A basket maker would begin making a basket on a flat wooden board with holes in it. He would usually make the shape of the basket with stakes (ribs) of willow or of hazel. He would normally use willow rods to weave the stakes together, going in and out of the stakes in the same way that the weft is woven through the warp on a weaving loom.

People used to grow willows in wet ground which was unsuitable for growing other crops. They would care for the willow as carefully as they would other crops, and encourage it to grow straight to make rods which were useful for basket making. They would usually make a basket to just the right size for the person who would be using it.

A woman carrying a basket full of peat with a strap round her shoulders, Skye, about 1905

A woman carrying a basket full of twigs, Nigg, Ross-shire, about 1890. The basket she is carrying is smaller and shorter than the others. It is more closely woven, and there is a sort of flat lip on the top of the basket

A woman could carry a basket and spin with a spindle or knit with knitting needles at the same time. A spinstress could move about with a spindle, something which she couldn't do with a spinning wheel. Under her armpit she would have a distaff, which held wool which was ready for spinning.

A woman carrying carrying a basket on her shoulders attached with a strap and knitting with knitting needles, Skye, about 1910

Mary Macpherson, carrying a basket and using a spindle and a distaff with wool on it, Sleat, Skye, about 1811

There would be "taobhaisdean", hand holes, going round the basket half way between the bottom and the top. Gaps would be left in the wall of the basket so that a person could insert a hand to grip it when it was full. Usually there would be two people, the person who was going to set off with the basket and someone else behind the basket. You could get your hands in, even though the basket would be full of peat or whatever, and you would lift the basket onto the back of the person who was going to be carrying it. This was important too whn placing two baskets on the back of a pony.

Two women, a mare and a foal, Eriskay, 1955. There is a "plàta-mhurain" (bent-grass mat) with a "peanan" on the mare's back, and the basket is hanging from the "srathair" (pack saddle). The second woman (behand the mare) is lifting another basket to hang it on the mare's back.

The mare walking and carrying the baskets, Eriskay, 1955. The breeches (hind harness) go on the pony's behind (round the buttocks below the tail) so that the load in the baskets does not move forward when she is walking down a slope.

1 Two baskets and 2 a "srathair" (pack saddle) hung over 3 a "peanan" and 4 a "plàta-mhurain" (bent-grass mat) on the back of a pony, Eriskay, about 1980. Although the photo was taken in Eriskay, the shape of the baskets is very different from those on the mare with a foal in Eriskay in 1955

A brown mare from Barra, a white garron from Mull, and a dun mare from Uist in a painting by William Shiels from shortly after 1842. The garron has a mat on his back and two baskets hung over it. The baskets are different in shape and material from those in Eriskay (1955), but the hand grips on the sides are the same.

Two women getting ready to carry peat, Scaliscro, Uig, Lewis, about 1950. The two baskets are of different shape, and the two women are not carrying them in the same way. The side of the basket is against the back of the woman on the left, but the base of the basket is against the back of the woman on the right. However, they are using the strap in the same way.