I spent a couple hours of the first day just "milling" some 3/4" walnut stock. Of course, I'm doing this without power tools for the (relative) quiet and exercise. I worked up a serious sweat the first session "milling" two 9" lengths of 3" wide 3/4" walnut for the sides of the basket. I got some extra exercise from the fact I can't aim a saw, meaning that I have to cut about 1/8" from the line and plane to the line. That's good fun on side grain, but planing the endgrain took most of the work.
It's also the weakest part of the process for me. I've managed to get an edge planed flat and square within a couple thousandths of an inch, but haven't had as much luck with endgrain. It's always pretty rounded, and I can't seem to get it flat when planing freehand. I think my next mini-project will have to be a shooting board....
Tonight, I started cutting the joinery on the side pieces, as well as cutting out some 3/4" stock for the back of the basket/to hold the key hooks. The side boards have a notch to hold the back board and a 1/4" dado to hold the bottom of the basket. I tried and mostly succeeded to cut the dado using just a chisel and a utility knife. I still blew out the ends of the dado (on the outward side, of course, grr..), and split off way too much wood around the edges but I think the joints will actually be functional, even if ugly.
Cutting the notch went smoothly at least. Cross-cut with backsaw, rough out most of the waste with a rip saw, and pare down to the line with a chisel. I can apparently aim the backsaw pretty well over a 3/4" length, and paring along the grain was quite enjoyable. Some of the paring work was actually smoother than my earliest attempts at planing :-)
And now, to sleep....