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>> This one is considered a Nantucket.
This is a round reed basket.
Another round reed.
And this is made out of cane.
This is out of the reed, like we have talked about.
>> Looking around Bev Larson's home studio in Lafayette,
you will soon see that she's a woman of many talents.
>> I made this one. This one.
This one.
If I were born today, I would probably have some label
attached to me, attention deficit or something like that.
This one I call "X Marks the Spot".
>> For more than 30 years, Bev has been hard at work
mastering a variety of techniques of bygone eras,
creating unique and beautiful household items.
>> The very first kitchen style broom I made.
>> However, this wasn't exactly Bev's plan.
She started her career as an accountant.
Then tragedy struck.
>> My daughter was diagnosed when she was 8 with Hodgkin's,
and she died when she was 9 in October of 1988.
In November of 1988, the Y was offering
three Wednesday night in a row little Christmas baskets.
And my son was always at his dad's on Wednesday nights.
So instead of staying home having a pity party,
I signed up for those three classes,
and the rest is history.
And whenever I go anywhere, I always roll my eyes up and say,
be with me on this trip and look what you started, honey.
So that's how I got started.
Good comes from everything, and if I had not lost my daughter,
I wouldn't be doing any of this.
>> Bev took to basket making quickly,
but soon realized she had a problem on her hands.
>> You can only keep so many baskets.
So you have to have an outlet to get rid of them.
So I started making them to sell
and getting more creative with them.
>> Bev now teaches classes all over the country
sharing what she's learned along the way
and building a community.
>> I love what I'm doing.
I love sharing it.
And, you know, I did a little class
with a Brownie troop on Sunday afternoon.
The joy on those kids' faces when they finished
their first basket, that -- it's priceless!
>> Bev's baskets are undeniably unique.
Often she incorporates found items, like antlers,
building her ratan baskets around these objects.
>> I joke on the antlers that they have to talk to you.
The antler has to talk to me
to tell me what shape the basket is going to be with it,
whether it's going to be a handle
or whether it's going to be the base
or if it's going to be a bowl or --
and if it doesn't talk to you, it just sits there for a while,
and sits there and sits there
until you know what you are going to do with it.
Okay. Do we have a preference on what stick we put it on today?
>> In the early 2000s, Bev found a second passion,
broom making.
Employing simple, centuries' old techniques,
Bev uses sticks, broom corn and string to craft sturdy brooms
with a surprising amount of variety and beauty.
>> I really like doing the fancy stuff.
The wedding brooms, you know, the double brooms or --
and there again, it's the stick has to talk to you.
You know, you get a stick and the stick goes,
ah, what are you going to do with me?
>> While baskets and brooms have kept Bev plenty busy,
she has somehow managed to pick up a third,
more technologically advanced passion.
>> This will be a long sock.
>> Using depression era machines,
Bev is now cranking out a steady stream of antique style socks.
>> It's got a large learning curve,
and it took me a while to master it.
And then it took me a while to really fall in love with it.
And now it's passion number three.
And I just love cranking out socks.
>> Whether it's baskets, brooms or socks,
after three decades of hard work,
Bev continues to find a thriving community
of people looking for something different.
>> I think that people are going to these old-timey crafts
because they're tired of the lifestyle
that we're living today.
And I'm seeing more and more young people
taking up spinning, taking up weaving on looms,
taking up -- you know, they are taking my classes.
They are teaching classes.
Life keeps us going at 100 miles an hour,
and we just need to take a minute to chill a little.
>> As for Bev's next passion?
>> I can't afford another passion.
So I don't know if there will be a next one.
I just love having a passion.
I think that's important in life.
And if you have more than one, you're lucky.