Blanket the Bridge

When the wind is blowing, these billow like beautiful, rainbow sails.

Portland is sometimes called Bridgetown because of the many bridges crossing the Willamette River, running through the middle of Portland. There are 10 bridges (or 11 if you count the railroad bridge, which I do) crossing the river and each one is a little different. A new bridge is currently being built and it's the first bridge to be built in almost 40 years.

The Broadway Bridge is 100 years old this year. When the Broadway Bridge opened in April of 1913, it was a really big deal. At the time, it was the longest bascule bridge in the world (see the Wikipedia article here; I tried to find the longest now and some say it is Portland's Morrison Bridge) and it is currently the longest Rall-type bascule bridge still in existence today. The most important thing about it at the time of it's opening was that, for the first time, north and northeast Portland were connected with west Portland.

There was a big celebration for Broadway's birthday year, culminating in a public art installation and a block party. The art installation were four large knitted banners, made of 12" squares sewn together. Over 150 knitters participated, knitting feverishly. The banners will be disassembled when taken down, washed and made into smaller blankets, then distributed to shelters and a children's hospital.

I was one of the 150 knitters. I worked on yellow (the Timbers Army Loopers and Knitters or TALKs worked on the yellow and green squares; yes, there is a Timbers Army knitting group). My yellow squares were the ones with color patterns; I quickly got bored with stripes and garter stitch.

The week before the banners came down, I walked over to the bridge on my lunch to take pictures. As usual, I had my knitting with me and knit as I walked. After taking pictures of the banners, I started down off the bridge, passing a cyclist pulling a small trailer behind her. As we passed each other, she called out to me, "Knitting while walking, nice!" Sometimes, my life is exactly like Portlandia... all that is missing is the artisanal chickens or the heirloom cheese.



(As cool as our yarn-bomb was, check out this one as well. We even got a mention in the article.)