A Pain in the Neck....

I will not be doing any jogging or jump roping today.  I think that I slept in an odd position.

I finally got the toe working right and now my neck is stiff.  If I turn a certain way, it hurts...I know.  Don't turn a certain way...Maybe I should say, if I don't keep my head from moving...

So, consequently, I am sitting in a straight chair and working on something that I don't have to move a lot.  The pile of stuff in the first photo is all I need to make a pretty decent basket.  That's what I am doing.

This is the top half of one of the Tennessee Spinner gourds that my friend Jo sent me.  I am getting at least two baskets out of every gourd.

To compensate for not having a bottom, I simply glued a piece of leather on the bottom and when it was dry, I trimmed it to the size of the gourd neck.

The way to start any coiled basket is what I used to start this one.  The only twist is, I made it the size that I wanted to fit in the curve of the cutout on the gourd.

If I were making a regular all coiled basket, this is how I would start it.  I am using #28 fabric covered wire, straight from the spool.  First I put glue on about a quarter of an inch of the wire at the end.  I laid a short tail of the thread(two strands of over dyed embroidery floss) on the end.  I started wrapping back over the thread and wire until I had enough to start a spiral.  I use pointy tweezers to do this part.  That's the smallest circle you can get for a start.

Then I keep wrapping the wire four times and then plunging the needle between the previous two rows.

I just keep doing that until I have the bottom of the basket as big as I want it.  In this case, the spiral to fit the depression.

When I had it big enough, I started doing figure eights between the row that I was working on and the gourd below.  My holes are irregular for a more natural look, so some of the wraps between vary between four and six.

If you were using it for a basket bottom, you would simply hold the wire where you wanted it to go next and wrap it.

When I got the spiral fastened to the gourd, I simply fed the wire across the top of the gourd and wrapped and fed the thread through the pre-drilled holes to fasten it securely.

Here you see the addition of a new thread.  I hold the tail of the old and new threads against the wire and work over both to cover them.

You will have to do this quite often.  If you are working with two colors, you do the same thing.  Start both at once and alternate the colors in the wrapping....I have both colors on needles so that I can switch from one to the other at any time.

Tessie is using my disability to her advantage.  She grabbed yesterday's basket and wanted her photo taken with it...As soon as I snapped it, Tessie and the basket both disappeared.  She knows I can't run very fast or move my head to track her....Unfair advantage.

I am going back to putting a hot towel on my neck now.  I will chase Tessie when I can move my head again.

See you tomorrow.