Seven Bike Racks

Yesterday I spent about six and a half hours sewing on bike racks. The weather was good but chilly and windy. We started at the city offices first. I hadn't looked close enough but I did suspect that is was partly buried in the ground. It was buried and anchored so I couldn't get the yarn around the lower parts. We wrestled it on, stretching it across the ground on the lower parts. This one was designed to be twisted, and in twisting it I found that it didn’t stretch as much… so it ended up being too short. I almost took it down right then. I realized that ideally it should be made in three separate parts (maybe I’ll make a new one).

Next was the rainbow in front of the Kent Co-op. There I learned not to stitch my seam with such large tight stitches – it didn’t want to stretch around the curve! Then I moved up to the Kent Stage. This one worked out well but I was getting so cold by that time I was feeling miserable and thought about quitting. (I took a break after that one and drove around in my car with the heat on high for a bit.) Back to work I got the black one in front of Last Exit books done pretty quickly. The coral snake down the street from that one went well. We had to briefly move a sign that had been taped to it for a sale. It was smooth sailing for the green one next to the Pufferbelly and finally my favorite one in front of the Zephyr Pub.

I prepared for the day by taking to ibuprofen in the morning…but by the end of the last rack I was ‘working through the pain’ and I’m still feeling it in my back and hands today. It is always wonderful to have the support of my husband. He checked on me and helped me through parts of the day. My friends at the Zephyr were also great – cheering me on as they came in to work. The nicest and most surprising thing about the day was the number of people who walked by as I was finishing and said thank you. It made me feel a little less crazy.