where they are crossed, to hold them together while you begin.

The Weaving

With the spokes lying in the position shown in diagram (Fig. 87), take the eighth-inch weaver, and begin to weave it in and out of the spokes. Start it under spoke No. 1 about two and one-half inches from the centre, bring it over No. 9, under No. 5, over No. 10, under No. 3, over, under, over, under, until it has crossed spoke No. 16; then skip No. 1, bring the weaver under No. 9, and weave another row. You will find it necessary to skip one spoke at the beginning of each row, in order to make a continuous under-and-over weave. Weave five rows with the eighth-inch weaver, then slide the end under the last row, lapping it an inch or so and running it under several spokes, to hide the joint. Slip the first end under a spoke also. During this part of the work your main endeavor must be to weave in a perfect circle. The illustration shows the bottom of the basket completed.

Before bending the spokes for the sides of the basket, let them soak in the water a few minutes, then place the work on the lap-board, the same side up as when started, and carefully bend the spokes up at right-angles with the bottom (Fig. 88). Start a half-inch weaver inside the basket, close to the bottom, and weave under and over until the row is complete; then, allowing for a lap of about three inches, cut the weaver off and slide the end under the first end of the weaver, making the invisible joint by tucking each end under a spoke. Start the next row a little beyond the joint of the first row, that the joining may not all come in one place. Weave five rows of the half-inch weaver, then two rows of the fourth-inch weaver and then bind off (Fig. 89).

Binding Off

Cut the spokes off evenly, leaving about two inches extending above the top of the basket, then put the basket in the water, spokes down, and soak until pliable. Bend each spoke down snugly over the top weaver, and slip the end through the next weaver, pushing it down until its end is hidden under one of the weavers. Bend one spoke inside, the next outside the basket, according as they come inside or outside of the top weaver (Fig. 89).

This binding off holds the top weaver in place and makes the basket very firm; but the spokes must be protected from wear where they are bent, and it is necessary to put a double band around the edge. For this band cut two pieces of the fourth-inch weaver which will go around the basket and lap about an inch. Place one piece along the inside edge, the other along the outside edge of the basket, and with the sixteenth-inch weaver bind them to the top weaver, as shown in Diagram 90. Fasten the end by taking several cross-stitches with the narrow weaver, passing it under the inside band only, and tucking the end under the same band.

The Trimming

Many splint baskets are trimmed with twisted loops of the same material. For this trimming take one of the half-inch weavers and cut a thread's width off its edge, making it just a trifle narrower than the other weaver. Insert the end of this weaver under a spoke at the top of the basket (letter A, Diagram 91), give a twist to the left, and pass it beneath the next spoke, as shown in Diagram 91, letter B. Pull the loop down and flatten it a little with your thumb, then twist the weaver again, this time to the right, and slip the end under the next spoke,