Linda has always been a crafty person and I thought I would tell about her latest craft. We have always said every part-timer or full-timer should take their hobbies with them on the road. We have met RVers who do wood carving, model airplanes, make games, fish, play musical instruments, do weaving, quilting and many other things. Since we have been fulltiming Linda has had an assortment of hobbies and they are all things she does with her hands.

She has a sewing machine and a serger and has sewn many things including making three dresses for her daughter's wedding. One year she knitted woolen socks for everyone in our families - over thirty pairs. She has tatted lace, a craft she learned from my mother. She has turned ordinary shirts into masterpieces and has crafted several decorative items for our motorhome.

In the RV circle she is know as The Bag Lady of Wal*Mart having made rugs, hats, handbags, wine bottle carriers and other items from common Wal*Mart plastic bags. Many of our friends save their bags for Linda and she has even been know to dive in trash cans to retrieve plastic bags.

Linda has the knack of looking at a craft someone else has done, studying it a few minutes and then doing the same craft herself and improving on it. Often in campgrounds or at service facilities Linda teaches others the crafts she has mastered. As I write this article Linda is teaching crafts at Escapees Rainbow Plantation campground in Summerdale, Alabama.

Linda's latest craft is making pine needle baskets and it is a very inexpensive hobby. She collects pine needles on the ground and with some raffia and a threaded needle she turns the free pine needles into beautiful baskets. (Raffia is a fiber from the raffia palm and is used to tie the pine needles together.) Brother-in-law Don Martin cuts the walnut shells she uses in some of the baskets and even Don has started making pine needle baskets. Below are a few of Linda's baskets. (Click on pictures for a larger view.)