Pine needle baskets are beautiful, small round baskets that make great altar pieces or decorative baskets. Different colors of thread can be used to create pretty designs.

This basket weaving tradition originated with the Native groups from the Southeastern United States. It is a type of coil basket where a needle is used to sew layers of needles together.

Ponderosa pines grow abundantly in and around the Cle Elum area; they are those long-needled pines. I will bring needles that I gathered in town. If you’d like to bring your own needles from your property to make your basket special, you are quite welcome to! Please collect needles that have all three needles attached together with the fascicle (not old, broken ones with spots). The longer the better.

When we weave we can most certainly weave our prayers and our intentions into our baskets, so think about what you want to weave into your creation before class.

In this class we will be using wooden bases (a wooden disk with holes drilled around the edges) to make the process a bit simpler. For future projects, these bases can be made yourself, or bought online. There is also another technique that doesn’t require those.

Materials provided: pine needles, a drapery needle, a round basket weaving base, a basket weaving gauge, waxed linen thread, and a handout with resources about materials and other information.

Class will be held at the Cle Elum Wellness Center in Cle Elum, WA. There is parking out back, and some in front as well. There will be floor seating and chair seating available depending on your preference.

Class is taught by Natalie Hammerquist. Natalie is a local herbalist, forager, weaver, naturalist and teacher of all things plants. She runs the Adiantum School of Plant Medicine, based in Seattle and Roslyn. To learn more, visit her website https://www.adiantumschool.com/ .