Begin to wind again and soon both ends are covered. When you have made about ten rows, which will form the bottom of the basket, bring the rattan above the last row and proceed as before. Each new row is brought above the previous one so as to form the sides of the basket. When the basket is about eight rows high, the ninth row is brought just a little inside of the eighth so as to have something for the cover to rest upon. When about three inches from the point where the rattan was brought up to make the sides of the basket, it should be cut long enough to finish the row and then shaved off to a flat point which is sewed closely to the last row. For this basket we will have to make a cover.
The cover is made in the same manner as the bottom of the basket. When you have nine rows complete, a border is made to finish off the cover. The tenth row is sewed to the ninth by a fancy stitch which is made by winding once around the ninth from left to right and once around the tenth from right to left and so on alternately until the row is completed.
The end of the rattan is shaved off and sewed to the last row. A pretty lining would beautify this article very much.
One of the very simple things which a very small child could easily make is a napkin ring ([Figure 204]).
Fig. 204. The napkin ring
Cut a piece of cardboard or stiff paper about an inch and a half wide and eight or nine inches long. Paste the ends together forming the ring. Take two strands of raffia and knot them. Place the knot inside the ring holding it with the first two fingers of the left hand. The strand on the right is brought up and across the ring on the top, the end hanging over the left side. The strand on the left is brought around the right strand under again through the ring and out on the right through the loop made by the right strand in turning and crossing the ring. Pull both ends. The strand on the left is brought across the ring, the right strand placed over it through the ring and out through the loop on the opposite side. Pull both ends. The little knot formed on the edge is called "Solomon's Knot" and it makes a very desirable edge.
Different colours may be used in raffia which brighten the ring very much and make the work more interesting.
When the strands of raffia come to an end, a new one is joined by placing the end over the old one about an inch or an inch and a half, and working with them as one. The ends may be cut off after the ring is finished. Sometimes a small bunch of raffia about an inch long is tied to the outside of the ring. The ends are frayed out to add to the effect.