Basket Case

Every year for my birthday I try to learn something new. Except for a couple years when the stresses of life got in the way it’s gone well. One year I learned to knit. It took a long time for that to take hold but I very much enjoy it now. Another year I bought a beginner cheesemaking kit and learned to make cheese. Ummm, homemade mozzarella is delicious. I got a bunch of bread making books from the library one year and taught myself to make bread. I now have an entire shelf in my pantry devoted to flours, grains, and seeds. I love to make bread. It’s good for my soul. There have been other experiments throughout the years. Some I’ve enjoyed and others I haven’t but I was glad I tried them all. It feels good to learn something new even if you never want to try it again.

I’ve been having problems this year. My birthday is coming up next month and I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to try. There were a few options but none seemed quite right. I was thinking I could take a class in something I already knew and get better at it but that didn’t seem right. I am supposed to learn something new for my birthday. My birthday is only once a year; I can take classes anytime I want. It was really starting to bug me. Then last week, we went to Jamestown.

They have a re-created Native American village and we were having fun learning to prepare hides, grinding cornmeal, watching the chickens, and learning how to cook corn soup in clay pots over coals. It was interesting but I was more interested in the grass baskets. I liked the way they felt and the way they smelled. The woven patterns seemed so complicated but unassuming. In a way, they reminded me of every person I’ve ever loved. I couldn’t stop myself from picking them up and seeing how they were made. I was still thinking about them when we went to the fort and also when we boarded the boats. I stopped thinking about them when we got to the gift shop. Good grief, there must have been a hundred screaming kids in there. But they came back to mind when I saw a basket making kit. It was for children ages 10 and up but I figured I was definitely in the up category so I bought it. They weren’t the same types of basket. The kit was for the wide reed type baskets and I really like the grass baskets. It’ll be a good start.

I’ve looked through the directions and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to figure it out. I think it’s one of those things you just have to do. So I’ll be doing it before long. When I get a free day and feel adventurous. Wish me luck!

Filed under Cheesemaking, Knitting, Me in a Blog Post |