Macrame'! An age old craft that seemed to peak during the 60' and 70's, then die out... until the return of "surfer" jewelry made from hemp and other materials. Yes, I've done a lot in the macrame' department, including plant hangers, wall hangings, curtains, jewelry, double pot hangers, hanging tables, lamps, woven chairs, etc... hammocks and bed hangings are more expensive and complicated, but are gorgeous when finished. How complicated they are depends upon the knots used and the sequences of the various knots. Your basic square knot and half knot are the most common, I believe... and then there's learning how to incorporate the top loop, beads or decorations, and the chosen method of finishing off the bottom. The boring parts are cutting the various lengths of jute or hemp, or even nylon or synthetic cording, and the endless knot sequences. I've made quick, rudimentary hangers from baling twine, though it's a bit stiff to work with. Craft stores still carry the materials and inexpensive magazines and craft books with instructions. You might also find some patterns and instructions for free download via the internet. If Googled, probably a million results will be given, and you can search exactly what you're after. It's fairly easy to learn, a nice craft for gift giving, and very versatile... as you can make or cover all manner of items. The main key is learning to make your knots with an even tension. Good luck! I'm sure anything you do make will turn out nice!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I "tweaked" things a bit because I was worried about my tomato roots. The plants were a bit closer than I originally stated. When planting my garden, I spaced my rows about 3 to 4 feet apart, and my tomatoes are on one end with my pepper row as the 2nd row. Anyway, that gave me space to run T-posts at the edge of the garden, and then in the middle of the tomato/pepper row. I staked the T-posts every two tomato plants and created an X pattern with the twine. I ran twine about every 8 to 10 inches up the T-posts in an x pattern, and then ran a line of twine horizontally at the edge of each plant, every two plants. Think of an X within a box and that's the patter I ran with the twine. I also made a few other modifications, but they were on the fly and too hard too describe. I was skeptical at first, but after I was finished, I couldn't have been happier. The tomato plants are upright and look healthy as could be with no more worries about the wind. I actually like the X pattern and might do it again next year. It's a bit more work, but I think it allows the tomato plants more room to spread out and up. It's fun trying different things anyway. Not bragging, but they do look happy and healthy. :)

Thank you all for the replies! I knew the Santa carvings would pique your interest! frou, I *used* to have eagle eyesite!!! but my career is working with computers (constant eye strain) and my eyes just aren't getting any younger. ;^) sigh. OTOH, I do have a lot of patience for something like this. slinkey, my friend asked what I would charge him (cringing), and the idea of a barter just popped into my head. He immediately said he'd carve me a Santa... so we'll see what happens. He said he loves barters, and I do too. I've also bartered with my cousin... baskets for his stained glass. :) And, yes, these minis are difficult! and I have tiny hands (size 4 ring finger). Susan, thank you! :) Jeanne S, the scale is a challenge -- which is probably why I'm driven to weave him something he'd really like. But wait until you see the photos of his work! I was hoping he'd ask me to accessorize something! :) luvs, weaving baskets is actually quite easy! Creating original designs/patterns is what's difficult, and I do prefer to create my own. I weave a LOT of custom baskets for people! Karen, thank you! And, since he (Mike) has a website, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't look at his work! He's excited because he's working on a new wood carving book! (Mike was a high school physics teacher who quit his job to work in high-tech computer development... that's where we met!). Mike has a great website with photos of his work at http://www.woodendreamz.com/ This is very exciting for me. Thank you everyone!

Thanks everyone! I really hope you do like it and think it's worthy as a raffle prize. Maybe you can understand why, with this much work, I consider my basket alone to be the prize. :p I'm not sure if they'll be doing randomly drawn winners for all the items or if they'll do what they call a Chinese Auction -- where you buy a bunch of tickets and put any number of them with any item that you'd like to win, then they draw the winners from those piles associated with each item. A Chinese Auction would definitely be better for a basket like this! I also meant to say that this is what's called a twilled basket. It's a fairly complex pattern and when you mess up the pattern during weaving it takes a couple more rows before you notice it, and then it takes about 1/2 hour to find where you initially missed the pattern, and then you have to rip it out to that point and start weaving again. I only messed up once! LOL! PS: They just returned my phonecall about my donation -- she said they're doing great w/ cash donations this year but don't have much for the Chinese Auction, so "they'll take anything". pffffttttt! wait til she sees this! :O) This post was edited by party_music50 on Fri, Dec 6, 13 at 9:35