I Love Baskets!

Baskets are the only thing that I can think of that machines can't make. (Please post a comment with other ideas you have on this.) They have to be woven by hand. Even the tacky plastic Easter baskets are made somewhere by someone's hands.
I own a large number of baskets and use them everyday. I have my favorites. There's the one that holds my purse and a random assortment of other objects that I leave the house with each morning. When I remember to pack my lunch, I usually pack it in one of 2 or 3 baskets. Many are used for storing yarn, weaving tools, accessories, magazines, etc. around the house.
I personally know 3 basket weavers. I have a small collection of a dozen or so made by my friend, Cat Mena. Larry Worley does some really cool sculptural pieces. Here is a little video of my friend Sandy at Open Studios talking about how she made a basket from periwinkle that came from her yard.
My husband once called me a compulsive basket buyer. The most interesting purchase I've made was from a little lady on the church steps in Chichicastenango, Guatemala on market day. See me in the foreground of this colorful scene clutching the basket? This is one of my lunch baskets and is in the center of the photo above.
The Tarahumara indians who live in the Copper Canyon of northern Mexico make some baskets that I like a lot. The small ones are double walled- two seperate layers inside and out!