I saw a photo of a little plaid basket when browsing Penterist and decided to give it a try today.  As you can see, I have not stained it yet.  It is still drying.   I decided to make it the size of a square tissue box .  It is woven with 1/4″ flat stakes. As I was sorting through my reed looking for just the right pieces for stakes and weavers it occurred to me that some inexperienced weavers might not know what to look for to have success weaving with narrow stakes. I always sort through the pound roll of reed and sort out the pieces that are the thickest to make nice strong stakes. A weak thin stake will bend and lose its shape when weaving a tightly packed basket.  Then, when I am ready to weave rows, I choose the thinner pieces of reed to be pliant, and fit easily between the close stakes.

Another quick tip…when rimming a basket, choose a narrow enough reed for your top hidden row so that your sea grass can fit down in the groove without sticking up above the rim.  It will make for a cleaner look after lashing.