March 26, 2024

I’m a mad crocheter. Every day, I crochet for at least an hour while watching TV in the evenings. Usually, I have two or three WIPs (works in progress) going on at a time. I make sweaters, blankets, dishcloths, hats, scarves, you name it. Mostly I make things for myself, but I also make gifts for other people.

In all the 50+ years I have been crocheting, I had never heard of temperature (or weather) blankets until recently, when a Facebook group called Temperature/Weather Blanket! popped up in my feed.

The premise is this: You create a blanket based on the daily temperature where you live for an entire year. This is your own creation, so you choose how to do it and what you want to make. Some people make a scarf or even a stuffy snake instead of a blanket. Some who travel will use the temperature for their actual location. Your blanket can be knitted, crocheted, or even quilted. It’s your art that you can express however you choose!

People are so creative! There are granny square blankets, corner-to-corner blankets, ripple blankets, so many great ideas. Some crafters incorporate weather events such as snow into their stitches, or mark special days with a different stitch or adding a charm to the row. I went with a simple moss stitch for mine.

After scrolling through the group and looking at everyone’s WIPs, I thought, this is a great way to use up some of my yarn stash! So I went up to my “yarn room” and got out all of my random colors and balls of #4 acrylics and laid them all out on the floor. I picked colors that I thought would make a nice reflection of temperatures and went well together, and assigned them to ten-degree increments. Then I made a little cardboard color chart to follow.

If I run out of yarn in a color (which has already happened), I’m just finding the closest thing I can since it’s just for me anyway. The blue I had in my stash was apparently very old, as I couldn’t even find the same shade on eBay or Amazon. But I did find a pretty close shade that will work well.

I printed out a free calendar I found online, and record the temperature every day, then cross it off as I do the day so I don’t get messed up. For my temperature, I’m using the site timeanddate.com. So far, I am caught up, but even if I get behind a day or two, it only takes about 20 minutes to do each row so it’s easy to catch up.

I decided my blanket would be for my bed, since I’ve already done a few couch blankets and I have only one couch, and I’m doing the high afternoon temperature each day for my area (Southwestern Pennsylvania).

I started with 244 chains, and I’m using moss stitch and a 5.25 crochet hook. By my calculations, my blanket will be about eight feet long, and wide enough to hang over the sides of a full-size bed a little. Here’s what it looks like so far:

It starts with January at the top of the picture, and goes to March 24 at the bottom. Pennsylvania is one of those places where you can have all four seasons in one day, and wild fluctuations from day to day, which makes for a very interesting and colorful blanket!

I am loving this project, and can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s finished at the end of the year. I’m also making a little legend using crewel embroidery on a vintage linen handkerchief, which I will sew to the bottom corner of the blanket when it’s complete.

One thing I did invest in (and I should have done this years ago) is a 10-ounce yarn ball winder from Amazon, because some of my stash yarn was in pretty messy condition. OMG! This thing is a game changer! Just anchor it to a table, thread your yarn through two loops, and turn the wheel to get these gorgeous cakes! (Also great for entertaining cats. ;-))

I highly recommend getting one of these if you’re a crocheter or knitter. It will save you from dealing with yarn barf and hidden knots in your skeins. And it takes just minutes to turn a full skein into a beautiful cake.

Are you making a temperature or weather blanket? I’d love to see it! Please share a picture!

(This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click through my link and end up purchasing an item (any item, not necessarily the one I recommended even!), I may receive a small amount of compensation. The price you pay is unaffected by using this link, and buying stuff you were going to get anyway through an affiliate link is a great way to support your favorite blogger! Thanks!)

• Crochet