Baskets, Schmaskets

The basket isn't turning out so well.  It's floppy and lifeless and has no shape at all.  I won't take a picture of it either.  No use in documenting my failure!!

The yarn just isn't stiff enough.  That seems to be an ongoing problem with  crocheting baskets.  One idea is to use two strands of the cotton yarn that people use to make dish cloths. There are also stiffeners you can use, or starches.  But there are drawbacks to these methods.

The frustrating part is that the yarn I used is exactly the same as the type recommended by the basket maker in the picture.  It's Lion Brand and wasn't cheap either.  Yikes, what on earth did I do wrong?

Next stop -- WalMart for some jute.  It is supposed to work great but be very hard on the hands.  One way or another, this is going to happen.  Maybe one strand of jute and one strand of the Lions Brand yarn.

Crafting is a mirror of life.  There is this picture of something we want to make and we can see it exactly.  But as we go about trying to create the project, there are frustrations and twists and turns.   Just like life.  Sometimes we try to do something good and it backfires miserably and we say, "No good deed goes unpunished."  Sometimes we try to correct ourselves and our behaviors and we find ourselves slipping back into the same pattern of error.  The last example corresponds to that flip thought that comes along when we undertake some new crafting idea, "Oh, this ought to be easy." 

Years ago, I would have just given up and the yarn would have sat in a box somewhere for years.  Now I will persist.  The cause is a good one.  The baskets will be sold at the SS Philip & James School's annual fundraiser in April.  It's a silent auction and dinner. 

It's going to be a cold one tonight and tomorrow night.  Thanks be to God for a heated house!!