Makes my hands hurt to think of it. I'm not a basket weaver, though I've done a few. What a neat idea, to make your own garden basket of homegrown willow.
I've made more grapevine baskets than I care to recall (in the thousands over the craft show years) but they were not exactly woven. You start with making a wreath the diameter you want your basket, and then build on that. I've made them anywhere from 5 or 6 up to about 30 inches across. The handle is made of the larger vines, in proportion to the size of the basket. Start with one sturdy piece poked in to the body of the basket, and then wrap smaller ones around it, securing each one by threading it in to the basket and winding around the first. It takes a minimum of 3 pieces for the handle, many more on a larger basket. You can make a very cute little basket out of just a few vines. Wild grapevines are best for making baskets. They can have tendrils 10 or 12 feet long or more. My favorite time of year to make them was in the late fall, after the leaves had fallen off, but I did them year round. Is there anything as much fun as wading through hip=deep snow, yanking huge vines out of a tree, laying them out in piles and then dragging them back to the van, and trying to load them in? Ah, those were the days.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Latitude: 41° 51' 12.1572"
My Hosta List
I planted 4 varieties in April of 2009 and harvested enough to make at least two baskets. This basket is meant to carry my garden tools. The spokes are from the 'Polish Purple' variety -- it was the variety that grew best for me, having the longest, thickest, and straightest withies (stems). It's not the best photo (or basket) but I'm still excited to have made a basket from my own willow. 
