Weaving a Berry Basket

How many of you go to the farmers market during the summer months?  There is nothing like fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables to add to your menus.  And do you get berries that come in little baskets like these?

berry basket

Not sure what to do with all those baskets?  How about a simple craft for the kids? Or adult? Why not weave a Berry basket.

All you need is an empty (and maybe washed out so any berry juice residue doesn’t attract bugs) berry basket and some leftover pieces of yarn.  If little children are doing this, is it best to start with small lengths of yarn – 6” or so—so they don’t have as much to pull through in the weaving.

basket and yarn

I started at the bottom corner tying the yarn around one of the corner lattices bars of the berry basket.  I pushed the tail of the knot inside the basket so that the weaving would look smooth on the outside but you might like the little tails poking out. Knots and knot tails sticking out might give the weaving a  little texture and a secondary design.  That choice is up to you.

starting knot

Now it is simply a matter of weaving which is taking the yarn and going under and over the plastic lattice bars of the basket.  This is where little ones might need help especially if they don’t know the concept of under and over.  This could be a fun way to teach them.

I went over the first one so you could easily see the weave since there wasn’t a lot of space from where I tied the yarn.  Then continue under the second bar and the over the third, etc.  Keep weaving around the basket until you get to the first knot.

start weaving

If you have run out of yarn as you go along, just tie another piece to the first piece and continue weaving.(in my picture I have it on the bottom of the basket just for the photo so you can see the colors.  With the white background I am using for this tutorial it was hard to see the white yarn.)  If you want push the knots and tails to the inside of the basket

adding new yarn

hidden knot

With these types of baskets, you will have to weave around a corner.  At first I just went around the corner because the lattice bars were so close together.. But as I continued, I found the yarn slipped underneath the basket.  So I took it out and weaved around each little bar even though there wasn’t as much space between the bars (Hint for little ones – it was a little hard to get the knot through the narrow space.  They may need help so they don’t break the plastic basket.).

first corner

loose corner yarn

new weaving

When you get to where you started make sure the weaving is on top or above the original weaving line.  Make sure now that the weaving is going opposite of the first row.  So as you can see with mine where the white went under a lattice bar, the red now needs to go over.  It is OK if you continue as you did, it will give it an interesting design but the weaving will hold tight if you alternate with the weaving rows. 

Now for my basket that meant I had to adjust the weaving so I went over two lattice bars right before the start so it would alternate which bars I would be weaving.  I found this happened at another corner so I just did 2 lattice bars rather than one so the weaving was opposite of the yarn row below.  This also works if you accidentally go over or under two bars instead of taking all the weaving out.  Note:  berry baskets can be different so the one you get may not create this adjustment for you. 

weaving for second row

Continue with the weaving until the entire basket is covered.  Depending on the age of the child, the younger kids might get bored with this which is OK.  Just set the weaving aside until they show interest again.  Maybe save it for a rainy day when they can’t play outside. I have to admit it was tedious at time even for me.

When the entire basket is covered in yarn, tie off the yarn on the top and you are done.  You can now fill it with anything you want.  I wouldn’t put berries it in though.  The juice from the berries could stain the yarn (which might attract bugs). Below is also a picture of the inside which gives you a hint of what the weaving would look like if you let the knots hang on the outside.  You could also weave the bottom if you wanted.

Finished basket

Inside the basket

I had fun with this myself and it used up a lot of bits and pieces of yarn.  And if you have baskets but no children around, do it yourself.  You don’t have to be a kid in age to be a kid at heart.

 

©2018 – Cheryl Fillion