(Click on photos to see a larger size.)
I’m a weatherphile - someone who loves (perhaps obsesses about) the weather. I check the weather on my phone several times a day, especially the temperature and barometer. I have a personal blog and I make sure the temperature at the moment I’m writing the blog shows up with the date stamp. (It just seems important to me.)
So when I heard about a Temperature Blanket, I was intrigued. There’s not a lot out there on how to do them, so I decided to just come up with something myself. First, I picked the pattern for the blanket. If you do 365 days, then that’s 365 rows. That’s a pretty big blanket. Something with single crochets is going to be better than double crochets. So I went to Pinterest and started looking for crocheted blankets with small rows. I chose a zig zag pattern, shown here: https://youtu.be/EtASaX4pcVQ I thought it would look nice with the random colors being next to each other.
I practiced this pattern to get an idea of how to do it and also how big the rows would be. I decided I was only going to do 6 months worth to get the cool colors on one end and the warm colors on the other end. (Instead of warm colors in the middle with the cool colors on the ends.) So I decided to do 2 rows per color - back and forth. This would look great for the pattern I chose above.
I decided to do a blanket that would cover me while I lay on the couch. So it’s got to be 6’ long and about 5’ wide. I did some math (using ratios and proportions) and decided to chain 330 to start. (Using the pattern above, you pick a multiple of 5, then add 5 more stitches.) It’s looooong.
I did the foundation chain, and came back with the color for the first day. Then I did the next day, which was another color, and came back. I think those two rows took me 2 hours. (I was still getting the hang of the pattern and double-checking all my counts.) I was 20 days behind and decided right then that I was only going to do ONE row per day. And now I’m not sure if I’ll do 6 months, 8 months, or 12 months. (Doing 8 months would give me the extremes of both the cold and warm weather.) The problem with this is that the way the pattern is, you crochet into the back part of the stitch, which offsets the rows. So you’ll see some colors on one side, but barely see them on the other side. The two photos below show opposite sides of the same part of the blanket. On the left you can see the purple (raisin) rows and the green row very easily, but on the right these are hidden.
So I’d recommend either making the blanket smaller and doing two rows per day, or pick a different pattern. There are zig zag patterns out there that go into the whole stitch, but you’ll have to find those; I haven’t tried it. Next year I might do a scarf instead of a blanket; it’ll end up looking like the one on Doctor Who. ;)
Recommendations on picking yarn (as important as picking the pattern!) - Go into your favorite craft store, look for a brand of yarn with a lot of selections. I chose Caron’s Simply Soft and ended up not getting the color choices I wanted. They were $2.59 on sale, but I had to order 3 colors that weren’t on sale and they ranged from $5-6. Ouch. Also, if I need more of those colors, I’ll probably have to order them again. I hope they’re available. I only bought one skein of each color and will go back and buy more as I need them. (Only God knows how many days it’ll be in the 30’s or 60’s.)
I picked 12 colors, but you can pick 8 or 10. The number of colors you chose determines the scale of your temperatures. You also need to have a good idea of what the temperature range is in your area. I’d pick a different scale for Florida than for Ohio. Once you pick your range, find out the temperature change between the highest and lowest temps. Divide this number by the number of colors you’ve bought, and that will be how many degrees are in each range. Mine ended up being 7. (I’ll post my table soon.) I fiddled with the temps for a bit until I was happy with how the colors lined up with the temps. My upper and lower numbers will be more than 7, just in case we have really extreme temperatures.
The last part is keeping track of the temperature during the day. I decided to pick the temperature at noon, because you know sometimes the high is at 1am and by noon it’s 20 degrees colder. Also, noon shows up on many websites, so that makes it easier too. On my chart I put the date, the temp at noon, and then write down what color I’m using for that day. I’ve found it makes it a lot easier to plan out my rows when I don’t have to keep referring to my chart. Here's the site I've been using to keep track of the temperature at noon. http://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/dayton/historic
I've been keeping the cooler colors in this cinch-top bin by thirtyone. It's been discontinued, but there's still quite a few of these out there. I just wish it had pockets to keep my needle, scissors, and other little items in. The nice thing is that I close it up at night to keep the kitties out of my yarn.
The photo below is the 31 rows of January. It's folded over so you can see both sides. The dark purple was our first snow day due to the extreme cold. I believe the high that day was 13 degrees. I hope I don't have to use that color any more. The last two days were in the 60's, so those are the two lime green rows you see at the top. It's currently about 6' wide so it'll be a BIG blanket when it's done.
I love how the blanket is turning out. It might seem boring to keep doing a single crochet over and over (though it's in the back of the stitch) but I love how the colors are coming together. The combination of temperatures is turning out to be very beautiful!
I’ll keep updating this as I go and adding photos of my progress. (And any changes I’d recommend.)
