MDF will definitely soak up moisture and swell. A concrete floor that is poured directly onto dirt will suck up moisture to the point of having wet spots during rainy spells. I put down six layers of 6 mil polyethlene landscape plastic sheeting, then 4" of gravel, then 5" of fiber filled concrete before building my shop. Blown in fiberglass insulation and a venter roof keeps my shop dry unless I open the doors during rain storms. My MDF will last longer when stored flat, but it still absorbs some amount of airborne moisture over three months time.
The basket weave is one I created as my first effort to use the two rail sweep tool. Once you understand the concept it becomes "easy" to create complex shapes. The basket weave was requested by a friend who wanted one of the Paradise boxes for his then 5 y/o daughter. It requires using Aspire or some other 3D software that has a similar tool. The two offset weaves are created with just four vectors. Two are 1/2" tall straight vectors called "rails". One is a shape vector that represents the top surface of the weave. The last vector is a copy of the first shape vector that has been node edited to be offset by 1/2 weave. The shape vectors are the same length, and each weave is copied and joined to get the length of weave you need. The 3D weave model can be stretched or scaled, but that will distort the weave. Sometimes it is desirable though. You basically start the two rail sweep tool, select the two rail vectors and tell it to use these vectors as the rails, then choose one of the shape vectors to create the model and apply it. Then you repeat for the process for the other shape vector. You alternate the weaves by copying and pasting them to create a stack of models with no gaps between them to get the total height of weaves that you need. There are exclusion tools that let you put holes in the models or trim the models to a specific shape. Multiple shapes can be "merged" to make a more complex shape. Then those individual models can be "baked" into one model.
I kinda got carried away with all the fun of using Aspire. Aspire has all of the tools that Vcarve Pro has, so you can keep them both or just use Aspire for everything. As a hobbyist you can install it on three machines with one license. Check the current license to make sure that's still their policy though.
You get a significant price break to upgrade from Vcarve Pro to Aspire, and one free upgrade a year later but it's still the most expensive software I ever purchased. I have not regretted the decision to upgrade at all. I haven't tried some of it's features like fluting and rotary machining. My second paid upgrade is due sometime this spring, so I better get ready for it.