Basket Cruisin' ⋆ PrairieWood Basketry

Weaving at Sea …

It all started when one of Sandy Bulgrin’s basket weaving students told her she had signed up to go on a knitting cruise. Sandy responded “But – Lucille, you don’t knit?” “I know … why isn’t there a basket weaving cruise?”

That was August 2008. One conversation turned into many, plans were made and by late September they had a travel agent, an itinerary and a cruise booked. They were excited but they got to wondering if any other weavers would be as excited as they were. Attending a weaving event in Valparaiso, Indiana, they asked weavers what they thought. Would they be interested in going on a basket weaving cruise? The response was “YES”, people were excited.

Now they needed teachers. And they needed the teachers who would commit to going on the cruise no matter how many students signed up. Was that asking too much? Would they be willing to take the risk? Well, all you can do is ask – so they did. And teachers were not only interested but excited. Everything was a go; Sandy and Lucille were ecstatic!

That was the beginning of the biannual Basket Weaving Cruise. The first Basket Weaving Cruise successfully took place in February 2010. Today, plans are in place for the fourth Basket Weaving Cruise in February 2016. You will want to check out their itinerary, the excursions and the great line up of basket teachers and basket classes.
–some of your favorites will be there! Click on their logo to visit the Basket Weaving Cruise website.

Challenges of Weaving at Sea

Planning and executing a basket event has challenges; a basket weaving cruise has some unique challenges. The biggest challenge is water. Those big drums of water we are used to seeing at a basket event just aren’t possible on a cruise. The amount of water basket weavers can use on the ship is limited and the dirty water left after basket class cannot go into the ship’s filtration system. All dirty water must all be collected and stored until the ship returns to port where it is brought on land and dumped. To insure that it doesn’t get put into the filtration system it is locked up every night. Yup, you read that right – the dirty water is locked up.

And then there’s security. All those sharp tools we use need to be considered. We may be using them safely and appropriately but there are rules; so weavers and teachers get special instructions about how to bring them on board and where and how to store them. One year a teacher had her drill locked up every night.

Basket Cruising