Finished Weaving with the Kids & Thornley KAL progress

 Me and the ten kids who wove this banner at Casa Picasso Art Camp.

 The banner hanging in the camp gallery.  The kids loved the idea of making something that would help people, so the banner is for sale. $85. Every penny will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

 This is my favorite section of the banner.

 In addition to weaving on the Saori loom, the kids created a small piece on a Harrisville Friendly Lap Loom.

Progress on the Jane Thornley Little Vest Knit-Along
(That's the link to Jane's main page, her knit-alongs are on the drop-down menu under Blog)

Lots of the others (in the Jane Thornley Ravelry group)  have named their vests and I have, too.  As I knitted, I kept thinking of rainbows you see in street puddles - the rainbows from the oil.  I tried to think of dragonflies and other iridescent things: beetles, abalone.  But kept coming back to the oily puddles. Joni Mitchell has a lovely image in her song "Michael From Mountains" and I also kept hearing those lyrics, '...there's oil in the puddles / in taffeta patterns/ that run down the drain / in colored arrangements / that Michael will stir with a stick that he's found...'  I thought about just calling this Michael from Mountains, but have chosen the equally alliterative and less obscure: Rainbow on the Road.

 A back panel was knit first, then some rows added to either side to make it be the width I need. Side panels will come later.

 

The fronts are picked up from the shoulders. With the first,  I was doing such improvisational knitting and color combining that I knew it would frustrating and unpleasant trying to knit the second one identically. So I decided to have them be different. With the addition of the side panels and a front opening bands, this should come together coherently.  We shall see!

 I felt like making a little visual collage of strands of all the different yarns I'm using, in order of their weight.
From the left: Interlacements Carolina (?? it's cotton), Noro Blossom No. 20, Rowan Summer Tweed, dark violet, orange, Itata in orange and green, Robin Edmunson Cotton/Rayon in blue and shimmery purple.

 I also wanted to highlight the cast off that I did on the back panel.  I've been casting off this way lately: rather than knitting every stitch, I alternate a knit with a purl. This balances the knitting so these loops sit right on the top of the edge, rather than leaning over on one side or other of the fabric. That always annoyed me. I think of this as 'seed stitch cast-off' but use whether or not I've been working in seed stitch. In this case, it was garter stitch.

Also, I really wanted to get this orange in the back add-ons, but doing another row and then the cast off on each side would have made this too wide.  So, I change to the orange just for the cast off. I've never done that before and I like the effect. When I pick up to add the side panels, I will just pick up the WS half of the loop, and I should have a nice thin line of the color.

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Tomorrow is a balloon release held by our  Compassionate Friends chapter,  for bereaved parents.  I'll be there to send off one with Patrick's name on it....sigh.