Sally Bag

My cousin Claudia asked about where the name Sally Bag came from (my last post). Our teacher told of several places it might have come from but no one is positive. Unfortunately I was busy learning how to do the full turned twining so I didn't write anything down but two ideas were that it had to be with an Indian woman actually named Sally who is in the book 'Columbia River Basketry: Gifts of the Ancesters, Gifts of the Earth'. or there a plant called 'sal..... something or another' that was commonly used in the making of the bags.

Here are some links to read further on the Sally Bags and to see what they really look like, not my tiny little bag made of hemp spokes and Harrisville wool. The Oregon History Project. The Ethnography of Lewis and Clark. University of Oregon, The Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

Not much to show

Little results for many hours in two classes taken at the nwrsa conference...but new techniques were learned and that's what the goal of the classes were for me.

This was my triangular shawl sample - it's american girl doll size. What we learned in this class was how to create triangular shawls starting at the center top (neck edge) of the shawl, it could be equal triangles like this or elongated ones. In the plain section of the shawl I can now look in a book at lace patterns and understand how to design it in my shawl working it out on a graph, same with a border. We also learned 3 different cast-offs, all which are seen on my sample. From left to right: a picot bind off where the picot ends up exactly where it's wanted, not leaning to one side as in so many patterns, then a crocheted loop bind off, then a stretchy bind off. Obviously my sample will look better once it's blocked.....if I block it......

And here's my Sally Bag which is a root gathering basket. This is very small, like 4" tall, it took forever to weave. I didn't take a picture of the bottom but it's turned up into the basket, kind of like how a wine bottle bottom may be made. This enabled the Indians along the Columbia River to push it out and carry even more roots. The top looks a little messy but it's traditional the way it's finished, and the inside shows short bits of ends. All the Indians would have added was a hide around the top with straps to tie it around their waists. This was very slow twining but fun and I could see doing it again. Even though a bigger bag would take longer to weave I think it would be easier to work on.