Graz–Sep. 12, 2025

Basket Weaving

I signed up for a course in basket weaving at the Volkshochschule Steiermark (sort of like Adult Education in the US). The class was fun; the teacher was very patient, and even though it was 5 hours, it went really quick. (The teacher started off talking in Styrian dialect, and I didn’t understand a thing he said, so I told him I was only at level B1, and he used standard German with me. There were 7 or 8 people in the class; I was the only guy.)

Everyone else’s baskets looked absolutely gorgeous. Mine, well, not so much. I said „Ich nenne es ‚Der Struwwelpeter‘.“ (I call it “Der Struwwelpeter.“) Everyone laughed. In case you don’t know about Der Struwwelpeter, it’s a children’s book that you really wouldn’t want to read to a child. The subtitle „lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder“ (Funny stories and amusing pictures) is totally false advertising.

Anyway, I think it was a great success as I managed to get through the entire class without sticking the needle through my hand.

Here are pictures of the basket I did before I trimmed off the excess vegetation:

And here it is after: