Crochet Temperature Blankets: Picking Stitch Patterns & Yarn Storage

Temperature blankets are a crocheted record of the weather over a given time period in a given area. The great thing about temperature blankets is that you can pick any colors, yarn, stitch pattern and time span that you want. In this post, we’re talking about how to pick what crochet stitch pattern (or blanket pattern) to use for your temperature blanket, as well as sharing some storage ideas for your year-long WIP.

Holiday lights blanket shown draped over a fur pillow, a free crochet pattern from crochet.com
Holiday Lights Blanket: This pattern could be used for a temperature blanket.

Join our 2021 Temperature Blanket Crochet Along.

You might have thought that picking the yarn, or choosing the location and the date were the hard decisions. Now you will need to think about what crochet stitch pattern (or blanket pattern) you want to use. Most of the time a temperature blanket is made with single crochet, row after row showing the temperature for each day for 365 rows. Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box and try one of these suggestions for the stitch pattern to use on your temperature blanket.

Check out: Crocheting a Temperature Blanket for an overview of the whole planning process.

Crochet Stitch Pattern Ideas for Temperature Blankets

With so many options of stitches for your blanket you need to consider a few things. To keep your blanket from getting too long and still recording all 365 days, think about using a shorter stitch. (Think about how long 365 rows will be!)

Typically we aren’t as worried about gauge for a blanket pattern but in this case a gauge swatch will tell you so much about your project. A swatch will tell you the drape you will have and help you figure out the finished measurements of your blanket based on the number of total rows you will make.

Mini Bean Stitch
Learn the Mini Bean Stitch

Here are some suggestions of shorter stitches for your temperature blanket.

If you prefer to work something other than straight lines you could use one of the following techniques.

Or, try a new stitch from our Totally Textured Stitch Tutorials!

Project Storage: How to Store a Crochet Temperature Blanket WIP

Temperature blankets are large projects which require a lot of yarn and will continue to grow as you work it. This means that you will need a great storage system for your project. If you are working on squares/motifs or on long stripes/scarves it will be much easier to take your project with you. Otherwise, consider this to be a project that stays at home so you don’t have to worry about missing colors.

Special Delivery Baby Blanket, a Corner2Corner crochet blanket pattern
Special Delivery Baby Blanket: A C2C blanket pattern

If you DO want to make your Temp blanket project mobile, the WeCrochet Tote Bag is always a great storage option! These bags are larger than you might think and can fit a full sweater inside. You will have plenty of room for your yarn, notions and anything else you might need to keep with you for this project, at least for the first several months of the year!

Our Yarn & Crafts Carry Along is another great storage idea. Not only can you see what you have but it also folds flat for storage when you are finished. A great option to be able to see what colors you still have left and what you need to restock. Grab two and have one for your warm colors and one for your cooler colors.

Five mini yarn hanks in a see-through zip-top project bag.
Zippered project bags come in multiple sizes

Another great see through option is the Zippered Project Bags. These are clear bags that let you see what you have inside, making it easy to know what yarn you have and what you might need to stock up on. This bag comes in a few different sizes making it a great go to project bag.

So, are you ready to start your temperature blanket? What stitch will you use? How will you store your WIP?

If you haven’t already, please join our 2021 Temperature Blanket Crochet Along, and read the other posts in this series:


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