Thursday 16 January 2020

Weather watch


Have you heard of temperature blankets before? I hadn't until around this time last year when one caught my eye in my Instagram feed. Kaz, who you can find on Instagram here and Facebook here if you want to be inspired by all of her colourful creations, posted a photo of her 2018 temperature blanket. It was so colourful and happy that it made me want to find out more. Basically you allocate different coloured yarns to different temperatures and crochet or knit a row/round/motif each day. Some people record the daily high and low, others do the temperature at midday, there are no rules! Some people make historical blankets for a special year. Here is Kaz' blanket from 2018...


Photo from Insomnia Crochet



I knew that I wanted to make my own version and even got as far as creating a colour palette, but couldn't decide what kind of pattern to do - knitted or crocheted - and before I knew it, January was over and I was already a month behind! I put the blanket on hold and used the colours in a sample knit for my Good Striations blanket instead! 




I kept an eye on Kaz' 2019 blanket which was another beauty - this time she chose to record the daily high and low crocheting a square a day. It is a true work of art!



Photo from Insomnia Crochet


I even joined a temperature blanket group on Facebook to get more inspiration. There was one in particular that I liked as people started posting photos of their completed 2019 blankets, where the maker had crocheted one square a week, recording the daily maximum temperature. That definitely sounded manageable to me, and I rather liked the pattern. A little bit of research took me to Priscilla's Crochet and the free patterns section where I found what I was looking for - the Sunburst Granny Square. I have decided to record the daily high temperature and use that for my blanket. The yarn I'm using is my go to for blankets - Stylecraft Special DK. There are loads of colours to choose from, it's economical and washes and wears really well which is an important consideration for a blanket. Here is my colour range (although I might change/add to the colours if it gets really hot) ...




... and here is week 1...





I hooked week 2 yesterday ...





My plan is to join them using Silver (a light grey colour) and then add a border. I'm excited to see how it progresses over the coming weeks and will share it with you every now and then. If you're inspired to join in, search for temperature blankets online and beware of falling down the rabbit hole too! Just to finish, this is Kaz' blanket for 2020 - it's going to be another beauty isn't it? xxx


Photo from Insomnia Crochet

 




4 comments:

Christine65 said...

I like the idea of a square a week. I've thought of doing a temperature blanket or scarf, but never got around to it (and I'm -- slowly -- crocheting an Attic24 Dune blanket), so maybe next next year I'll make one! Your blanket's going to look lovely.

VeggieMummy said...

What a great idea, I can't wait to see your blanket progress. I think I've seen 'mood' blankets too, where you allocate colours to specific moods and crochet a square/row depending on how you're feeling each day. I'm back to using up my stash of Stylecraft scraps in a big granny square blanket. I'm not sure how large it will be as it's now reaching the size where I'm not going to have enough of some colours to complete a round. Maybe I'll have to do a scrappy stripe/ small square blanket with the leftovers! Happy temperature recording. xx

eclectichomelife said...

It's going to be gorgeous. Can't wait to see the progress.

Lynne said...

I think I've seen one of these before, and it's a brilliant idea! Loving how your squares are looking so far, and would love to see an update now and then. Good luck with it!