BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The Bradford County Public Library hosted a pine needle basket weaving class on Friday, September 6th.
The library’s Program Coordinator, Kathy Paddock, said the seminar was one of a series of crafts and hobbies classes she organized.
“We have basket weaving,” she said. “We have cricket crafts, quilling, not quilting, but quilling; it’s a paper craft. Jewelry making is next. We had (candle making) already, and we’ll do that again in October.”
Debra Hall and Ella Cooney led the basket weaving session. Hall said the library’s crafts and hobbies series consists of local residents sharing their skills and knowledge with their neighbors.
“This is a craft I learned 50 years ago,” she said of pine needle basket weaving. “People were interested in it, and we just have a lot of fun getting together, socializing, and trying to do it. It’s fun to go out in the woods and get fresh air and have a good time doing it.”
Cooney and Hall displayed a tableful of baskets they had previously woven.
Hall said the time required to make the baskets vary.
“Ella’s fast,” Hall said of her creative partner. “She can get it done in a week. I take a month; I take my time.”
Hall said she took up the pastime 50 years ago and still has one of the first baskets she made.
